PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Kirkland Lake on Friday revealed that it had divested of its 9.57% interest in TSX-listed Osisko Mining Inc, and has diluted its shareholding in Novo Resources as part of efforts to strengthen its balance sheet.

The ASX-, TSX-, and NYSE-listed Kirkland Lake told shareholders that the company had disposed of more than 32.6-million shares in Osisko at a price of C$4.45 each to raise a total of A$145.1-million, divesting of its entire share in the Canadian explorer.

The company also disposed of 538 700 common shares of Novo Resources at an average price of C$3.52 a share to raise C$1.8-million. This divestment followed a June divestment which saw the company dispose of 210 000 Novo shares to raise C$689 024.

Kirkland Lake’s shareholding in Novo Resources has now decreased from 15.81% to 15.41%.

“The sale of Osisko and Novo shares further enhances our already industry-leading financial strength, which will support our efforts as we pursue our key strategic priorities, including investing in our three cornerstone assets and returning capital to shareholders,” said president and CEO Tony Makuch.

“Macassa, Detour Lake and Fosterville are three highly profitable, cash flow generating operations, each of which has outstanding exploration upside. There remains significant value creation potential at all three of these assets, and unlocking that value is our overriding priority.

“Also important to us is rewarding shareholders, which in addition to share price performance, also involves buying back stock and paying dividends. So far in 2020, we have repurchased 11.9-million shares for $388.4-million, which represents approximately $1.40 a share, based on our current shares outstanding, and also doubled our quarterly dividend to 12.5c a share.

“If we combine the amount of cash used for share repurchases and dividend payments in the first half of 2020, it represents approximately $645/oz of gold produced during the period,” Makuch said.

Kirkland Lake has previously set a repurchase goal of some 20-million shares over a 12- to 24-month period, with Makuch saying the company was making excellent progress.