Zijin Buying, Buriticá Project in Colombia

Zijin Mining Group and Continental Gold announced in early December they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby Zijin will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Continental in an all-cash transaction valued at about C$1.4 billion. Continental’s primary asset is its underground Buriticá gold project in northwest Colombia. The project is scheduled to come into production during the first half of 2020 and is planned to produce an average of about 250,000 ounces per year (oz/y) of gold over a 14-year mine life at life-of-mine all-in sustaining costs of about US$600/oz.

Zijin Chairman Chen Jinghe said, “The Buriticá project in Antioquia, Colombia, is one of the largest and highest-grade gold projects in the world and represents a highly complementary addition to Zijin’s international asset portfolio. We believe the sizeable, high-grade mineral resource of 16.02 million metric tons (mt) at an average gold grade of 10.32 grams/mt presents excellent opportunities to expand production and extend mine life.

“Continental has successfully advanced and substantially de-risked the Buriticá project, with commercial production now clearly in sight and first gold pour expected in the first half of 2020. Continental also holds a sizeable and highly prospective land package in Colombia that, combined with the Buriticá project, provides Zijin with the leading position in an emerging, world-class, gold-producing region.

Newmont Goldcorp and directors and officers of Continental collectively holding approximately 21.5% of the outstanding Continental common shares have entered into voting support agreements to support the transaction. Ari Sussman, CEO and a director of Continental, said, “The all-cash offer at a significant premium to market is an excellent outcome for our shareholders and is a testament to the extraordinary effort of the Continental team and its stakeholders in pioneering a new and modern gold industry in Colombia. In the span of a decade, Continental has transformed the Buriticá project from a grassroots discovery into one of the world’s largest and highest-grade gold projects.

Zijin Mining is based in Fujian, China, and is a leading global mining company specializing in gold, copper and zinc. Listed on the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges, its main existing projects are distributed in 18 provinces in China and 11 overseas countries.

As featured in Womp 2020 Vol 01 - www.womp-int.com