The mine financing package would allow the company to maintain its current schedule for first gold production in Q4 2022.

The Panguna mine was operated by BCL, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, for 17 years from 1972 until 1989, when operations were suspended due to an uprising against the mine and subsequent civil war.

Selected high-grade assays include 96.7 g/t gold over 2.2 metres and 29.3 g/t over 5.2 metres.

The company acquired the Wasamac deposit and Camflo property and mill when it bought Monarch Gold in January.

Benchmark 10-year treasury yields touched more than a five-month low, reducing the opportunity cost of holding gold.

The Bruner gold exploration project is expected to become a low-cost, open pit, heap leach mine operation.

The question of who controls more than $1 billion of Venezuelan gold stored in the Bank of England’s vaults took another twist.

Ownership of the mine will consolidate the historic high-grade Eagle-Telbel underground mines at the Joutel gold project.