Gold miner B2Gold will increase its shareholding in gold mining subsidiary Razorback Gold Mining to 100% by exercising a call option.
Under the call option, it will buy gold and uranium miner Forsys Metals’ 51% shareholding in Razorback, which holds the Ondundu exclusive prospecting licence (EPL) in Namibia for base, rare and precious metals exploration.
Forsys said it was pleased about the acquisition of Razorback’s shares by B2Gold.
Exercising of the call option will cost B2Gold $7.72-million, comprising the call option price of $8.5-million less the fees paid by B2Gold for the extension of the option period, which amounted to $250 000 and less the other payments made by B2Gold to buy out interests in Ondundu amounting to $533 882.
On January 19, B2Gold said it had enjoyed a “very successful year” for exploration in 2021. It revealed that it was planning to lean into “aggressive exploration” this year, with a budget of about $65-million, including a record $29-million allocated to the company's ongoing grassroots exploration programmes.
Discovered in 1917, EPL 3195 is located in the northern zone of the Neoproterozoic Damara Orogen in north-central Namibia. Ondundu is a sediment-hosted, structurally controlled, mesothermal gold deposit belonging to a family of deposits that includes some of the world’s most significant gold resources.