Canadian mining company SSR Mining has purchased a 40% stake in the Hod Maden gold-copper project in north-eastern Turkey, along with operatorship of the project.
The stake will be bought from Lidya Mines and Horizon Copper, which respectively own 70% and 30% of the project.
SSR will pay a total of $270m to acquire the stake in Hod Maden, which includes $120m paid upfront at closing on 8 May 2023 for a 10% stake. The balance of $150m will be made in structured milestone payments to purchase the remaining 30% stake.
SSR Mining has now assumed the sole operatorship of Hod Maden, and is tasked with project development, construction and operations. With a 13-year mine life, the Hod Maden project has a production capacity of two million ounces of gold and 255 million pounds of copper.
For SSR Mining, the transaction is projected to generate an expected attributable 80,000 gold equivalent ounces and $66m in cash flow annually.
SSR Mining president and CEO Rod Antal said: “We have been closely monitoring Hod Maden for over seven years as it has progressed through critical development and permitting milestones, largely de-risking the project as it approaches a construction decision in 2024. Our due diligence team was complimentary as to the detail and quality of work completed so far on the project.
“Following our review and after discussions with our joint venture partners, we believe there are several positive operational value levers, as well as exploration potential beyond the existing life-of-mine plan that was presented in the 2021 feasibility study. We will now spend the next 12 months updating the existing technical report for these value-enhancing opportunities, as well as to account for changes in market conditions.”
After the completion of milestone payments, SSR will hold a 40% stake, with Lidya Mines and Horizon each owning 30% of the project. Horizon acquired the 30% stake from Sandstorm Gold last August.
Source: Mining Technology
