B2Gold takes 9.9% stake in Prospector Metals, shares rally
Prospector Metals Corp. [PPP-TSXV, PMCOF-OTCQB, 1ET0-Frankfurt] rallied strongly Monday on news that B2Gold Corp. [BTO-TSX, BTG-NYSE American, B2G-NSX] has taken a 9.99% equity stake in the Yukon exploration junior.
B2Gold has snapped up 5.6 million shares of Prospector Metals for a total investment of just over $900,000. The shares were priced at $0.163, which marks a 16.4% premium on the market close on June 28, 2024. In relation to the B2Gold investment, Troilus Gold Corp. [TLG-TSX, CHXMF-OTCQB has the option to purchase some 4.77 million shares at the same offer price to maintain a 19.9% ownership in Prospector Metals. That option remains valid for 10 business days. Proceeds from the investment will be used for exploration and development at Prospectors’ ML project in the Canadian Yukon. The property covers 47.6 square kilometres of the Tintina gold belt, and is located approximately 80 kilometres from Dawson City, and 25% northeast of the former Brewery Creek gold mine.
On Monday, Prospector shares jumped 21.4% or $0.03 to 17 cents on volume of 246,930. The shares are currently trading in a 52-week range of 43.5 cents and $0.09.
B2Gold has been granted the right to subscribe for additional shares, potentially taking its interest up to a maximum of 19.9%
Under an investor rights agreement, Prospector will form a four-person technical committee that will include one person nominated by B2Gold that will advise and oversee exploration and development at the ML Project.
Prospector Metals was recently in the news when the company named Dr. Rob Carpenter as President CEO. He replaced Alex Health, who remains as chief financial officer and director.
Carpenter was previously the company’s Co-Chairman. He was the co-founder, President and CEO of Kaminak Gold Corp. where he led the company through the discovery of the 5.0-million-ounce Coffee Gold project in west-central Yukon. Now held by Newmont Corp.’s [NGT-TSX, NEM-NYSE], Coffee is a proposed open-pit and heap leach gold development project.
“We are excited to have B2Gold as a keystone shareholder in Prospector Metals and our team is looking forward to their technical input on our flagship LM Project, Yukon,” Carpenter said. B2Gold is a major global gold producer with a strong commitment to communities, sustainable mining and employee safety.’’
The ML Project is extensively metal endowed with numerous instances of high-grade gold, silver, and copper in drill holes, trenches and surface rock samples. ML hosts one of the few remaining Tombstone-style intrusions in the Yukon that has not been systematically explored with no significant work completed since 2008. The company said no modern Intrusion Related Gold [IRGS] exploration models have been applied to ML despite the presence of diagnostic Au-As-Bi-Te-W geochemical signature.