AngloGold Ashanti has entered into an agreement with Coeur Mining to acquire its subsidiary, Coeur Sterling, Inc., for $150 million in cash. Coeur Sterling owns properties that are adjacent to AngloGold Ashanti’s properties in the Beatty district of southern Nevada. The properties to be acquired in the transaction include Coeur’s C-Horst, SNA, Secret Pass and Daisy ore bodies, as well as the decommissioned Sterling mine and all tenements that surround these properties.
“This acquisition further enhances the value proposition we are building in the Beatty District,” said AngloGold Ashanti CEO Alberto Calderon. “The addition of these properties consolidates our ownership position in one of North America’s most promising new gold districts, and gives us the ability to develop it in a way that will realize its full potential for the benefit of all stakeholders.”
Coeur currently estimates that the properties to be acquired in this transaction have a mineral resource of 914,000 oz. If, after additional exploration, AngloGold Ashanti declares a mineral resource from these properties that is greater than 3.5 million oz, AngloGold Ashanti would make the deferred consideration payment of an additional $50 million 30 days after that mineral resource declaration is made.
AngloGold Ashanti holds several exploration and development assets (North Bullfrog, Silicon, Merlin, Mother Lode, Transvaal and Rhyolite) in the Beatty District. AngloGold Ashanti has published a mineral resource at Silicon of 3.37 million oz ounces. It recently acquired the neighboring North Bullfrog and Mother Lode projects through the acquisition of Corvus Gold in January.
The company said the Sterling acquisition presents a compelling strategic fit for its aspirations for the optimal development of that district into a new, low-risk production center, further consolidating the land and tenement ownership within the Beatty District, as the Coeur Southern Nevada Properties are immediately south of AngloGold Ashanti’s Silicon and Merlin properties, and completely surround AngloGold Ashanti’s Mother Lode property.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year.
