The deal is a 29% premium to Friday’s closing share prices.

Bullion dropped the most since February last year, down as much as 2.5%.

Earlier this month, Ascot kicked off the commissioning process by feeding the first ore into the mill.

Proceeds will go towards the Diablillos project in Argentina, which recently advanced to the pre-feasibility stage.

The company is acquiring Labrador Gold’s Kingsway asset located nearby its Queensway gold project in Newfoundland.

The Rupice deposit is part of Adriatic's recently opened Vares silver mine, the first operation to open in Europe in over a decade.

Juicing gold's rally is unrelenting Chinese demand, as retail shoppers, fund investors, futures traders and even the central bank look to bullion as a store of value in uncertain times.