Eric Sprott, out $140-million on Kirkland Lake Gold, undecided on deal with Detour Gold – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 27, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd.’s plan to acquire Detour Gold Corp. has been costly for Eric Sprott. How costly?

“I think my loss is $140-million,” the maverick gold investor said of the drop in value of his investment in Kirkland Lake in the two days since it announced its all-stock deal to acquire Detour. Mr. Sprott, who is Kirkland’s second-biggest shareholder, said this is also the biggest investment loss of his career, in such a short time period.

On Monday, Toronto-based Kirkland, one of the world’s most profitable gold companies, shocked the market by announcing it planned to buy struggling low-grade miner Detour Gold Corp. for $4.9-billion. Investors immediately soured on the deal. Kirkland Lake shares have lost about 16 per cent of their value since Monday.

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Detour Gold premium vanishes as investors dump Kirkland Lake shares amid takeover – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 25, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Investors punished Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. after the underground mining company said it will acquire struggling open pit specialist Detour Gold Corp. in an all-stock deal valued at about $4.9-billion. Toronto-based Kirkland Lake is paying 0.4343 Kirkland shares for each Detour Gold share, a 24-per-cent premium to Friday’s closing price.

But that premium all but vanished in trading Monday on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Kirkland Lake closed down 17.3 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange to $52.38 apiece. Detour closed up 1.8 per cent to $22.61 apiece.

Kirkland Lake has been the gold industry’s best-performing senior gold miner over the past three years, thanks in part to the spectacular performance of its high-grade Fosterville mine in Australia.

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Kirkland Lake buying Detour Gold in all-stock deal worth $4.9-billion – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 25, 2019)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. is buying Detour Gold Corp. in an all-stock deal worth $4.9-billion that sees one of the industry’s best-performing gold companies buy a turnaround play.

Toronto-based Kirkland is paying 0.4343 Kirkland shares for each Detour share, a 24-per-cent premium to Friday’s closing price. The transaction sees Kirkland, which already has mines in Ontario and Australia, add another major asset in a safe jurisdiction.

Thanks to the success of Kirkland Lake’s Fosterville mine in Australia, it has been the best-performing major gold stock in the world over the past few years.

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Junior Explorers Just Scratching the Surface In Northern Quebec’s Abitibi Gold Belt – by Neils Christensen (Kitco News – August 15, 2019)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Northern Quebec is one of the most prolific gold regions in the world; it is home to the Abitibi Greenstone Belt, which has produced 180 million ounces of gold during the last century.

The Val d’Or/Abitibi region is also home to Canada’s largest gold mine: Malartic, which is run by Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE: AEM, TSX: AEM) and Yamana Gold (NYSE; AUY, TSX: YRI). However, junior explorers working in the area are demonstrating that miners have just literally scratched the surface and the region’s potential is limitless.

Since the 1920’s the region has been home to about 100 different mines; at the same time, about 300 gold deposits have been identified in the area. “There is no doubt. This is mining country,” said Philippe Cloutier, president and CEO of Cartier Resources (TSX.V: ECR), just one of the junior explores breathing new life into existing mining camps. “The mines in Northern Quebec shut down because of economics not because they ran out of ounces.”

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[Osisko Mining Inc.]Price surge fuels fresh hopes that Canada’s richest gold country has more to give – by Gabriel Friedman (Financial Post – July 27, 2019)

https://business.financialpost.com/

‘Every time someone says all the mines have been found I laugh’ – John Burzyunski, CEO Osisko Mining Inc.

This spring, John Burzynski, chief executive of Osisko Mining Inc., caught whiff of an opportunity to acquire land near the Cadillac-Larder break — a name that may not ring a bell with most Canadians, but is renowned gold country.

Running from western Quebec to Larder Lake, Ontario, it stands out among the world’s richest geological gold belts; and even today, more than a century after being discovered, it is dotted with mines that pump out hundreds of thousands of ounces of bullion every year.

Burzynski, and his partners have been to the Cadillac-Larder break before: They discovered the deposit that became the Canadian Malartic mine, currently the country’s largest gold mine, which last year produced 697,200 ounces of gold, worth about $1.3 billion at current prices.

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Area Play: The Val d’Or, Quebec Camp in Canada is Heating Up – by David Erfle (Kitco News – July 12, 2019)

https://www.kitco.com/

Full Disclosure: I have purchased shares of ECR.V and BTR.V in the open market and have also recommended them both to my subscribers.

