El Salvador president proposes bill to overturn metals mining ban
In 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban forms of metals mining.
Canada’s Endeavour Mining (TSX: EDV), West Africa’s top gold producer, began trading in London on Monday under the same ticker symbol it has in Toronto — EDV.
The move makes the company the largest pure play gold miner listed on the premium segment of the London Stock Exchange, with expected annual production above 1.5 million ounces of gold from seven operating mines in three countries — Senegal, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire.
Endeavour said the London listing marked the start of the next phase of the company’s evolution, as it will give it access to a deeper pool of capital to help it consolidate its recent steep growth.
“Over the past few years, we have built a resilient business, with a high-quality asset base made up of low cost, long-mine life assets, attractive development projects and additional exploration potential,” president and chief executive Sébastien de Montessus, said in the statement.
Shares in the company traded as high as 1,786.27 GBX and ended the day at 1,705 GBX.
The company said it was not intending to raise capital in conjunction with its new listing.
The London exchange lost its top gold company in 2019, when Randgold Resources delisted after being acquired by Barrick Gold.
Endeavour has said it aims at filling the gap left by Randgold, which had a similar portfolio in in West Africa, which is the world’s second-largest gold producing region.
With a market capitalization of C$7.63 billion (about $6.3bn), the miner is now amongst the most valuable precious metals companies currently listed on the LSE, including Russia’s duo Polyus (LON: PLZL) and Polymetal International (LON: POLY), Mexico-focused Fresnillo (LON: FRES) and fellow Canadian miner Yamana Gold (LON: AUY).
Endeavour, which is also one of the world’s top 10 gold miners thanks to the acquisition of Teranga Gold in November, is targeting shareholder distributions of at least $500 million through 2023, payable semi-annually.
