Mining’s old guard needs strong medicine
A new report details subpar investor returns in the mining industry over the last decade, particularly big cap diversified companies which have not adapted to new realities.
Tucano Gold entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Mina Tucano and of Tucano Resources Mineração, subsidiaries of Great Panther Mining, each for consideration of BRL1.00, along with the submission of a proposed payment plan to Mina Tucano’s creditors.
In a media statement, Tucano Gold said that if the plan is approved and confirmed by the court, Q4’23 could see the restart of operations at Mina Tucano, located in Brazil’s northeastern state of Amapá.
The gold and silver mine was placed on care and maintenance in September 2022 by cash-strapped Great Panther while its local subsidiary underwent a court-supervised arrangement with its creditors.
The Tucano mine is hosted on a 1,973 square kilometre land package on the highly prospective Vila Nova Greenstone Belt of the Guyana Shield. The operation includes a 3.5-million-tonne-a-year carbon-in-leach plant and has produced more than 1.5-million ounces of gold since it was opened in 2005.
Great Panther published an updated 43-101 report on June 8, 2022, with proven and probable reserves of 12.9Mt at 1.59 g/t for 656,000 ounces. Its measured, indicated and inferred resource is 1.8 million ounces.
“We are pleased to be working with Mina Tucano’s team led by Julio Carneiro and Joter Siqueria who have our full support to reopen operations in Q4. We expect Mina Tucano to gradually increase annual production towards 100,000 ounces over the medium term,” the media brief states.
“Having successfully established Pilar Gold Inc and Laiva Gold Inc, the Tucano Gold team has gained a wealth of experience, giving Mina Tucano access to greater sources of funding and shared technical expertise. With a combined mill capacity of 7.3Mtpa, we are on track to achieve 300,000 ounces of annual production from Tucano Gold, Laiva Gold and Pilar Gold by 2025.”
According to the release, Tucano Gold’s management believes the time is right to buy a large, long-life gold mine like Mina Tucano before the next upward cycle in gold in 2024.
