Sabina gets final project certificate, major investment for Nunavut gold mine – by Walter Strong (CBC News North – December 21, 2017)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Formal approval comes day after company announced it had secured a $66M investment

A day after Sabina Gold and Silver announced it had secured a $66 million investment from a Chinese backer, the company was able to report it had received its final project certificate from the Nunavut Impact Review Board for its Back River gold mine project.

On Monday, Sabina announced Zhaojin International Mining was investing in the project through a share purchase. Once the deal is complete, the Chinese company will hold 9.9 per cent of the company, with the option to increase that holding to 19.9 per cent through future financing.

With the final project certificate in hand, the only regulatory permits remaining are two water licenses for mine construction and operation, and other less significant permits. With $38 million in cash and equivalents on hand and $66 million coming from Zhaojin, the company still has some work to do in financial markets. Sabina pegs capital expenditures to build the mine at $415 million.

But Nicole Hoeller, Sabina Gold vice president of communications, said the company is in a solid financial position.

A chance to be ‘opportunistic’

“One of the things about this investment with Zhaojin is it allows us to be opportunistic,” Hoeller said.

For the rest of this article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/sabina-project-certificate-1.4461276