Aim-listed exploration and development company Empire Metals announced on Monday that it had sealed an agreement to sell its share in the Bolnisi copper/gold project, in Georgia, to TSX-V-listed Candelaria Mining for C$7-million.
Empire executives Mike Struthers and Neil O’Brien would join Candelaria as CEO and chairperson, respectively, while remaining nonexecutive directors of the London-listed company.
Struthers said that he looked forward to joining the Candelaria team and stated that he would personally continue to lead efforts to resolve permitting issues in Georgia.
“Candelaria is a growth story with some excellent gold assets in Mexico, including the Pinos gold project which is about to start construction and is scheduled to commence production in 12 to 14 months. It has a strong technical and operations team on the ground in Mexico. Empire shareholders will benefit from the future production and growth of Candelaria, whilst retaining exposure to the assets in Georgia on which we will continue with our efforts to unlock value,” he said.
Empire would continue to develop the Eclipse gold project in Australia. The company has an option to acquire 75% of the Eclipse project.