SSR Mining and Alacer Gold to merge in zero-premium, all-share deal

Executives at SSR Mining (TSX: SSRM; NASDAQ: SSRM) and Alacer Gold (TSX: ARR; ASX: AQG) started talking about a possible merger of the two companies in November 2019, and completed all of the site visits required and much of the due diligence to make a decision on a transaction before COVID-19-related travel restrictions put an end to international travel. The business combination the two companies announced today will create an intermediate gold producer, whose mines in the U.S. (Marigold), Canada (Seabee) and Turkey (Copler) will produce 780,000 gold-equivalent oz. per year over the next three years at all-in sustaining costs (AISCs) of US$900 per oz., generating about US$450 million of free cash flow annually — well above the peer group’s annual average of US$275 million, the companies said. “At a time when investors are looking for exposure to rising gold prices, we’re very excited to be creating a larger and more globally relevant company for our current and future shareholders,” Paul Benson, president and CEO of SSR Mining, said on a conference call.