Canadian gold exploration company Osino Resources Corp has completed the acquisition of Ondundu gold exploration property in Namibia from B2Gold for a total consideration of N$257.3 million.
Under the terms of the sale agreement Osino issued 11,630,628 of its common shares to B2Gold to satisfy an aggregate consideration of N$150 million to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of Razorback Gold Mining Company. Razorback owns 100% of the exclusive prospecting license 3195 covering 19,969 hectares located approximately 130km northwest of Osino’s Twin Hills Gold Project in Namibia, together with all technical information and other books and records in respect thereof.
The remaining N$107.5 million of the aggregate N$257 million purchase price may also be settled through more shares in lieu of cash.
“We are very pleased to have closed the acquisition of the Ondundu Gold Project. B2Gold’s partnership in this process and their agreement to accept Osino shares instead of cash to purchase the Project will enable us to comfortably execute our development plans while maintaining a prudent financial position in a challenging market environment,” Heye Daun, Osino’s President and CEO said.
“We are on track to publish a maiden resource for Ondundu after the publication of the Twin Hills PFS and confirmatory metallurgical testwork is ongoing. Osino’s vision for Ondundu is to demonstrate a feasible mining and process route involving gravity pre-concentration at Ondundu with subsequent leaching and further processing at Twin Hills. We therefore feel confident in the additional value Ondundu brings to our portfolio and look forward to providing further updates in due course.”
This comes after an amended agreed, saw the companies agreeing that the purchase price for the Ondundu gold exploration property be settled through more shares in lieu of cash. Ondundu is an advanced stage gold exploration project located 250km northwest of Windhoek.
The project was first discovered in 1917 and has a long history of mining and exploration. First gold was noted in the area in 1917 by European explorers and between 1922 and 1964 approximately 20 000oz of gold were recovered by small scale miners on various mining claims in what is now known as the Ondundu Main Zone.
More than 55 000m of Reverse Circulation (RC) and diamond drilling has historically been completed on the project, including approximately 36 000m of diamond and RC drilling completed by B2Gold between 2015 and 2020.Osino has a large ground position of approximately 6 700km2 located within Namibia’s prospective Damara sedimentary mineral belt, mostly in proximity to and along strike of the producing Navachab and Otjikoto gold mines.
The company is actively exploring a range of gold prospects and targets along the belt by utilizing a portfolio approach geared towards discovery, targeting gold mineralization that fits the broad orogenic gold model.B2Gold has invested N$161.2 million (US$10 million) in exploration expenditure between 2015 and 2021, according to the deal announcement.
B2Gold owns and operates the Otjikoto Mine, currently the largest gold producer in the country, which it acquired through a merger with Auryx Gold Corp. in December 2011.
