Sandstorm to buy Mariana Resources

Streaming and royalty firm Sandstorm Gold (TSX: SSL; NYSE-MKT: SAND) is buying Mariana Resources (TSXV: MARL; LON-AIM: MARL) for an 84% premium to get its hands on the high grade Hot Maden gold-copper project in northeastern Turkey. Mariana currently owns 30% of the development stage joint venture project, 1,050 km east of Istanbul. Its Turkish partner Lidya Madencilick holds the remaining 70%. A January 2017 preliminary economic assessment (PEA) outlines Hot Maden could produce 2.6 million oz. of gold and 142,000 tonnes of copper over a 9-year mine life. The project – envisioned as a straightforward low cost underground mine – boasts a price tag of US$261 million, including US$169 million in upfront capital. Estimated all-in sustaining costs are below US$400 per gold-equivalent oz. Seeing the potential at Hot Maden – where 15,000 metres of resource drilling outlined a high grade indicated resource of 3.4 million gold-equivalent oz. (7.1 million tonnes at 15 gold-equivalent grams per tonne) – Sandstorm proposed a cash-and-share bid for Mariana on April 26 to create a leading mid-tier streaming company. Continue reading at The Northern Miner.