Inca One Gold has entered into an agreement to acquire Koricancha ore processing facility in Peru (Koricancha), from Equinox Gold.

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Image: Pouring Liquid Gold. Photo: courtesy of Dan Brown.

Under the agreement, Inca One will acquire 100% stake in Anthem United, which owns a 90.14% interest in the 350 tonnes per day ore processing facility.

The company will acquire the facility in a cash-and-stock deal worth nearly $16.3m.

Located nearly 50km from Inca one’s ore processing facility, the Koricancha facility is expected to offer cost synergies and provide a platform for growth for the company.

Inca One said that the transaction more than doubles its current throughput from 100 tonnes per day (TPD) to about 250 TPD.

The Koricancha acquisition is expected to result in the reduction of Inca One’s Canadian corporate overhead unit costs and reduction in duplicate regional offices, apart from offering centralized purchasing and operating efficiencies.

Strategically situated in the Arequipa region of Peru, Koricancha is a custom built, fully operational, industrial gold ore processing facility.

Over the past six months, the Koricancha plant has produced 10,767 ounces of gold and generated revenue of $14.4m.

Under the ownership of Anthem United, the facility was first commissioned in July 2015 and achieved commercial production on 1 October 2015.

Inca One president and CEO Edward Kelly said: “The acquisition of the producing Koricancha Mill is a strategic and transformative acquisition for Inca One.  It instantly elevates the Company from a small producer to a major player among publicly traded gold processing companies.

“Inca One significantly increases its permitted capacity and more than doubles our current throughput. The transaction is aligned with our long-term growth objectives and is an important milestone in the consolidation we foresaw in the processing space.

“We look forward to working with the operating team at Koricancha. We also welcome Equinox as a business partner and significant shareholder in Inca One going forward.”