Zijin Mining to take 9.9% stake in Montage Gold
As part of the deal, the Lundin Family Trust also agreed increase its stake in the company from 17.7% to 19.9%.
Oil and gas rights sales netted the B.C. government $115 million for the fiscal year just ending, which is about half of what they were in 2011 and 2012.
Revenue generated through bonus bids for March was $41 million through the sale of leases for 25 land parcels in Northeast B.C., according to the Ministry of Energy, Mines and Natural Gas.
Nineteen parcels were sold with an average price of approximately $3,550 per hectare.
That’s up compared with March 2012, but down by more than half on an annual basis. In March 2012, sales generated just $24.3 million. But sales were much higher for the 2011-2012 fiscal year at $287 million.
Energy Minister Rich Coleman said, “This month’s land sale is another sign that our natural gas is stimulating interest from both Canadian and international investors.”
That interest has, in fact, been tailing off in recent years, for two reasons: much of the most productive shale gas lands have already been locked up, and low natural gas prices have meant gas producers have been cutting back on investments.
The revenue generated from land sales in B.C.’s gas fields have fallen dramatically since 2008, a bonanza year that generated $2.66 billion for the province through land sales.
In 2011, sales had fallen to $222 million.
Although characterized as sales, the land is not actually sold. The province sells Crown land leases and drilling rights.
By Nelson Bennett