In the early 20th century, the discovery of the Cadillac Fault ushered in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue Gold Rush and the geological anomaly continues to have a major impact on Quebec’s mining history.

The massive fault is roughly 160 kilometers long and extends from the town of Val d’Or, in Quebec, to Kirkland Lake, in Ontario. Its name derives from the township of Cadillac, where it was first discovered.

Although its name in French means “valley of gold,” there is no valley in Val d’Or, however, there is still plenty of gold remaining in the surrounding area. The town of roughly 32,000 inhabitants was founded by miners in 1934 and its economy depends chiefly on mining gold, zinc, lead, molybdenum, and copper. The lumber business is also important to the economy of Val-d’Or, as the forests of the Abitibi region provide 65% of the lumber produced in Québec.

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Agnico Eagle Offers To Acquire Alexandria Minerals – by Allen Sykora (Kitco News – June 14, 2019)

https://www.kitco.com/

(Kitco News) – Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. (NYSE, TSX: AEM) has made an offer to acquire Alexandria Minerals Corp. (TSXV: AZX), a Toronto-based junior gold and exploration company, for C$26 million, the companies reported Friday. The proposal is based on a purchase price of 5 Canadian cents per share.

Alexandria said that its board of directors concluded that the unsolicited offer constitutes a “superior proposal” as outlined in a prior May 14 agreement with Chantrell Ventures Corp. Chantrell now has a 10-business-day period in which it can amend its own offer for Alexandria.

To enter an agreement with Agnico Eagle, Alexandria would first have to terminate the Chantrell agreement and pay a fee of C$875,000. If the Alexandria board accepts the Agnico Eagle offer, the agreement would be subject to approval of Alexandria shareholders.

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High-grade discoveries open “whole new chapter” at Kirkland Lake mine: Exploration drilling probes unexplored areas at Macassa’s South Mine Complex – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – May 2, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kirkland Lake’s Macassa Mine doesn’t appear to be relinquishing its status as one the world’s richest gold mines. Kirkland Lake Gold released some eye-popping high-grade drill intercepts from its ongoing underground exploration and expansion project within the South Mine Complex (SMC).

In an May 2 news release, the company highlighted the results from 73 drill holes and nearly 30,000 metres worth of drilling from the east and west exploration drifts on the mine’s 5300-foot and 5700-foot level.

Some of the high-grade intersections include 118.8 grams per tonne (g/t) over a 2.0 metre core length at SMC, and 4,772 g/t over a 2.0-metre length from an identified zone, west of the current resource. A 1.8-metre section from another hole yielded 2,458.6 g/t in the lower complex and to the east and at depth.

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A record year for Kirkland Lake Gold: Production, expansion at Macassa has northeast miner poised for growth in 2019 and beyond – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – January 9, 2019)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold announced record levels of annual and quarterly production from its mines in northeastern Ontario and Australia. The Toronto-based global miner said total 2018 production at its three cornerstone mines was a record 723,477 ounces, up 21 per cent from the 596,405 ounces from the previous year.

Each of three achieved record annual production last year, including 356,230 ounces at Fosterville in Australia, 240,126 ounces at Macassa in Kirkland Lake, and 58,633 ounces at the Taylor Mine near Matheson.

The Holt Mine, also near Matheson, produced 67,770 ounces for the year. Total production in the fourth quarter of 2018 reached 230,993 ounces, 28 per cent higher than the previous record of 180,155 ounces achieved in the third quarter of last year.

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Troilus buys more land north-east of past-producing mine – by Staff (MiningWeekly.com – November 29, 2018)

http://www.miningweekly.com/

Quebec-focused exploration and early-development company Troilus has significantly expanded its land position through the acquisition of the Troilus North project, located north-east of the Val-d’Or mining district.

The Toronto-based company is focused on restarting the former Troilus mine, which Inmet Mining operated as an openpit between 1997 and 2010, producing more than two-million ounces of gold and almost 70 000 t of copper.

TSX-listed Troilus will acquire the Troilus North project from Emgold Mining for 3.75-million shares and C$250 000 in cash. The cash component will absolve a bridge loan previously advanced.

