SA Gold Mining Company Aurous Resources Set To Be Publicly Traded
SA Gold Mining Company Aurous Resources Set To Be Publicly Traded. Blyvoor Gold Resources Proprietary Limited and Blyvoor Gold Operations Proprietary Limited, a producing mining group which owns the Blyvoor gold mine and the Gauta tailings retreatment project and Rigel Resource Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company, sponsored by a fund managed by Orion Resource Partners, one of the world’s foremost, mining-focused alternative investment firms, have entered, among others, into a definitive business combination agreement that will result in Aurous becoming publicly traded.
The Transaction values Aurous at a pre-money equity value of approximately $362 million. Upon completion of the proposed business combination, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, the resulting company is expected to be named “Aurous Resources” and is to ultimately list on NASDAQ. Aurous and Rigel, among others, have entered into PIPE financing agreements.
As a result of the Transaction, Aurous expects to benefit from strong gold prices, organic production growth, optimisation projects and the build-out of the Gauta Tailings project. Aurous further expects to benefit from M&A optionality and a debt-light balance sheet. Aurous’ existing management team, led by Chief Executive Officer, Richard Floyd and Executive Chairman, Alan Smith, will continue to lead the business. Aurous’ principal asset, the Blyvoor Mine, is a producing, high-grade, long-life underground gold mine in the Witwatersrand region near Johannesburg, South Africa, one of the most prolific regions for gold production in the world.
Aurous’ Chief Executive Officer, Richard Floyd says: “This Transaction represents one of the first significant gold industry deals in South Africa in some time and is expected to enable Blyvoorto expand its underground infrastructure, enhance surface infrastructure and optimize operations by achieving economies of scale. With the support of our investors and banking partners, we expect to reach our operational targets and unlock the next stage of growth for Aurous. Since the restart of production from the Blyvoor Mine in 2022, Aurous has been able to re-employ approximately 1,500 workers who had been unemployed following closure of the mine in 2013. This Transaction and associated influx of foreign investment into South Africa has the potential to enable further meaningful job creation, continued revitalisation of the local community and recapitalization of Africa’s precious metals industry, all of which we expect will be well-received by the relevant South African authorities.”
Rigel’s Chief Executive Officer, Jon Lamb, says: “We are thrilled to combine with a cash-positive, debtlight target such as Aurous that has already achieved impressive operational milestones and is expected to deliver market-leading growth.”
Rigel’s President, Nate Abebe, notes: “Aurous offers significant long-term investment value thanks to its high-margin, high-growth and expected fully-funded mine life. We have worked diligently over a few years to find a quality business to combine with and are pleased to have arrived at this merger agreement which is expected to deliver a value-accretive transaction to all stakeholders.”
