Argonaut Acquiring Prodigy in Friendly Transaction


Exploratory drilling activity at Prodigy Gold’s Magino property, site of a past-producing underground gold mine
located 40 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario.
Argonaut Gold and Prodigy Gold have agreed to the acquisition of Prodigy by Argonaut in a transaction that values Prodigy equity at about C$341 million. Prodigy is a Vancouver-based exploration and development company whose lead asset is the past-producing Magino underground gold mine located 40 km northeast of Wawa, Ontario. The project has an indicated resource of 6.25 million oz of gold in 223.5 million mt grading 0.87 g/mt gold and an inferred resource of 355,190 oz of gold in 13.8 million mt grading 0.80 g/mt gold at a cutoff grade of 0.35 g/mt gold.

Argonaut Gold’s primary gold assets are located in Mexico and include the El Castillo mine in Durango state, the La Colorada mine and exploration project in Sonora, and the advanced-stage San Antonio exploration project in Baja California Sur, as well as a number of other gold exploration properties. In 2012, El Castillo is expected to produce 84,000 to 85,000 oz of gold, and La Colorado is expected to produce 17,000 to 18,000 oz of gold.

A preliminary economic assessment (PEA) of Prodigy’s Magino project, com-pleted in December 2011, outlined an ambitious open-pit project that would pro-duce an average of 249,300 oz/y of gold over an 11-year mine life. Year-one gold production was projected at about 350,000 oz at a mined grade of 1.57 g/mt gold. Pre-production capital costs were estimated at C$405.6 million. Payback period was estimated at 1.9 years.

The Magino mine was operated by Muscocho Explorations from 1988 until the summer of 1992.

An updated PEA for Argonaut’s San Antonio project, announced in Septem-ber 2012, outlines an open-pit project that would produce an average of 69,700 oz/y of gold over a 15-year mine life. Capital expenditure to develop the pro-ject is estimated at $84 million.

As featured in Womp 2012 Vol 11 - www.womp-int.com