Newmont Mining in exclusive talks to buy AngloGold Ashanti’s gold mine in Colorado
02 Jun 2015
Newmont Mining Corp is in exclusive talks to buy AngloGold Ashanti's Cripple Creek & Victor gold mine in Colorado, Reuters today reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
The sale could fetch the South African miner around $700 million to $800 million, the report said.
AngloGold, the world's third-largest gold miner by production, had in April said that it was looking for a partner or buyer for the mine in order to reduce its $3.1 billion debt.
Other miners who may be interested in Cripple Creek asset and may still re-enter the fray could be Canadian gold miners Iamgold, Kinross, Goldcorp and Yamana, the report added.
Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co is a wholly owned subsidiary of AngloGold and has been mining gold in the Cripple Creek Mining District since 1976.
The Cripple Creek Mining District was mined historically in multiple underground operations until the 1960s. Mining activity then ceased for approximately a decade. Small-scale surface mining using the heap-leach gold recovery method began in 1971 followed by large-scale surface mining, which grew with the start of production at CC&V's current mining operation, called the Cresson Project.
Cripple Creek is a low-grade, surface mining operation. The majority of ore is treated using a valley-type, heap-leach process to recover the gold.
Cripple Creek produced some 211,000 ounces of gold in 2014 and about 110,000 ounces of silver.