Drilling at the Bullfrog property. Credit: Augusta Gold.
AngloGold Ashanti (JSE: ANG; NYSE: AU) agreed to buy Canadian explorer Augusta Gold (TSX: G; US-OTC: AUGG) for about C$152 million ($111 million) in cash to further expand its Nevada footprint. Augusta shares surged.
The C$1.70-a-share price represents a premium of about 28% over Tuesday’s closing price of Augusta Gold’s common stock on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the companies said in separate statements Wednesday. When compared with the volume-weighted average share price over the 20 days before the announcement of the transaction, the premium is 37%.
“This transaction is indicative of AngloGold’s camp-scale ambitions in the Beatty district of Nevada,” BMO Capital Markets mining analyst Raj Ray said in a note Wednesday.
The proposed deal marks another step in AngloGold Ashanti’s efforts to consolidate assets in and around the…
