The deferral comes as both parties agreed to amend the terms of their proposed share purchase agreement, subject to feedback from the relevant authorities, and the amended agreement has now been fully executed by Orea and the Nord Gold
Orea amends agreement to buy Montagne d’Or gold. (Credit: omid roshan on Unsplash)
Canada-based gold explorer and developer Orea Mining is differing its proposed acquisition of Russia’s Nord Gold’s 55.01% stake in the Montagne d’Or gold project in French Guiana.
The deferral comes as both parties have agreed to amend the terms of their proposed share purchase agreement, subject to feedback from the relevant authorities.
The amended agreement has now been fully executed by Orea and Nord Gold.
Under the terms of the amended agreement, Orea will make a C$100m ($76m) payment, only if all the sanctions are lifted against Nord Gold and its shareholders, in certain jurisdictions.
The jurisdictions include Canada, the US, France, the UK and the EU.
The amended deal also specifies that Orea will no longer require to make the payments if sanctions are still in effect in the first three years from receipt of all permits to operate the Montagne d’Or gold mine and seven years from closing.
Orea said that relevant sanctions authorities are reviewing the amended agreement.
The Canadian mining company is awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court of France with respect to the renewal of the Montagne d’Or mining titles.
Orea, in its statement, said: “The applicable sanctions authorities have advised Orea that they are reviewing the Amended Agreement. Orea is unable to provide guidance on when it might receive a reply from sanctions authorities; shareholders will be kept informed.”
Montagne d’Or is an open-pit gold mine development project located in French Guiana, an overseas region northwest of France.
The French mining operation hosts a Measured Mineral Resources of 10.3\Mt at 1.804g/t gold (600,000oz), and an Indicated Mineral Resources of 74.8Mt at 1.350g/t gold (3.25Moz).
It also hosts an additional Inferred Mineral Resources of 20.2 Mt at 1.48 g/t gold (960,000oz).
The Mineral Resources are confined within a pit shell defined by a gold price of $1,300/oz and a cut-off grade of 0.4g/t gold.
Orea said that the Mineral Reserves have been defined with Proven Mineral Reserves of 8.25Mt at 1.99g/t gold (530,000oz) and Probable Mineral Reserves of 45.87Mt at 1.50g/t gold (2.2Moz).
The company intends to process the ore from the Montagne d’Or deposit to recover the contained gold and silver values using unit operations considered standard to the industry.