Adamus to merge with Endeavour

Shares in newly crowned West African gold producer Adamus Resources jumped after the company announced a mem sand rock machinepage3rger with another West African focused gold play, Toronto-listed Endeavour Mining.

Under the terms of the deal the company has described as a "merger of equals", Endeavour will invest at least $US160 million from its cash reserves to relieve the constraints of Adamus' Nzema project finance structure, including repayment of a $US60 million project loan and at least $US100 million towards reduction of hedged gold volumes. The merged entity is forecasting 2011 gold production of 172,000 ounces from two mines (Endeavour's Youga mine in Burkina Faso and Adamus' Nzema mine in Ghana) at a cash cost of between $US575 and $US625 per ounce. The merged entity is expected to produce about 250,000 ounces per year by the end of 2013 from existing assets, including Endeavour's Agbaou project. The new company aims to more than...