PERSEUS Mining sought to add the 292,000 ounce Bankan gold project in Guinea to its growing portfolio of African mines after proposing on Wednesday an all-share offer worth A$2.1bn ($1.4bn) for Predictive Discovery, the project’s backer.
If the offer is a success, Perseus stands to become an 800,000 oz/year gold producer, excluding potential gold from Nyanzaga, a 3.16 million resource ounce project in Tanzania Perseus acquired last year. Perseus produced 496,551 oz in its 2025 financial year.
The terms of the proposal for Predictive Discovery are that Perseus will offer 0.1360 new Perseus ordinary shares for every one Predictive Share held – equal to a 34.8% premium to Predictive’s 10-day volume weighted average price on the Australian Securities Exchange. This is for the balance of Predictive Discovery shares Perseus doesn’t already own. It acquired 17.8% of the company last year.
The proposal has been supported by Predictive Discovery’s board as a “superior offer” to an A$2.35bn ($1.55bn) all-share transaction tabled by Robex Resources in October. Robex has until December 10 to place a matching or better offer, Perseus said.
In terms of this offer, Robex and Predictive Discovery agreed to combine their Guinea projects which are located about 30 kilometres apart. The combined entity was projected to exceed 400,000 ounces of annual production by 2029, backed by 9.5 million oz in resources and 4.5 million oz in reserves.
Predictive Discovery is developing the Bankan gold prospect in Guinea’s Siguiri Basin. According to a prefeasibility study, Bankan will operate for 11 years, producing 292,000 ounces annually for the first seven. Total life-of-mine costs are estimated to be $1,130/oz.
Guinea, traditionally recognised for bauxite and iron ore extraction, is attracting renewed gold exploration interest despite persistent difficulties from artisanal mining and recent regulatory enforcement. Canada’s Fortuna Mining recently formed a joint venture with Australia’s DeSoto Resources to explore the Siguiri basin in northeastern Guinea.
In its previous financial year, Perseus it completed the the A$258m purchase of an 80% stake in Nyanzaga and in January it gave the green light to the $124.6m expansion of its Yaouré gold operation in Côte d’Ivoire – a development that will see mining continue at the site until at least 2035.
