St Barbara CEO Bob Vassie
KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner St Barbara is not averse to striking another merger or acquisition deal, after closing its A$768-million takeover bid for TSX-V listed Atlantic Gold, MD and CEO Bob Vassie said on Monday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Diggers & Dealers conference, in Kalgoorlie, Vassie said that there was still considerable opportunity for consolidation in the gold industry.
“If you can stitch a couple of companies of our size together, you can be in the ASX-100, and if you have a good reserve life out ahead of you, that would put you in a whole different game, investment wise.”
In terms of asset acquisition, Vassie said that St Barbara’s focus would remain within North America, noting that their projections suggested that Canada could overtake Australia in terms of gold production.
“We already have a beachhead there, we have a team that knows what they are doing, they know the assets that might come up for sale, they know the early stage exploration projects and the exploration ground. There are still very good opportunities in Canada, especially small early stage opportunities that could wither on the vine because there is no money coming into the markets,” Vassie said.
He noted that with St Barbara having stabilised its production portfolio with three assets producing, the company could spend more time on potentially developing early stage assets.
St Barbara’s acquisition of Atlantic Gold followed fellow Australian miner Newcrest Mining’s acquisition of a copper and gold mine project in Canada earlier in the year. Newcrest in May bought a 70% interest in the Red Chris mine in British Columbia from Imperial Metals.
Australian miner Northern Star has also in recent years branched out to North America with the acquisition of the Pogo project, in Alaska.