New Gold sells Blackwater gold stream to Wheaton for US$300M

New Gold (TSX: NGD) is selling its gold stream on the Blackwater project in British Columbia to Wheaton Precious Metals (NYSE: WPM; TSX: WPM) for US$300 million.  

The gold stream entitles Wheaton to 8% of the gold produced from Blackwater, reducing to 4% once 280,000 ounces of gold have been delivered.  

The agreement comes more than a year after New Gold sold the Blackwater project to Artemis Gold (TSXV: ARTG; US-OTC: ARGTF) in August 2020. The company retained the gold stream as partial consideration for the divestiture.  

"This transaction highlights another milestone for New Gold as we continue to surface value from the divestment of the Blackwater project,” Renaud Adams, New Gold’s CEO, said in a press release. “The cash payment will provide additional liquidity and financial capacity to New Gold as we continue to execute on our strategy.”  

Located about 150 km southwest of Prince George, B.C., the Blackwater project has  proven and probable gold reserves of 19.8 million tonnes grading 0.74 gram gold per tonne for 470,000 oz. of contained gold. Its proven and probable silver reserves stand at 166.5 million tonnes grading 5.8 grams silver per tonne for 31 million oz. of silver.