TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Canadian gold producer AuRico Metals on Monday said that compatriot Alamos Gold had lifted its ownership in the company to more than 10%.
TSX-listed Alamos would buy eight-million AuRico Metals shares at C$0.70 apiece for C$5.6-million. Together with the 5.77-million shares Alamos already owned in AuRico Metals, Alamos now controlled 10.9% of the issued and outstanding shares of the company.
"Alamos' investment is a further endorsement of our valuable portfolio of high-quality assets – assets which Alamos knows very well. The additional liquidity also strengthens our ability to pursue accretive growth opportunities,” president and CEO Chris Richter said in a statement.
The private placement was subject to the approval of the TSX.
AuRico Metals was formed as a spin-off company after Canadian gold miners Alamos Gold and AuRico Gold merged in a $1.5-billion deal earlier this year. The merged company retained the Alamos Gold name and owned a 4.9% stake in AuRico Metals. Former Alamos Gold and AuRico Gold shareholders owned the rest.
AuRico Metals was a mining royalty and development company whose cornerstone assets included a 1.5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty on the Young-Davidson gold mine, in Ontario, Canada, a 2% NSR royalty on the Fosterville mine, in Victoria, Australia, and 100% ownership of the advanced Kemess gold project, in British Columbia.