Canada puts its big miners off limits just as M&A is heating up
Foreign takeovers of mining companies have been a touchy topic ever since a wave of deals 18 years ago took out some of the country’s biggest players.
Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology (NASDAQ: FMST) announced on Tuesday it plans to spin out its gold and silver assets based in New Mexico into a new company named Rio Grande Resources (RGR).
It is expected that Foremost will retain an interest in RGR, with the remaining RGR shares being distributed to company shareholders on a pro rata basis relative to their holdings.
Shares in Foremost Lithium shot up 2.1% by 11:10 a.m. ET on the Nasdaq, where it began listing in August 2023, for a market capitalization of $11.9 million.
The Winston group of properties in Sierra county is situated over approximately 12 sq. km. of drill-ready site that contains three past-producing mines in Ivanhoe, Emporia and Little Granite.
Each mine produced high-grade gold and silver during full-time operations over a century ago, underscored by Little Granite, which produced high-value ore in some of its underground shoots.
The property was last drilled in the 1980s at multiple targets, highlighted by a seven-hole program at Little Granite that hit meaningful gold and silver values in each hole.
The most recent work was a geologic reconnaissance sampling program in 2021, which returned results of up to 66.5 g/t gold and 4,610 g/t silver.
“The Winston group of properties has yet to realize its full value and this plan of arrangement will offer the time and attention the property deserves,” Foremost CEO Jason Barnard said in a statement.
“These past-producing gold and silver mines are within an extremely favourable geological environment and with gold recently hitting over $2,400/ounce, we also find ourselves in a favourable precious metals market,” he said.
Meanwhile, with the spin-off, Foremost will focus solely on its material lithium assets, which include four flagships in Snow Lake, Manitoba, and one in a known active lithium camp in Quebec.
