Via Minera30 Oct 2023 10:49
October 29, 2023.- The Australian company SolGold, which operates here with four subsidiaries and has approximately one hundred concessions under its control, officially joined the group of mining companies that are trying to sell their assets in Ecuador or have suspended investments. in the country, while they continue with their procedures before the authorities of the sector.
Last Wednesday, SolGold (LON: SOLG) released a statement in which it reported that it was moving forward with the possible sale of its Cascabel copper-gold project in Ecuador, having held talks with more than 20 "highly credible" interested groups.
He said that of the group of companies that have signed confidentiality agreements for the purchase and sale operation, at least five of them, with real interest in the project, have made visits to the place where the deposits are located. These five companies have been the first to arrive at the place since there are already many other visits scheduled on the agenda.
“Cascabel enjoys undeniable recognition as an important strategic asset with a high-quality resource. I firmly believe that Cascabel will one day become a multi-generational mine and contribute substantially to the Ecuadorian economy,” stated Scott Caldwell, CEO and President.
"The external groups evaluating the project are being very diligent in their review as they move through various stages of their internal processes," he added.
“In parallel, we continue to advance and de-risk Cascabel to position it as a turnkey asset,” he stated.
The statement said work plans for 2024 are now funded, with no additional funding needed in the near term, thanks to a combined $86 million investment from Osisko Gold Royalties (TSX, NYSE: OR) and Jiangxi Copper.
Reference is also made to the actions of the company's new administration, aimed at being more realistic and positioning themselves in the mining world as what they are: a junior with pretensions.
To make things better, the president of SolGold came to live in Ecuador and once on the ground, he laid off more than 600 workers. The workforce has been reduced to 282 employees, previously it was 894.
Caldwell reported that, since his appointment to the top job nearly a year ago, he had implemented a “hard reset” for the organization. In a few months of management he can show some achievements.
Three months ago, he obtained final agreement on the terms for a 33-year contract, protected by an international arbitration clause, under which he would pay, starting in 2025, some USD 75 million in advance royalties.
That time he said that starting in 2025 he would invest between USD 2,700 and USD 3,000 million to build the Cascabel copper mine, that the process would take about five years and would generate 3,700 direct jobs.
The mine would enter production in 2030 and would be the third large-scale mine in Ecuador, along with Fruta del Norte (gold) and Mirad
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