Wesdome Gold Mines shared on April 7 that it plans to acquire junior exploration company Angus Gold in a cash-and-share transaction valued at around $40 million. The deal would expand Wesdome’s land position at its Eagle River operation, located 50 kilometres west of Wawa, Ontario, by consolidating two adjacent properties, including Angus Gold’s Golden Sky exploration project, into a roughly 400-square-kilometre land package within the Mishibishu Lake greenstone belt. 

Eagle River consists of the Eagle River underground gold mine and mill, which has been producing since 1995, and the Mishi open-pit gold mine, in production since 2002. 

The deal must first be approved by a minimum of two-thirds of Angus Gold shareholders and also requires approval from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. A meeting for shareholders to vote is expected to take place in June, with the transaction anticipated to close in the second quarter of this year. The value of Angus Gold shares rose 60 per cent upon the announcement. 

The acquisition would enable Wesdome to capitalize on existing infrastructure at its Eagle River mine and mill to support exploration and potential development at the neighbouring Golden Sky project. 

"On behalf of the board of directors of Angus Gold, we are excited to have reached an agreement with Wesdome," said Breanne Beh, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Angus Gold, in an April 7 press release. "Since 2020, through a series of property acquisitions, we consolidated a district-scale land package, completed over 40,000 metres of drilling, and made significant gold discoveries." 

"Since 2020, Angus has invested over $20 million into exploration across the Golden Sky project, generating a pipeline of targets and confirming the geological continuity with Eagle River," said Anthea Bath, president and CEO of Wesdome, in the same press release. "Wesdome remains deeply confident in the prospectivity of the Eagle River camp and the broader potential of our ongoing fill-the-mill strategy. This transaction represents a strategic investment in that vision and underscores our long-term commitment to unlocking value at Eagle River." 

Wesdome hopes to eventually bring the Golden Sky project into production, highlighting the project’s proximity to its existing infrastructure at the Eagle River operation. 

This transaction is also noteworthy in that it is a deal between two Canadian mining companies both led by women CEOs.