London-listed exploration firm Shanta Gold is eyeing three additional prospecting licences from Canadian miner Barrick Gold in the West Kenya project; once the seller receives operating approvals from the government.
Shanta took over Barrick’s Kenyan assets in 2020 at a cost of Sh1.4 billion; which included rights to mine gold over a 1,161 square kilometre area straddling Kakamega, Kisumu, Siaya, and Vihiga counties.
The West Kenya project consisted of seven prospecting licences, four of which were fully owned by Barrick; covering 1,121 square kilometres.
Barrick co-owned the other three licences covering 40 square kilometres with Advance Gold Corp; on behalf of Gold Rim Exploration Kenya Limited, with stakes of 87.16 percent and 12.84 percent respectively.
In its annual report for 2021, Shanta said the purchase deal called for it to pay Barrick an additional $0.5 million (Sh59.7 million) for these three partially-owned licences once they received approvals but added that this had not materialised by the end of last year.