Sawiris keen to snap up Barrick offcuts for Golden Star, other investments

La Mancha's Naguib Sawiris

NAGUIB Sawiris, the founder of La Mancha Group which controls or has interests in three listed gold producers, including Endeavour Mining, would snap up mines that Barrick Gold or Randgold Resources might sell once they had merged.

In an interview with Reuters at the Mines and Money conference, in London, Sawiris said his group would be interested in mines with lives of 10 years and with an output of 150,000 to 250,000 ounces a year.

“(The Barrick disposals) might be in geographies where we are very strong and that makes sense for us,” said Sawiris. “We can extend the mine lives,” he added. In addition to Endeavour Mining, La Mancha Group is invested in Australia’s Evolution Mining and Golden Star Resources, a company operating in Ghana. Golden Star will look for assets in east Africa and mainly Sudan, Sawiris said.

Sawiris said the world’s gold mining industry required more consolidation notwithstanding the Barrick/Randgold merger which will effective on January 1, 2019. “We believe today is the problem is the whole mining industry needs consolidation and the proof to that the two big ones decided to merge but what about the smaller ones,” he said.