Minera Alamos Inc and Sabre Gold Mines Corp announce that they have entered into a definitive agreement, signed, whereby Minera Alamos will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Sabre Gold pursuant to a plan of arrangement, further enhancing Minera Alamos’ position as a growth oriented gold producer.
According to the transaction Highlights, creation of a Diversified North American Gold Producer Platform – Beyond the Santana gold mine operations, the addition of Copperstone helps provide visibility to a further 150koz of annual gold production in premier mining jurisdictions in North America.
Acquisition of Past Producing Copperstone Mine – Sabre’s flagship asset produced a total of 514,000 oz of gold from 1987 to 1993. Along with existing infrastructure, the project contains significant additional resource ounces and is at advanced stage permitting for a near-term mine restart.
Accelerating Copperstone Back into Production – Minera Alamos’ in-house mine-building expertise combined with Minera’s previously acquired process plant equipment will allow for significant reductions in capital costs and operation restart times in this very strong gold price environment.
Transaction supported by Sabre Creditors – Elimination of approximately $9.4 million of existing debt at a 15% discount to face value.
Darren Koningen, CEO of Minera Alamos, stated: “The Copperstone project is an ideal addition to our portfolio of low capex, late-stage development projects. The site has significant infrastructure and permits in place which will allow our technical group to quickly advance the project into production.
We have already initiated our engineering efforts aimed at fast-tracking Copperstone’s development and are working to expand our technical team under the guidance of Kevin Small, a director with Minera. Recently, as President of Sprott’s Jerritt Canyon underground operations in Nevada, Kevin led the project turnaround prior to its sale and he has extensive underground mining experience both in Canada and the south western US.
We are also in discussions with lenders in connection with potentially expanding existing finance facilities to accommodate the development of both Copperstone as well as our Cerro de Oro project in Mexico, which is awaiting permit approvals. This merger is a great example of how complementary assets can be combined to de-risk and scale up a development platform simultaneously.”
Andrew Elinesky, President and CEO of Sabre Gold, stated: “Minera Alamos is an ideal partner for Sabre Gold given their extensive experience in planning, financing, building and operating mines. The merger allows our shareholders to maintain exposure to the Copperstone Mine through a meaningful ownership stake in the combined company while gaining exposure to a solid portfolio of producing and near-producing assets.
We are convinced that combining forces with Minera Alamos will unlock significant value for all shareholders, as Minera Alamos is well positioned to build itself into a mid-tier gold producer. Today represents a significant milestone for all Sabre stakeholders and I would like to thank them for their support over the years.”
