Goldcorp is planning a $2.6-billion acquisition of Osisko Mining Corp., which has gold properties in the Thunder Bay and Kirkland Lake areas. The company announced its intentions on Jan. 13.
Osisko’s Northern Ontario properties include Hammond Reef, located 23 km north of Atikokan. More than 330,000 metres of drilling have been done on the property, and there are 1.75 million ounces of global inferred resource.
Its Kirkland Lake property includes 240 square kilometres of land, including more than 30 contiguous properties. The primary focus is in Gauthier Township where the company had been advancing five of its 100 per cent owned gold properties (Upper Beaver, McBean- Anoki, Bidgood and Upper Canada) towards production. The company had been working towards outlining a mineral resource of 8 million ounces of gold to feed a central milling facility to be constructed on the Upper Canada site.
Osisko additionally operates the Malartic gold mine in Quebec and has exploration interests in Mexico.
"From a financial and strategic perspective, this offer represents a compelling transaction that is consistent with our strategy of improving the overall quality of our portfolio," said Chuck Jeannes, Goldcorp’s president and CEO, in a news release. "Goldcorp shareholders will benefit from a long-lived, high-quality gold mine with low all-in sustaining costs capable of generating long-term free cash flows.”
“We are particularly pleased to be making a further substantial investment in the Province of Québec, one of the best mining jurisdictions in the world,” he added. “With our world-class Éléonore project in Northern Québec due to commence production later this year, Goldcorp will be the largest gold producer in the province with the resources to continue building collaborative, long-term relationships while leveraging corporate and regional synergies."
In response, Osisko said no formal offer had been made, and it would not comment further on the announcement until the company completed its review.
