Page 68 - gmj144-July-Sept-mag-web

REGIONAL ROUNDUP

Sudan opens to international miners Barrick Gold Corp, B2GOLD Corp,

international miners AngloGold Ashanti Ltd, and Endeavour Mining Corp.
The country also has some 350 artisanal gold mining sites.

udan has signed nine concession agreements for gold and
Scopper mining with eight local and foreign companies, state
news agency Suna said in June. Nordgold set to
All the agreements are related to gold mining except one for list in London
copper, the agency quoted Minister of Minerals Mohamed
Bashir Abdalla as saying.
ussian-based gold miner Nordgold plans an IPO of at least
Three companies from Iraq, China and South Africa won four
R25% of its existing shares in London and Moscow, with two
gold mining concessions, and a fourth one from Armenia
sources saying the company would target a valuation of up to
won the single copper concession, the report said. Four local
$US5 billion.
companies took four gold concessions.
Nordgold, majority owned by Russian billionaire Alexei
All concession areas are located in the Red Sea State, the West
Mordashov and his sons Kirill and Nikita, was previously listed
Kordofan state and the Northern State.
in London but delisted in 2017. It is aiming for a premium listing
Sudan sold 13,328kg of gold worth $US437.98 million from
that would make it eligible for the FTSE indices.
2015 to 2020, Abdalla said with 2,753kg ($US140.81 million)
The company has four operations in Russia and one in
sold between June 2020 and February 2021.
Kazakhstan but is increasingly turning its attention to West
Gold sales from March to May reached $US36.3 million, the
Africa where it has three mines across Burkina Faso and
minister said during the concession agreements ceremony.
Guinea. It produced 1 moz in 2020.
This was achieved without commercial-scale activity. Instead,
The London market has been shorn of a major gold miner since
Sudan’s gold production is dominated by small-scale miners.
West African-focused Randgold Resources was acquired by
Last year, the Government took steps to open up trade in the
Barrick Gold Corp in 2019.
precious metal further to private investors, allowing them to
“Now is the right time for Nordgold to seek a premium London
handle all exports and taking the business out of state hands.
listing,” chief executive Nikolai Zelenski said in a statement. “We
Sudan has been cracking down on gold smuggling to generate
look forward to sharing our story with potential investors over
more foreign currency. For years, the central bank had a
the coming weeks.”
monopoly on exports, buying gold locally at fixed prices at
Two sources close to the transaction said the company could
collection sites nationwide, which led to the illegal trade.
seek a valuation of anywhere between $US4 billion and $US5
The country also had approved the establishment of stock
billion, based on earnings multiples at which rivals such as
exchanges for gold, minerals and agricultural commodities.
Polyus Gold, Polymetal and Petropavlovsk trade.
That suggests the IPO deal size could be between $US1 billion
and $US1.25 billion, though one of the sources said it could be
Mali generates record even higher.
gold revenue “Nordgold is slightly different because half its operations are
outside Russia, but based on where these companies are
trading it could easily achieve $US5 billion and it only becomes
tate revenue from gold miners in Mali rose 13% in 2020 a matter of what discount you want to offer,” the source said.
Syear-on-year to $US850 million, lifted by higher global Russian companies have been back on global investors’ radar
prices for the metal during the pandemic, government data since late last year, with IPOs slated for 2021 expected to raise
showed in June. at least $US10 billion, the highest in more than a decade, UBS
Gold mining is a pillar of the country’s economy, accounting said in March.
for almost 10% of GDP last year. Nordgold said it plans to boost output by 20% over the next five
“The increase [in revenue] is explained by the slight increase years and that its 2021 dividend payments would total $400
in production but above all by the rise in the price of gold,” million.
Mamadou Sidibe, director of Mali’s Planning and Statistics The Mordashov family are the selling shareholders in the deal
Unit, said. and Nordgold will not receive any proceeds from the offering.
Mali’s gold output was 71.2t in 2020 compared with 71.1t the Citigroup, J.P. Morgan and VTB Capital are co-ordinators and
previous year. joint bookrunners for the offering.
Thirteen gold mining firms operate in Mali including ASX- – Reuters
listed Resolute Mining Ltd and Firefinch Ltd as well as

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