Goldcorp Inc. (USA)(NYSE:GG) has closed the sale of its 100% stake in the Cerro Blanco gold-silver assignment, based in Guatemala, to Bluestone Resources Inc. Pursuant to the transaction terms, the company obtained cash of approximately $18 million, a 1% Net Smelter Yield royalty on production, the privilege to obtain around 3.099 million common shares of Bluestone, showcasing 4.9% of Bluestone’s released and unpaid common shares and 258,805 purchase warrants. Goldcorp will get an additional cash of $15 million within six months of initiation of commercial production at Cerro Blanco.
As part of the deal Goldcorp has allowed Bluestone a right of preliminary refusal pertaining to the buy of certain equipment and assets at the Marlin mine, also based in Guatemala, and obtained a non-refundable deposit of $2 million from Bluestone to be used against future purchases.
The details
Goldcorp net earnings in Q1 2017 came at $170 million against net earnings of $80 million for the same quarter of 2016. Operating cash flows stood at $227 million while adjusted operating cash flows were $269 million, of which around $70 million was utilized to support the growth pipeline while $65 million of funds were utilized to repurchase a gold stream on the firm’s NuevaUnión assignment and $15 million was utilized to pay dividends. The available liquidity as of the close of March 2017 was $3.1 billion.
Portfolio optimization remains to drive growing net asset value per share. Goldcorp continued to upgrade its overall portfolio with the report of a 50-50 joint venture deal with Barrick in the Maricunga district, and the completion of almost $500 million in divestment of non-core assets. Anticipated yearly sustainable efficiencies of $250 million and supporting strong project pipeline are well on track to achieve a 20% jump in gold production, a 20% jump in gold reserves and a 20% decline in AISC over the imminent five years.
