Osisko Gold grabs Barkerville, creates North Spirit Discovery

Canada’s Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX, NYSE: OR) is buying all the shares it doesn’t already own in fellow miner Barkerville Gold Mines, in a deal valued at C$338 million (about $255m).

The Montreal-based miner said each Barkerville
shareholder would receive 0.0357 common share of Osisko for each share of
Barkerville held, implying a value of C$0.58/share, based on Osisko’s Sept. 20
closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The deal gives it access to Barkerville’s
touted Cariboo gold project in British Columbia, which Osisko sees as a “potentially
world-class asset” with significant infrastructure in place.

“Osisko and Barkerville will take advantage of their combined mine building, exploration, permitting, development and construction expertise to advance the Cariboo gold project,” the company’s chief executive chair of the board, Sean Roosen, said in the statement

The company noted it would fund planned work through available liquidity, future revenue from royalties and streams, project debt as well as outside private equity and joint venture (JV) capital through the creation of a new company aimed to become a resource development and finance firm — the North Spirit Discovery Group.

Earlier this month, the miner announced it was buying fellow Canadian Stornoway Diamond, which has filed for bankruptcy protection.

Osisko also announces the creation
of North Spirit Discovery Group, which aims to become a leading resource
development and finance company with the assistance of joint venture partners
and/or private equity capital.

Osisko, formed in 2014, is a
royalty company, which means that it seeks agreements giving it the right to a
share of income from mines operated by other companies.

Its primary focus is the North American precious metal offtake market, with more than 135 royalties and a portfolio of resource companies such as a 16.6% interest in Osisko Mining Inc. and a 19.9% interest in Falco Resources Ltd.