Genesis Minerals lifts, Focus Minerals soars following $250m deal
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More news: Genesis Minerals is trading higher after announcing it will buy the Laverton gold project in Western Australia from Focus Minerals, which has seen its share price nearly double, amid greater haven asset demand.
The numbers: Genesis’ share price was up 3.3% at $4.48 at 12:49pm AEST, while shares in small-cap Focus had rocketed 89.1% to $0.44.
The spot price of gold is also up after US President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose 50% tariffs on the European Union. Initially he said they would come into effect from 1 June, but this has since been pushed back to 9 July to allow additional time to negotiate a deal.
Genesis Minerals to buy WA gold project for $250 million
The news: Gold miner Genesis Minerals has agreed to buy the Laverton gold project in Western Australia from Focus Minerals, consolidating its holdings in the area.
The numbers: The miner will pay an upfront cash consideration of $250 million for Laverton, with the acquisition to be funded from existing cash and an upsized corporate debt facility. The deal is expected to be completed in early June.
The context: Genesis said the deal is in line with its accelerated growth strategy and could unlock significant synergies through the pairing of Laverton’s mineral deposits with processing infrastructure at its existing Leonara and Laverton operations.
The project, which has a global mineral resource of 4 million ounces, is located 30 kilometres from Genesis’ recently restarted 3 million tonnes per annum Laverton mill. It said with more ore available at Laverton, Genesis’ flagship Tower Hill deposit can potentially be processed at Leonora resulting in significantly lower operating costs.
The source: ASX