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Amid mining slump, industry veteran Sean Roosen sees light at the end of the tunnel – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – November 12, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Sean Roosen’s motto is “SUDS.” It stands for “shut up and drill, stupid!” The mining executive says it’s a message his industry needs to embrace as it battles through another slump.

Environmental protectionism has gone too far, mining permits need to be more easily obtained and there’s too much interference from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which he says “do nothing” for the economy.

The loud, burly career miner is no slick Bay Street executive. He calls himself a “hillbilly.” But he’s someone who people listen to. Mr. Roosen heads up one of a handful of Canadian mining royalty companies, but he’s best known as part of a trio who founded, developed and built Canadian Malartic, Canada’s biggest gold mine. In the process he pioneered a new method of mining that revolutionized the notoriously slow-to-innovate industry.

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Kirkland Lake Gold raises stake in Osisko Mining – Staff (Northern Miner – September 19, 2018)

http://www.northernminer.com/

Kirkland Lake Gold (TSX: KL; NYSE: KL) has boosted its ownership in Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK) from 8.58% to about 13.61%.

The mid-tier gold producer reported it has invested about C$25 million to acquire 14.71 million Osisko shares at $1.70 apiece, bringing its total shares in the company to 32.63 million.

Kirkland Lake’s president and CEO, Tony Makuch, said the strategic investment increases its ownership interest in northwestern Quebec’s Urban Barry area, which he believes “has become a new, highly prospective mining camp in the prolific Abitibi Greenstone belt.”

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NEWS RELEASE: Wallbridge Announces $3.9 Million Strategic Investment by Eric Sprott (September 14, 2018)

http://www.wallbridgemining.com/

Toronto, Ontario – September 14, 2018 – Wallbridge Mining Company Limited (TSX:WM, FWB: WC7) (“Wallbridge” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that it has closed a non-brokered private placement (the “Offering”) through the issuance of 30,000,000 units of the Company (each a “Unit”) for gross proceeds of $3,900,000. Eric Sprott, through 2176423 Ontario Ltd., a corporation which is beneficially owned by him, was the sole purchaser of the Offering.

“We are pleased to have a gold investor such as Eric Sprott as one of our large shareholders. Eric is very familiar with high grade gold deposits in the world and Fenelon obviously fit that bill,” stated Marz Kord, President & CEO of Wallbridge. “On behalf of all Wallbridge shareholders, we welcome Eric’s support in our drive to make Fenelon Gold to be the first high grade operating mine in this emerging belt in Northwestern Quebec.”

Under the terms of the Offering, the Units were issued at a price of $0.13 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a “Common Share”) and a one-half Common Share purchase warrant. Each whole Warrant (a “Warrant”) will entitle the holder to acquire one additional Common Share (a “Warrant Share”) for a period of twenty-four (24) months from the closing date at an exercise price of $0.20 per Warrant Share.

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Detour Gold reports initial mineral resource for Zone 58N – by Staff (Northern Ontario Business – July 26, 2018)

https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/

Gold deposit located near Detour Lake gold mine

Detour Gold is reporting an initial mineral resource for its Zone 58N, which is located six kilometres south of the Detour Lake gold mine.

The mineral resource estimate is comprised of an indicated resource of 2.87 million tonnes grading 5.80 grams per tonne for 534,300 ounces of gold, and an inferred resource of 0.97 million tonnes grading 4.35 grams per tonne for 136,100 ounces of gold.

“Detour Gold is in the fortunate position of having a large mineral reserve base of 16 million ounces supporting a mine life of 23 years,” said Michael Kenyon, Detour Gold’s interim CEO, in a July 26 news release.

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Yamana Gold Inc. shares surge on strong quarterly results – by Niall McGee (Globe and Mail – July 28, 2018)

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Shares in Yamana Gold Inc. surged the most in two years on Friday, after the mid-tier gold company swept past analyst expectations in its latest quarter and sounded a bullish tone on future production.

The bump in Yamana’s shares, which closed up 9.1 per cent on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Friday, comes the day after heavy selling in senior producers Barrick Gold Corp., Goldcorp Inc. and Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd., all of which missed quarterly earnings estimates.

Yamana’s second-quarter adjusted profit came in at 5 cents a share, 3 cents better than analysts were expecting, thanks to higher production and lower costs. On a net basis, the Toronto-based miner earned US$18-million in profit.

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