Africa: With a new acquisition of a 15% stake in Orca Gold, Perseus Mining expands its gold footprint in the continent
Perseus Mining, a mining company that owns several gold mines in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, announced on Monday, January 31, 2022, the signing of an agreement with Resolute Mining to acquire its 15% interest in the company. Canadian company Orca Gold, active in Sudan on the Block 14 gold project and owning shares in the Koné gold project, in Côte d’Ivoire.
According to a press release posted on its website, Perseus Mining announces that the amount of the transaction is estimated at 17.5 million Canadian dollars (13.7 million USD).
In addition to the acquisition, Perseus has entered into an agreement with Orca to loan it $5 million, which bears an annual interest rate of 7.5% and will mature on June 30, 2022.
Perseus Chairman and CEO Jeff Quartenmaire said the company is “always on the lookout for value-creating inorganic growth opportunities.”
He believes that Orca could represent such an opportunity.
Note that the two parties are engaged in discussions regarding a possible takeover of Orca by Perseus, but no transaction has been announced. On this subject, Jeff Quartermaine indicated that the acquisition of the 15% interest gives his company a position that will allow it to better assess “what seems to be a very interesting potential growth opportunity”.