Asante Gold Corporation has secured stakes in Chirano Mine after completing the deal involving Canadian mining company, Kinross Gold Corporation, as it divested its 90% stake in Ghana’s Chirano for a $225m consideration in cash and shares to Asante Gold Corporation.

The deal closed nearly four months after Kinross Gold entered into a sale agreement to divest its stake in the gold mine.

As earlier agreed, Kinross Gold will receive a total consideration of $225m in cash and shares for the divestment.

Kinross has already received $60m in cash and more than 34.9 million Asante common shares with a total value of $36.2m. As part of the deal, it will receive $55m after six months from closing, and $73.8m in two equal instalments at first- and second-year anniversaries, respectively.

Kinross said that it will hold the shares for a least 12 months following the close of the transaction.

The CEO Appreciates the Employees

Kinross President and CEO Paul Rollinson, expressed his appreciation to the employees and expressed optimism that the deal will help the company to refocus.

“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.

“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.”
Paul Rollinson

The CEO expressed his excitement over the new deal noting that he is happy to have shares in Ashanti Gold.

“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.”
Paul Rollinson

The Ghanaian Government will however, continue to hold the remaining 10% carried interest in Chirano.

Last December, Kinross signed an a definitive agreement to acquire all issued and outstanding shares of local peer Great Bear Resources for $1.4bn (C$1.8bn).

Under the agreement, Great Bear shareholders can elect to receive either C$29 in cash or 3.8564 Kinross shares per Great Bear share they hold.

But under this deal, the arrangement was subject to a proration up to an aggregate cash consideration of $1.1bn (C$1.4bn) or maximum aggregate shares issuable of 95.8 million.

Chirano is an operating open-pit and underground gold mine situated south of Asante Gold’s Bibiani asset. Last year, the mine reported production of 154,668 gold equivalent ounces on a 100% basis.