Canadian investor OreCap exercises all remaining warrants in Africa-focused Awalé
OreCap Invest Corporation has exercised all of its outstanding common share purchase warrants of Canadian junior Awalé Resources at a price of $0.20 apiece, bringing OreCap’s total position to 10.6-million common shares, or an 8.9% shareholding.
This follows shortly after Awalé published a maiden mineral resource estimate for the Odienné project, in Côte d’Ivoire, on May 19, as it works toward a preliminary economic assessment.
The project has a 32.4-million-tonne resource grading 1.64 g/t gold-equivalent for a total inferred resource of 1.7-million ounces of gold-equivalent. The estimate established Odienné as a significant gold and copper project combining near-surface openpit mineralisation with high-grade underground potential across three deposits.
OreCap’s original investment was made at a price of $0.12 per unit in a private placement in 2023. The exercise price of $0.20 therefore reflects a meaningful premium to cost and OreCap believes the intrinsic value of Awalé’s position has grown substantially and will continue to do so.
“Orecap’s initial investment gave it exposure to what the company believed was an undervalued, early-stage gold/copper discovery in Côte d’Ivoire with district-scale potential.
“Since that initial investment, Awalé has systematically advanced the Odienné project through one of the most active drill campaigns in West Africa, discovering and delineating multiple high-grade gold and copper/gold deposits across the BBM, Charger, and Empire targets,” OreCap CEO and chairperson and Awalé chairperson Stephen Stewart explains.
Orecap has been a supportive long-term shareholder throughout this journey and exercised its warrants in full ahead of their expiry as a direct expression of its conviction in the investment’s continued value creation potential.
Stewart affirms OreCap remains a committed shareholder of Awalé and expects the value of this position to grow as the company advances the Odienné project through its defined development pathway.
For context, OreCap also owns 5.1% of American Eagle Gold, 13.9% of Stardust Metal, 2.2% of Metal Energy, 16.2% of Auriginal Mining and 6.2% of XXIX Metal Corporation, which are all based in Toronto, Canada, as well as 19.9% of Kirkland Lake Discoveries Corporation, in Vancouver, Canada.
Fortuna Mining and Newmont Corporation also have significant shareholdings in Awalé