New Gold (TSX: NGD) is selling its $1.8 billion Blackwater gold project in British Columbia, Canada, to Artemis Gold (TSX-V ARTG) for C$190 million (about $141m) in cash.
The Toronto-based miner will receive a gold stream on 8% gold produced from Blackwater. That total will be reduced to 4% once the company has received 280,000 ounces of gold.
As part of the deal, New Gold will acquire as much as 9.9% of Artemis’ common shares for C$20 million at the deal closing.
Blackwater is a proposed open-pit gold and silver mine located 160 km southwest of Prince George.
Currently in the exploration phase, the project has 8.2 million ounces of gold in proven and probable mineral reserve, and 60.8 million ounces silver. In the Measured and Indicated category, Blackwater holds 1.4 million ounces gold and 8.7 million ounces silver in reserve.
As proposed, the Blackwater gold project would produce 60,000 tonnes per day of gold and silver ore, over a mine life of 17 years. The project could create up to 1,500 jobs during construction and 495 during operations, according to New Gold’s figures.
More to come…