American company Newmont Mining Corp. has announced it will purchase Goldcorp in a $10-billion deal, creating one of the world’s largest mining companies.
On Jan. 14, the companies announced Newmont would acquire all outstanding shares of Goldcorp in a stock-for-stock transaction. Newmont will acquire each Goldcorp share for 0.3280 of a Newmont share, which represents a 17 per cent premium.
“This combination will create the world’s leading gold business with the best assets, people, prospects and value-creation opportunities,” Newmont CEO Gary Goldberg said in a news release.
“We have a proven strategy and disciplined implementation plan to realize the full value of the combination, including an exceptional pool of talented mining professionals, stable and profitable gold production of six to seven million ounces over a decades-long time horizon, the sector’s largest gold reserve and resource base, and a leading project and exploration pipeline.”
In Canada, Goldcorp’s assets include Porcupine Gold Mines in Timmins, which comprises the Hoyle Pond underground mine and the Hollinger open-pit mine; Musselwhite Mine, a fly-in complex located 500 kilometres of Thunder Bay; and the Red Lake operations, which include the Red Lake and Campbell underground mining and processing complexes.
The Vancouver-headquartered company also has a number of development projects in the works, including Borden Lake, its first all-battery-electric mine, located near Chapleau; the Century project, a potential large-scale open pit mine and related processing facility in Timmins; and the Cochenour development project, a potential new source of ore located five kilometers from Red Lake.
Newmont, meanwhile, has a portfolio of assets in Africa, Australia, South America and the United States. The company is headquartered in Denver, Colo.
Newmont said the new company, to be known as Newmont Goldcorp, would target between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in divestitures over the next two years to “optimize gold production at a sustainable, steady-state level of six to seven million ounces annually.”
As part of the agreement, Newmont Goldcorp’s North American headquarters will be located in Vancouver, and Newmont said its board of directors and management would maintain a “significant Canadian presence.”
The company vowed to honour all of Goldcorp’s commitments to Indigenous communities “to ensure their interests are acknowledged and protected.”
Newmont also said it would invest in a “reinvigorated exploration program in Canada.”
Pending approval by shareholders of both companies and regulatory bodies, the transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2019.
More details on the merger are available here.