EMPEROR Mines Ltd and Intrepid Mines Ltd have announced a board-recommended merger of equals to form a dynamic and expanding gold producer and development company listed on Toronto Stock Exchange and Australian Stock Exchange.
The new company will be known as MergeCo and the head office will be based in Brisbane, Australia.
Intrepid is an international gold and silver production, development and exploration company with offices in Australia and Canada, while Emperor operates a number of exploration licences surrounding the gold-rich Tolukuma area.
MergeCo will focus on a strategy for rapid growth and value creations by finalising conditions precedent and complete the merger.
MergeCo’s attractions are its low-cash cost gold production, strong management team with broad skill set and strong balance sheet and a substantial cash position and a value enhancing business plan combined with prudent financial management.
“The merger of Emperor and Intrepid is the first step in an expansive strategy to become a significant new force in the gold sector,” Emperor announced recently.
Emperor holds 5,300sqkm of ground in PNG under exploration licence, including tenements surrounding Tolukuma and in three other provinces.
The “Tolukuma Corridor” was a highly-prospective belt containing the known Tolukuma mineralisation and several other prospects. It extends over a length of at least 15km and a width of 4km.
Saki Prospect, located 3km east of Tolukuma, has ore grade intercepts from previous drilling and is now ready for further drilling with the target of another Tolukuma system.
Several other copper/gold porphyry targets exist in the portfolio with recent exploration on EL 1352 (Ipi River) has returned rock chip results of up to 3.75g/t gold and 10.14% copper from sulphide bearing veins in a large porphyry system.
Emperor’s PNG exploration portfolio represents a large exploration package in one of the world’s most mineral endowed regions in PNG.
The companies stated that the merger of Intrepid and Emperor was in the best interests of both companies’ shareholders as it represents a combination that delivers the best value package, creates synergistic benefits and is more attractive than the alternatives.
It was also friendly with low transaction risk and facilitates management focus on new growth, the two companies said.