GHANA – Asante Gold Corporation, a gold production, exploration and development company, has entered into a share purchase agreement with Kinross Gold Corporation, a Canadian-based global senior gold mining company, to acquire Kinross’ 90% interest in the Chirano Gold Mine in Ghana.
“With the completion of the sale of Chirano, we are focused on generating value from our rebalanced portfolio, with approximately 70% of our production in 2022 expected from our mines in the Americas,” said J. Paul Rollinson, Kinross President and CEO.
“We would like to thank our employees at Chirano for their hard work and contributions to the Company. The team at Chirano exemplifies our commitments to safety, environmental stewardship and generating benefits for local communities.
“We are also pleased we are able to continue to participate in Chirano’s success through our shareholdings in Asante, who also owns the neighbouring Bibiani mine, which recently completed its first gold pour after restarting operations.”
The upfront consideration for the acquisition will be comprised of US$115 million in cash and US$50 million in common shares of Asante based on the 30-day volume-weighted average price of the Asante Shares prior to closing of the acquisition.
Kinross will also receive a total deferred payment of US$60 million in cash with 50% payable on the first anniversary of closing and the balance payable on the second anniversary.
“We are excited to add the Chirano operation to our base of gold production in Ghana. It presents an excellent opportunity for synergy with our other Ghanaian assets and represents the next step for our vision to build a leading gold mining company in Ghana and West Africa,” David Anthony, president and CEO of Asante, commented.
“Asante has deep ties to Ghana and is committed to sharing the benefits of its activities with the local community and Ghana.”
The Government of Ghana, which holds a 10% stake in the mine, has issued a letter of no objection to the change of control.
“The Bibiani and Chirano assets combined under one ownership will cover an entire district scale gold trend exceeding 53 km in length. Total gold production from the mines to date exceeds 8mn ounces,” Douglas MacQuarrie, non-executive chairman of Asante, added.
“With two modern process plants located 20 km apart, exploration success anywhere along the gold trend can be efficiently accessed. Our recent exploration success at Bibiani-South Russel is indicative of the discovery potential that remains along the trend.”
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