Goldcorp Inc.
said that it has completed the earlier announced acquisition of Probe Mines Limited. The primary asset of Probe is a 100%-owned Borden Gold project located near Chapleau in Ontario, about 160 kilometers west of Goldcorp's Porcupine mine. Borden mine is a high-quality deposit, mineable through the traditional underground mining methods.
The Borden Gold project currently has reported underground constrained indicated resources of 1.6 million ounces of gold and inferred resources of 0.4 million ounces of gold at a 2.5 grams per ton (g/t) gold cut-off grade. The company is looking forward to immediately advancing exploration efforts in this area.
Goldcorp, which is among the prominent gold mining companies along with Barrick Gold
, Newmont
and Kinross Gold
, has the advantage of adding Borden to its asset portfolio due to its proximity to the Porcupine operation, which includes the large milling facility at the Dome complex.
The company will need considerably lesser capital costs and permitting requirements to transport ore to the Porcupine operation. The transaction is in sync with Goldcorp's strategy of upgrading the quality of its overall asset portfolio.
Probe shareholders voted in the deal's favor. In addition to 13,264,133 Goldcorp shares, shareholders of Probe were also issued 31,368,363 shares in a new exploration company called Probe Metals Inc. containing Probe's mineral properties in the Ring of Fire in Northern Ontario, as well as C$15 million in cash and specific other assets currently owned by Probe. The Probe Metals Shares are expected to start trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV) on or about Mar 17, 2015 under the ticker symbol "PRB".