Polymetal lifts stake in Veduga gold deposit to 74%

Polymetal International said it was lifting its stake in the Veduga gold deposit in Russia to 74.3% by taking a 31.7% interest in the property's licence holder Amikan, for $19.7m in Polymetal shares.

The value of Amikan's gross assets subject to the transaction (on a 100% share basis) was $ 66.8m million with an attributable reported pre-tax loss of $ 17.3m based on 2017 financial accounts, Polymetal said.

Polymetal described Veduga as a high-grade refractory gold deposit with reserves of 1.4m oz of gold at 4.8 grammes per tonne and additional mineral resources of 0.4m oz at 4.9 g/t.

In 2012-2018 2,882 kt of ore with the average grade of 3.84 g/t containing 356,000 oz of gold was extracted from its open-pit mine.

“Obtaining a controlling stake in Veduga will allow us to explore multiple strategic options for this large and high-grade asset, including potentially selling the asset as it remains non-core for Polymetal,” said chief executive Vitaly Nesis.

“In the meantime, Polymetal will continue to process Veduga's high-grade ore at our existing processing facilities.”