-- (Adds additional detail on the B2Gold deal in the fourth paragraph and further details on the three separate transactions in the fifth and sixth paragraphs)
Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE and TSX: AEM) announced Monday a plan to complete a consolidation of properties in the Central Lapland Greenstone Belt of Northern Finland that involves it entering into definitive agreements in respect of three separate transactions.
These transactions include the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Rupert Resources Ltd. (RUP.TO); the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Aurion Resources Ltd. (AU.V); and the acquisition of a 70% interest in Fingold Ventures Ltd. held by B2Gold Corp. (BTO.TO), which together with the 30% interest held by Aurion, would result in Agnico Eagle owning a 100% ownership interest in the Fingold JV.
A statement noted the company currently owns 13.9% of Rupert on a non-diluted basis and 9.9% of Aurion on a partially diluted basis.
For its deal, B2Gold has agreed to sell to Agnico its 70% interest in Fingold in exchange for US$325 million in cash. In addition, B2Gold and Agnico Eagle have agreed to enter into a collaboration agreement related to their respective gold mining operations located in Nunavut, Canada.
On the three separate transactions, Agnico said it puts Finland on a pathway to become an approximately 500,000-ounce annual gold production hub within the next decade; provides the financial, technical and on-the-ground resources to develop the highly prospective Ikkari gold project; and "creates significant value through optimized project development, including an extension of the Ikkari open pit onto the Fingold JV area, which is expected to capture additional gold ounces in the mine plan on both sides of the property boundary."
AEM added the three separate transactions consolidate an approximate 2,492 km squared regional land position within the under-explored Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, "unlocking significant exploration potential with robust targets across all stages of exploration"; while integrating Ikkari into the company's established Finland platform delivers operating, development and construction synergies estimated at up to C$500 million, "over and above the value benefit that is expected to be realized by eliminating the property boundary constraint."
Agnico Eagle's President and Chief Executive Officer, Ammar Al-Joundi said: "These transactions deliver on our long standing regional strategy and build on our more than 20 years of best-in-class operating experience in Finland to establish another multi-asset, multi-decade platform in our portfolio within a world class gold belt. By consolidating the highly prospective and under explored Central Lapland Greenstone Belt, we are bringing together our long life Kittila mine, the Ikkari gold project, unconstrained by property boundaries, and a district scale land position with clearly defined targets across all stages of exploration. Supported by a proven local team with the technical, operating and exploration expertise to execute, this consolidation positions us to accelerate development, capture unique synergies, drive project level value and unlock substantial long term exploration upside for our shareholders. This approach mirrors how we have successfully built value across our Canadian platforms and represents an important next chapter for our Finland business".
Shares in AEM were last look down 1.1% in US premarket trade on Monday, amid a lower U.S. futures market. AEM was up 2.3% in Canada and 2.4% in the U.S. last Friday.