East Africa-focused gold producer Shanta Gold has reported completed its acquisition of Canadian miner Barrick Gold’s assets in Kenya. This was achieved by the East Africa focused gold developer, explorer and producer, at a cost of 1.4 billion Kenyan Shillings.
The miner which is listed on London AIM made it known on Wednesday the 19th of August 2020 that it will be moving to speed up its production of Gold in the Western part of Kenya. The western part is where Barrick had licenses for the right to mine gold in an area across Vihiga, Kisumu, Siaya and Kakamega that is 1,161 square kilometers.
That area alone, has an estimate of 1.1 million ounces in gold deposits. These gold deposits, have a market value of 186 billion Kenyan Shillings.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Shanta Gold; Eric Zurrin made it known via a statement that, “With the receipt of regulatory approvals in Kenya, including standard consents from the Mining Authorities to the assignment of interests and the transfer of prospecting licences, and approval of the transaction by the Competition Authority of Kenya, all of the closing conditions for the Transaction are now satisfied.”
In February 2020 the Barrick Gold Corporation announced that it would be selling off all of its seven (7) gold mining licenses in the western part of Kenya, to Shanta Gold which is also incorporated into Guernsey. The company made it known that the sale would be via a cash and stock transaction that would be worth a total of 1.4 billion Kenyan Shillings.
The western part of Kenya has one of the highest grading gold deposits in Africa. This is according to Shanta Gold.
Shanta Gold confirmed that it will pay 749 million Kenyan Shillings in cash to Barrick, along with a royalty rate of two (2) percent which will be based on the actual Gold production in the foreseeable future.
Shanta Gold’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO); Eric Zurrin said, “We are committed to responsibly investing in Kenya and working with the Government, communities and local stakeholders.”
He added that, “Now that the transaction is complete, we are turning our focus to integrating West Kenya into the Shanta portfolio and accelerating progress on the ground with plans to begin infill drilling and to further delineate the resource potential.”
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