The Northern Miner February 1 2021 Issue 3

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MONETA PORCUPINE ACQUIRES O3 MINING’S GARRISON PROJECT / 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM

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Eldorado to buy QMX Gold for US$105 million M&A

| Acquires additional assets in Abitibi Greenstone Belt

BY CECILIA JAMASMIE

Robert Friedland delivers a keynote address on the first day of the AME Remote Roundup conference. AME

E

Robert Friedland opens Remote Roundup AME 2021

| Talks about green economy, blockchain technology and more

BY ALISHA HIYATE Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Mining Journal and Diamonds in Canada

T

he Association for Mineral Exploration opened up its Remote Roundup — its first virtual conference in the event’s 38-year history — with special guest speakers that included a keynote talk

“IN OUR WORLD, THE GEOLOGISTS ARE THE GODS.” ROBERT FRIEDLAND, EXECUTIVE CO-CHAIRMAN, IVANHOE MINES

from Robert Friedland, founder and executive co-chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX: IVN; US-OTC: IVPAF). Speaking from Singapore, where

the mining entrepreneur (and previously frequent traveller) noted he has been “stuck” for the past 10 months, Friedland’s address touched on a number of hot topics, including ESG, increasing demand for battery minerals for the green economy, and the importance of junior mining companies. Starting with the current state of affairs for miners, Friedland noted that investors have largely abandoned mining and flocked to the tech space, notably investments in broadband internet, the cloud, and other disruptive technologies over the past 20 years. “The mining industry has been down for such a long time that most participants forgot what ‘up’ looks like,” he quipped. But Friedland said miners would soon have their “revenge,” noting that many disruptive technologies heavily rely on metals. He added that now that the world has gone through the “profound shock” of Covid-19, people are realizing that there will be huge demand for certain metals in a post-Covid world. “This begins the era of the revenge of the miner.” At the heart of his optimism for the mining industry is the belief that governments and businesses are only at the beginning of their investments in the green economy and electrification. See AME 2021 / 7

ROSS BEATY TALKS ESG / 6

MINING.com

ldorado Gold (TSX: ELD; NYSE:EGO) is buying QMX Gold Corp. (TSXV: QMX) by acquiring all the shares it doesn’t already own in the Quebec-focused explorer, in a deal worth $132 million (US$105 million). The friendly acquisition will see Eldorado, which currently owns about 68.13 million shares of QMX or roughly 17% of the junior, paying each QMX shareholder 7.5¢ in cash and 0.02 of an Eldorado common share. The deal represents a 39.5% premium to the closing price of QMX shares on the TSX Venture Exchange on January 20. Once the transaction is closed, QMX shareholders will own about 2.8% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Eldorado. George Burns, Eldorado’s president and CEO, said the deal will expand the company’s footprint and landholdings in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt by about 550%. “The transaction is consistent with our strategy of pursuing growth at Lamaque in Quebec, a high-quality jurisdiction,” Burns said in a news release. “QMX’s highly prospective land package is ideally located immediately adjacent to our current Lamaque operation and associated exploration projects in the heart of the Val d’Or gold district.” The Vancouver-based gold major also noted that the acquisition of QMX adds a pipeline of additional organic opportunities close to its Lamaque gold mine, which can be exploited by leveraging existing infrastructure. The companies said that they are working towards closing the transaction in late March or early April. Eldorado is in the midst of building a US$24 million tunnel at Lamaque, its only Canadian operation, which will allow the company to grow production and reduce energy use. The miner, which kicked off commercial production at Lamaque in 2019, has said the fully permitted decline project will connect the Sigma mill and the 405-metre level of the Triangle mine. Expected to be finished in the first half of 2022, the tunnel will eliminate re-handling and transport of the ore (a roughly 26-km round trip) from the Triangle mine to the mill,

reducing carbon emissions, costs and removing haulage traffic from public roads. It is also expected to cut energy requirements for mine ventilation. Kerry Smith, an analyst who covers Eldorado Gold for Haywood Securities, has a buy rating on the stock and price target of $24 per share. At presstime in Toronto Eldorado was trading at $13.98 per share within a 52-week trading range of $6.29 and $18.90 per share. “The friendly acquisition of QMX will add 200 sq. km to Eldorado’s land package in the Abitibi Greenstone belt, located immediately east of Eldorado’s producing Lamaque operation,” he commented in a research note to clients. “The property is a strategic land package for Lamaque, and hosts a modest resource at Bonnefond along with many under-explored gold showings. We expect Eldorado’s focus will be to continue drilling this extensive package including laterally and at depth at Bonnefond.” Smith noted that Bonnefond is See M & A / 6 PM40069240


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