Platinum miner Lonmin, which is being bought over by Sibanye-Stillwater, has agreed to sell its 6.8% interest in Canadian explorer and developer Wallbridge Mining to billionaire investor Eric Sprott for $3.97-million.
The acquisition of Lonmin’s 24 042 895 shares in Wallbridge increased Sprott’s stake in the company to about 16.1%, from around 9.4%.
The shares were purchased at C$0.165 a share.
"We are pleased to see the increased level of interest in our company as evidenced by the trading volume over the last few weeks. We are also encouraged by Mr. Sprott's support, believing in our company and our Fenelon gold property," stated Wallbridge president and CEO Marz Kord.
The further backing of Sprott sent Wallbridge’s share price up by 25% on Monday to C$0.28 a share.
"We continue with our successful exploration and development plans at Fenelon gold property in order to expand the resource and move the project ahead into production,” said Kord.
The Fenelon property is located in north-western Quebec, near the Sunday Lake Deformation Zone, which hosts the Detour gold mine and Balmoral Resources' gold deposits at Martiniere.