AngloGold Ashanti (AU) CEO Alberto Calderon said last week that he spent much of his first three years as CEO getting "its house in order." Calderon announced last week that his primary focus moving forward is "scouring for acquisition targets" claiming there are "a lot of interesting strategic possibilities" for the company. He announced AU's first new acquisition last week: a $2.5 billion purchase of Centamin plc (LSE: CEY), the owner of Egypt's largest gold mine. He also hinted that more acquisitions are on the way.
Calderon is focused on acquiring Tier 1 gold assets and consolidating Tier 1 gold districts. His first acquisition as AU CEO was announced on September 13, 2021, when he agreed to acquire Corvus Gold in a US$370 million cash deal that valued the full company at US$450 million. Corvus Gold was the largest owner of gold resources in the Beatty Gold District where AU had previously made a huge discovery at their adjacent Silicon Gold Deposit. As of today, AU's Silicon Gold Deposit has a total gold resource (mostly indicated but some inferred) of 4.22 million oz grading 0.83 g/t gold.
Most recently, AU made a larger gold discovery in the Beatty Gold District at its Merlin Gold Deposit where it established a maiden inferred resource of 9.05 million oz grading 0.99 g/t gold. With AU's Silicon and Merlin Gold Deposits directly adjacent to each other, they will be able to share heap leach pads and other infrastructure, so AU has combined them into the Expanded Silicon Gold Project containing an estimated 13.27 million oz of oxide gold! Expanded Silicon is still many years away from production and AU for many good reasons is anxious to begin producing gold in the district immediately!
Augusta Gold (TSX: G) has just announced extremely strong Feasibility Study results for its adjacent Reward Gold Project, which is on the same fault system with similar high grades of oxide gold!
There are only two gold projects in the Beatty Gold District with Feasibility Studies already completed:
AngloGold Ashanti (AU)'s North Bullfrog Gold Project Feasibility Study has established a Proven & Probable Gold Reserve of 1,000,000 oz grading 0.43 g/t gold.
Augusta Gold (TSX: G)'s Reward Gold Project Feasibility Study has established a Proven & Probable Gold Reserve of 370,000 oz grading 0.86 g/t oxide gold.
Augusta Gold's Reward gold grades are very high for an oxide gold heap leach project and similar to AU's gold grades at their newly discovered adjacent Silicon and Merlin Gold Deposits. Augusta Gold's gold grades at Reward are 2X greater than AU's gold grades at North Bullfrog.
Past performance is not an indicator of future returns. NIA is not an investment advisor and does not provide investment advice. Always do your own research and make your own investment decisions. NIA's President has purchased 224,200 shares of G in the open market and intends to buy more shares. This message is meant for informational and educational purposes only and does not provide investment advice.
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