Canadian gold miner agrees to sell itself to Chinese company in possible test of Ottawa policy
Ottawa’s policy of preventing Chinese companies from investing in Canadian-listed firms may be put to the test after Vancouver-based Osino Resources Corp. agreed to be bought by Yintai Gold Co. Ltd. for $368 million.
Yintai’s main interest in Osino seems to be the latter’s gold project in central Namibia. The Twin Hills Gold project is expected to have a 13-year mine life with average gold production of more than 169,000 ounces per year, according to a third-party study. The project is expected to generate about US$1.5 billion with a relatively low cost of about $365 million to build the mine.
Yintai president Xingong Ou in a press release said Twin Hills represents a unique opportunity for the company to add a “high-quality gold development asset” to its portfolio.
However, Osino’s Omaruru Lithium project, still in its early stages, lies just 20 kilometres away from the Twin Hills project. Osino in 2022 inked an agreement with Australia’s Prospect Resources Ltd. to explore the property for lithium. Prospect can own about 51 per cent of the project if it meets certain conditions.
Yaron Conforti, an Osino spokersperson, said that the company would divest its lithium asset prior to closing.
Even though Canada has blocked gold transactions in the past — for example, Shandong Gold Ming Co.’s bid for TMAC Resources Inc. — Beacon Securities Ltd. analyst Bereket Berhe said Osino’s assets are not in Canada and gold is not recognized as a critical mineral.
“The acquisitions of TSE-listed gold mining companies by Chinese operators, including Zijin Mining’s acquisition of Nevsun Resources (2018), Continental Gold (2019) and Guyana Goldfields (2020) did not prove problematic,” Behre said in a research note. “All acquired companies
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