Yahoo Finance SSR Mining (SSRM) Inks Deal to Acquire Taiga Gold For $21M
Silver Standard Resources Mining SSRM recently announced that it has entered an agreement to acquire Taiga Gold to expand its presence in the highly prospective province of Saskatchewan in Canada. The transaction implies an equity value of approximately C$27 million ($21 million).
SSR Mining is a leading, free cash flow focused intermediate gold company, with three operating gold assets — Marigold in the United States, Copler in Turkey, Seabee in Canada and one operating silver asset, Puna located in Argentina. It has a pipeline of high-quality development and exploration assets in the United States, Turkey, Mexico, Peru, and Canada as well.
In 2020, the four operating assets produced approximately 711,000 gold-equivalent ounces (GEOs). In the current year, the company expects to produce, on a consolidated basis, 720,000 to 800,000 GEOs. Given the year-to-date production of 583,316 GEOs, the company is on track to meet its guidance for the year. Despite inflationary pressures, it reported year-to-date All in Sustaining Cost (AISC) of $990 per GEO, below its original full-year guidance of $1,050 to $1,110 per GEO. Strong operational performance contributed to the performance. Backed by this, the company lowered its AISC guidance to $1,000-$1,040 per GEO on Nov 3.
SSR Mining is currently the only gold producer in the Saskatchewan province, operating the Seabee underground mine about 125 km northeast of the town of La Ronge. The company recently announced positive results from 127 drill holes for its Seabee mine and adjacent targets that indicate longer-term mine life extension. It is also exploring for gold at the Amisk property, which is a gold-silver project located on the Flin Flon greenstone belt in Saskatchewan. SSR Mining acquired Seabee and the Amisk project on May 31, 2016 as a result of its acquisition of Claude Resources Inc.
The Taiga acquisition will add five new properties to SSR Mining, providing new exploration targets stretching south from the Seabee mine to Amisk property. It will also consolidate a 100% interest in the Fisher property adjacent to the Seabee mine, which is currently operated under a joint venture with SSR Mining’s stake at 80% and the balance owned by Taiga Gold.
The acquisition will also eliminate a 2.5% net smelter return royalty on a large portion of the Fisher property. The Fisher property provides future potential ore sources to extend the operating life of the Seabee property, particularly given the excess capacity at the Seabee mill and the recently completed tailings facility expansion that provides capacity through 2031 at current production levels.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2022, subject to approval of Taiga’s shareholders as well as other required regulatory approvals.
Price Performance
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Shares of Silver Standard have gained 6.5% over the past three months, against the industry’s decline of 13.4%.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Silver Standard currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Materion Corporation MTRN, Bunge Limited BG and Kronos Worldwide KRO. All of these stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Materion has an expected earnings growth rate of around 88.4% for the current fiscal year. The estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 13% in the past 60 days.
Materion’s shares have gone up 16% in the past three months. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 25.4%, on average.
Bunge has an estimated earnings growth rate of around 45% for the current year. In the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 36%.
Bunge’s shares have appreciated 12% in the past three months. It has a long-term earnings growth of 6.7%.
Kronos has a projected earnings growth rate of around 76% for 2021. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised upward by 18% in the past 60 days.
Kronos’ shares have gained 11% over the past three months. KRO has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 29%, on average.
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