Omai selling off shares to raise money to develop Guyana’s gold claim

Jun 02, 2024 News

Kaieteur News – Omai Gold Mines Corp. has announced that it is moving to raise some US$10M from a private placement offering of 83.3 million common shares priced at 12 cents per share and that additionally, agents have been granted an option to purchase an additional 12.5 million shares, potentially boosting the proceeds by another US$1.5 million.

The anticipated US$11.5M the company expects from the sale of its shares, are earmarked for exploration, development and general working capital.

To this end, the company in making the disclosure said it has commenced meetings with government officials in Guyana after being granted exclusive rights to apply for a mining licence for its 100 percent—owned Omai Gold property.

The shares offering up for sale is expected to close on June 20, 2024. In making the announcement, the company said the move comes as it announced the results of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Wenot deposit at Omai.

That PEA envisages an open pit operation capable of producing 1.84 million ounces of gold over 13 years.

Additionally, it was reported that an updated mineral resource estimate announced in February, 2024, includes 2.0 million ounces of gold, “in the indicated category and 2.3 million ounces of inferred material.”

Omai recently appointed Marcel Cameron, as the company’s Country Manager, in Guyana. Cameron, a Guyanese citizen—a mining engineer with 25 years of experience in mine planning, engineering, and project management for large-scale open pit and underground operations in North and South America, Africa, Southeast Asia and Guyana—will be responsible for managing and advancing operations at the Omai project.

These would also include, overseeing permitting, and community engagement, and leading the company’s broader business activities in Guyana, the company said.

“His extensive hands-on experience with technical and mine planning for advanced stage projects will drive forward the next phase of work at the Omai gold project,’’ said Omai President and Chief Executive Officer, Elaine Ellingham, at the time of his appointment.

The site was developed as a large-scale mine in 1992 by Canadian company Cambior, Omai and was ranked as the largest gold mine in the Guiana Shield.

Between 1992 to 2005, the gold veins there have produced some 3.7 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 1.5 g/t gold from two open pits. The mine was producing an average of 300,000 ounces of gold annually.

According to the company, despite this Omai still benefits from good road access and a wealth of historical data that provides knowledge of the geology of gold mineralization on the property, as well as metallurgy, historical recoveries and many other relevant mining parameters.