PERSEUS Mining has thown the towel in on its Sudan gold exploration holdings agreeing to the sale of Meyas Sand Gold Project to China’s Matrix Group for $260m (A$370m).
The Australian-headquartered miner acquired MSGP in February 2022 after buying the shares of Toronto-listed Orca Mining for A$230m. The sale, which is to be completed by April 22, sees Perseus recoup its acquisition and operating costs with a book gain.
Matrix Group is owned by Zhejiang Lygend Investment Co Ltd (Lygend Investment), one of China’s largest nickel traders with operations in Indonesia. Matrix Group is expanding across Central Asia, Africa and the Pacific Islands, said Perseus.
The decision to sell MSGP comes amid the four year civil war in Sudan which broke out months after Perseus announced its deal with Orca. There was no end in sight to the conflict, according to a report by Aljazeera last week.
“A strategic review of MSGP was undertaken as a result of the protracted armed conflict in Sudan and its impact on Perseus’s ability to progress the development at suitable scale,” said Craig Jones, CEO of Perseus in a statement on Monday. “Perseus maintains the view that the MSGP is a high quality gold project,” he added.
The project’s Block 14 is scoped to produce 228,000 ounces of gold a year for the first seven years of a thirteen-and-a-half year life of mine.
The MSP has been sold on an “as is, where is” with no conditions precedent. The purchase comprises a $10m deposit, received on signing of the share purchase agreement, followed by the balance of $250m on deal completion, said Perseus.
Prior to the outbreak of the civil war Sudan was the third largest gold producer in Africa producing about 90 tons of gold in 2021. Much of this production is from the artisanal gold sector although Orca successfully carried out formal exploration.
Its prolific artisanal sector was a reason why South Africa’s Pan African Resources announced an initial $7m exploration programme there, also shortly before the war. Pan African suspended exploration in the country in 2024.
