JSE-listed gold miner, Gold Fields, on Tuesday said it would dispose of its 51 percent controlling shareholding in Canteras del Hallazgo (CDH), the firm that manages the Chucapaca project in southern Peru, for the price of $81 million.
Gold Fields said it would sell this stake to a joint venture partner in the Chucapaca project, Compañía de Minas Buenaventura (Buenaventura), Peru’s biggest listed precious metals firm.
Buenaventura would pay for the stake concurrently with the execution of the agreement and a 1.5 percent net smelter royalty on future sales of gold, copper and silver produced in the current Chucapaca concession, Gold Fields said.
Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields, said the royalty agreement gives Gold Fields future benefits. “We see Buenaventura, with its local expertise and experience, advancing this project fairly quickly,” Holland said.
“The sale of our stake is in line with our strategy of focusing on growing cash flow and moving away from greenfields exploration and new project development as a strategy for growth, in favour of the acquisition of in-production ounces and near-mine exploration and development,” Holland added.
In June this year, Gold Fields sold its 85 percent interest in the Yanfolila project in Mali to a London-listed Hummingbird Resources for $20 million in the form of Hummingbird shares. Earlier this year it also disposed of its interest in the Talas project in Kyrgyzstan.
Roque Benavides, CEO of Buenaventura, said Chucapaca offered a critical potential to continue growing in terms of gold resources and future production.
“This acquisition fits perfectly with Buenaventura’s expertise to develop underground mining operations that will permit the maximization of shareholders’ value, adding precious metal resources to our portfolio,” Benavides said.
