Kinross Gold Corp is hoping that Red Back Mining’s Tasiast mine located in the African nation of Mauritania is going to be substantially bigger than it is today. That is why it is asking Institutional Shareholder Services to back its friendly combination with Red Back Mining Inc.
The proposed merger has the unanimous approval of board of directors of both companies.
The Kinross board of directors has also unanimously recommended that shareholder in the company vote in favour of the issuing of Kinross shares and warrants in connection with the transaction The President and Chief Executive officer of Kinross Tye Burt said that the $7.1 billion merger is a deal well worth making.
Kinross is so confident of the value of the Tasiast mine that it intends to build a new ore-handling mill near the site that will see processing capacity increase by a factor of 6. This would increase ore processing capacity from 8-10,000 tons per day, to 6000 tons per day.
Tye Burt said that the companies both complement each other and that the deal will bring a big development pipeline, experienced mine developers and a big operating team a lot of capital. At present Kinross is a Canadian gold mining company which is currently operating 8 mining projects in Canada, U.S., Chile, Brazil, Russia and Ecuador. It is believed to employ about 5,500 people worldwide.