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Montage Gold is delighted to announce that it has secured a US$825m financing package from Wheaton Precious Metals and Zijin Mining Group to fund the development of its flagship Koné project in Côte d’Ivoire, which is set to become West Africa’s next sizeable, long-life, low production cost gold mine and deliver significant social and economic benefits to all its stakeholders.
This funding package is well aligned with their goal of pursuing the optimal financing solution which maximizes key valuation per share metrics, by considering both the cost of capital and equity dilution, alongside other important considerations such as retaining exploration upside and maintaining significant strategic, financial, and operating flexibility.
With strong support from both financial and local partners, they look forward to delivering their strategy of creating a premier African gold producer.
The financing package is well aligned with Montage’s goal of obtaining significant financial and strategic flexibility while minimizing equity dilution. The financing package increases Montage’s liquidity sources to US$968 million, inclusive of its US$143 million cash position as at September 30, 2024, and is comprised of the following instruments:
- US$625 million gold stream provided by Wheaton (the “Wheaton Stream”)
- US$75 million senior secured loan facility provided by Wheaton (the “Wheaton Loan Facility”)
- US$75 million fully redeemable subordinated gold stream provided by Zijin (the “Zijin Stream” and together with the Wheaton Stream, the “Streams”)
- US$50 million senior secured loan facility provided by Zijin (the “Zijin Loan Facility”, and together with the Wheaton Loan Facility, the “Loan Facilities”)
Martino De Ciccio, CEO of Montage, commented: “Today’s announced US$825 million funding package for the construction of our flagship Koné project in Côte d’Ivoire provides significant funding headroom, ahead of launching our construction, as it increases our liquidity sources to approximately US$970 million. Moreover, it is the culmination of an exhaustive financing process which generated strong interest given the high-quality nature of our project coupled with management’s proven construction track record.
Randy Smallwood, President and CEO of Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. commented: “With essential permits in place coupled with its impressive scale, we believe the Koné Projectstands out as one of the premier gold assets in Africa and we are very pleased to partner with Montage to deliver a full financing package for its development. Supported by strong shareholder backing from the Lundin Group and Zijin Mining, the Koné Project is expected to significantly boost Wheaton’s near-term annual gold production and further strengthen our peer-leading growth trajectory. We look forward to collaborating with Montage’s outstanding team, whose extensive experience in West Africa had driven remarkable progress in de-risking the project and advancing it towards construction.”
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