West African gold boom; bargain hunters continue circlingexcerpts from a 2021 article:
West African gold boom ramps up as bargain hunters continue circling
“With Africa richly endowed in many minerals including gold and relatively underexplored, the continent’s potential is attracting the interest of global investors, particularly those from China. The current region in the limelight is West Africa where a gold boom is underway.
Barrick Gold and Randgold merger puts Africa back in focus
One of Africa’s largest mining service providers Capital says the West African mining industry has seen “significant” merger and acquisition activity in the last two years alone. This was triggered when Canada’s Barrick Gold scooped up Randgold in what was described as a mega merger and the largest ever in the gold space... Capital noted that since December last year, West Africa’s mining sector has experienced “significant” fund raising activity. This has flowed through to an uptake in exploration as well as mergers and acquisitions in the space.
China on the hunt
The world’s soon to be largest economy is also on the hunt for gold bargains in West Africa... An unnamed banker in Johannesburg told Reuters in March Chinese buyers were “aggressively” pursuing gold deals in Africa. Another unnamed source told Reuters, Chinese companies were fast movers and had access to cash. “It’s like being in an auction with someone who doesn’t really care if they pay double what it’s worth – they keep bidding,” the executive said...
China’s not the only one looking for a bargain
Canadian company Endeavour Mining has been on a buying spree in Africa over the past year – doubling its portfolio of West African gold assets.
Merger and acquisition activity heats up
Last month, NYSE-listed Fortuna Silver Mines made a welcome play for TSX listed Roxgold, which valued the latter at C$1.1 billion... Roxgold allure is its West African assets and team...
Junior explorers sitting on West African gold mines
As merger and acquisition activity continues at the big end of town, there are several ASX-listed explorers rapidly advancing highly prospective gold assets in West Africa....
https://smallcaps.com.au/west-african-gold-boom-ramps-up-bargain-hunters-continue-circling/