Barsele Minerals (TSXV: BME) is buying Gold Line Resources (TSXV: GLDL) in an all-share deal to consolidate projects in Sweden and Finland, the companies said on Wednesday.
Gold Line gets 0.7382 of a Barsele share for each of its own. A rough calculation using Tuesday’s closing share price shows the deal is valued at about C$6.6 million ($4.8m).
Barsele is advancing a northern Sweden gold project in a 55%-45% partnership in favour of Agnico Eagle Mines, (TSX: AEM; NYSE: AEM) which is the operator. Gold Line has three early-stage projects sitting on more than 1,040 sq. km of properties in Sweden and the Oijärvi gold project in Finland, formerly held by Agnico.
The deal, creating one of the largest gold exploration holdings in Scandinavia, gives Barsele heft to seek more financing and cut costs. It will also see Gold Line CEO Taj Singh become CEO of Barsele.
“The Barsele team has done a tremendous job advancing the Barsele project from an exploration stage project to a joint venture with Agnico,” Singh said in the news release. “This combination gives Gold Line shareholders a more immediate re-rating and return potential through the advanced-stage Barsele project, while maintaining exposure to the new discovery potential across our district-scale gold exploration portfolio.”
The Barsele gold project, about 600 km north of Stockholm is estimated to produce 324,000 oz. gold from 5.5 million indicated tonnes grading 1.8 grams gold per tonne, according to a 2019 resource estimate filed according to Canadian regulations. It has 25.5 million inferred tonnes at 2.5 grams gold for 2.1 million oz. gold.
Agnico became operator in 2015 and has drilled 433 holes over some 166,000 metres on the property. Agnico can earn an additional 15% in the project through the completion of a pre-feasibility study. Barsele isn’t required to help pay for costs until a pre-feasibility study is completed.
Barsele also plans to raise about C$1 million in a non-brokered private financing to fund exploration programs, it said on Wednesday.
Shares in Barsele fell 2¢ to 17¢ apiece on Wednesday morning in Toronto, valuing the company at C$23.8 million. Shares in Gold Line were unchanged at 12¢ each, valuing the company at C$4.4 million.
The new company’s property in Sweden runs along the Paleoproterozoic greenstone belt and covers more than 100 km of strike length of the regional Gold Line structural corridor. This belt hosts the development-stage Faboliden deposit and the past-producing Svartliden and Blaiken deposits. Gold Line is exploring the Paubäcken and Storjuktan projects.
Highlights of Paubäcken drill results include 22.5 metres grading 2.4 grams from 45 metres depth and 14.6 metres of 2.5 grams from 142 metres downhole in a program where just 600 metres of a 5-km structure has been tested, the company said.
In Finland, the Oijärvi project includes the Kylmäkangas gold-silver underground deposit with an indicated resource of 1 million tonnes grading 4.6 grams gold equivalent for 159,000 oz. of gold equivalent and an inferred resource of 1.6 million tonnes at 2.9 grams gold for 152,000 oz. of gold equivalent, according to a 2022 report.
“The Oijärvi project was purchased from Agnico in 2021 and significant opportunity exists for resource expansion and additional regional discoveries,” the company said.
