Franco-Nevada grows royalty on Marathon Gold’s Valentine project

Gold royalty and streaming company Franco-Nevada (TSX:FNV; NYSE:FNV) is buying an additional 1.5% net smelter returns royalty (NSR) on Marathon Gold's (TSX:MOZ) Valentine project for C$60 million.

The acquisition increases Franco-Nevada’s aggregate NSR on the gold project, located in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador, to 3%.

The Toronto-based firm has also has offered to purchase Marathon’s common shares comprising the entire back-end of a C$6.9 million (about US$5.2 million) non-brokered charity flow-through offering.

“Franco-Nevada has been a royalty holder since 2019, and we welcome their continuing strong support for the project,” Marathon Gold president and CEO, Matt Manson, said in the statement.

A feasibility study on the Valentine project in December outlined an open pit mining and conventional milling operation with an annual production of 195,000 oz. of gold for 12 years within a 14.3-year mine life.

Construction at the project, which comprises a series of five mineralized deposits along a 32-km system, began in October 2022.

Valentine is considered the largest undeveloped gold project in Atlantic Canada and is scheduled to begin production by the first quarter of 2025.

THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MINING.COM