AFRICA NEWS
La Mancha to explore buying Barrick Gold mines in Africa
La Mancha intends to buy assets each with a mine life of at least 10 years and with annual production of 150 000–250 000oz.
Dutch firm La Mancha Group is
reportedly planning to acquire
underground gold mines in
Africa from Canadian mining
giant Barrick Gold.
La Mancha Group chairman
Naguib Sawiris was reported
by Reuters as saying that the
acquisition will be explored after
Barrick completes its
USD6.1-billion merger with
Randgold Resources.
8
JANUARY 2019
Speaking at the Mines and
Money conference in London, on
26 November 2018, Sawiris said:
“[The Barrick disposals] might
be in geographies where we
are very strong and that makes
sense for us. We can extend the
mines’ lives.”
La Mancha intends to buy
assets each with a mine life
of at least 10 years and with
annual production of 150 000–
250 000oz. The company already
has investments in Endeavour
Mining, Evolution Mining, and
in October 2018, the gold miner
purchased a 30% interest in
Ghana-focused Golden Star
Resources.
According to Sawiris, Golden
Star will look to buy assets in
east Africa, particularly Sudan.
Underlining the need for
greater consolidation in the
mining industry, Sawiris was
quoted by Reuters as saying,
“We believe that the problem is
the whole mining industry needs
consolidation — proof is that the
two big ones decided to merge
but what about the smaller ones.
There is more sense and more
urgency for the smaller mining
companies to come together
than for the bigger ones.”
Source: Mining-technology.com
www.plantonline.co.za