PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Resolute Mining has struck a $13.7-million deal with fellow-listed Perseus Mining to divest of its 39-million shares in TSX-V listed Orca Gold.

The share sale would give Perseus a 15% interest in Orca Gold, which holds a a 70% interest in the Block 14 gold project in northern Sudan and a 31.5% interest in Montage Gold, which owns the Koné gold project in northern Côte d’Ivoire.

Perseus has agreed to provide Orca with a $5-million short-term loan facility, which Orca will use for working capital and for further exploration and development activities at Block 14. The Orca loan facility matures on June 30, 2022, with interest charged at a rate of 7.5% a year.

Prior to acquiring Resolute’s shares in Orca Gold, Perseus had engaged in exclusive discussions with Orca regarding a possible change of control transaction whereby Perseus would acquire all the outstanding securities of Orca.

While the discussions regarding a possible transaction were  continuing, any change of control transaction would be subject to, among other matters, the completion of outstanding due diligence including an assessment of the geopolitical situation in Sudan by Perseus and reaching agreement with Orca on definitive terms, Perseus told shareholders.

“The acquisition of the 15% interest in Orca provides Perseus with a pivotal position in Orca that gives us a platform from which to further evaluate what appears to be a very exciting potential growth opportunity,” Perseus’s MD and CEO Jeff Quartermaine said.

“Perseus has recently achieved an annualised gold production rate of 500 000 oz of gold per year from its three existing operating mines, and while it expects to be able to maintain this level of production based on exploration success around its existing gold mines, we are always seeking to identify value accretive inorganic growth opportunities. We believe that Orca could represent such an opportunity.”

Resolute, for its part, said that the sale, which had been priced at C$0.44 a share, was part of the company’s strategic focus on its core operating assets, and to strengthen its balance sheet.