Newcrest Mining has sold a host of royalties spanning both producing and exploration mining projects in Australia and beyond to Altus Strategies and AlphaStream.
In a deal worth $US37.5 million ($52.6 million), Altus and AlphaStream will now own the rights to 24 Newcrest royalties, subject to Altus financing.
The transaction will occur across two phases and includes royalties relating to the Bonikro gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire and its pushback five project, the South Kalgoorlie operations in Western Australia and the Ballarat gold mine in Victoria.
The deal also includes royalties connected to 21 development and exploration projects across Australia.
Newcrest managing director and chief executive officer Sandeep Biswas said the transaction came as the company consistently looked to finetune its portfolio.
“We remain focussed on capital discipline across our whole business and see the sale of these royalties as an opportunity to unlock value for Newcrest shareholders in response to continued competition for royalty investments.”
Newcrest sold its 89.9 per cent stake in the Bonikro mine to a consortium of F&M Gold Resources and Africa Finance Corporation in 2017. The deal was worth $81 million.
South Kalgoorlie was one of Newcrest’s flagship operations up until 2001 when the company divested its interest to Hill 50 Gold.
After changing hands a number of times since then, Northern Star Resources purchased South Kalgoorlie from Westgold Resources in 2018 for $80 million and remains the current owner.
Late last week, Newcrest announced its exploration efforts at the Havieron copper-gold joint venture project in Western Australia continue to produce the goods.
The project, which Newcrest operates alongside Greatland Gold, has delivered another round of high-grade drilling results, with 19 of 24 recent drill holes returning significant mineralisation.
Drilling has been focussed on potential resource growth at the South East Crescent, Northern Breccia and Eastern Breccia zones, with infill drilling at South East Crescent looking to support the potential conversion of inferred to indicated resources.