• Alberto Calderon, CEO of Angle-Gold Ashani

AngloGold Ashanti Limited has entered into a definitive agreement with Coeur Mining Inc. to acquire 100 per cent of Coeur’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Coeur Sterling Inc., which owns neighbouring properties, to AngloGold Ashanti in the Beatty district of southern Nevada, USA.

The properties to be acquired in the transaction include Coeur’s C-Horst, SNA, Secret Pass and Daisy ore bodies, as well as the decommissioned Sterling Mine and all tenements that surround these properties.

AngloGold Ashanti U.S.A. Holdings Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti, will acquire all shares of Coeur Sterling for $150m in cash when the transaction closes.

“This acquisition further enhances the value proposition we are building in the Beatty District,” AngloGold Ashanti Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alberto Calderon, said in a statement issued this week.

“The addition of these properties consolidates our ownership position in one of North America’s most promising new gold districts, and gives us the ability to develop it in a way that will realise its full potential for the benefit of all stakeholders,” the CEO added.

According to the statement, Coeur currently estimates that the properties to be acquired in this transaction have a mineral resource of 914,000oz.

“If, after additional exploration, AngloGold Ashanti declares a mineral resource from these properties that is greater than 3.5Moz, AngloGold Ashanti would make the deferred consideration payment of an additional $50m. This deferred consideration would be made 30 days after that Mineral Resource declaration is made,” the statement said.

AngloGold Ashanti holds several exploration and development assets (North Bullfrog, Silicon, Merlin, Mother Lode, Transvaal and Rhyolite) in the Beatty District.