Ann: Investor presentation, page-25

Would suggest this is not quite so. Considering they are buying an impaired asset which will take 3.5 years to unimpair. they may need the cash to get them through this period.

Saracen said it would partly fund the transaction through a $796m capital raising via an underwritten institutional placement and an underwritten 1-for-5.75 pro-rata, accelerated, non-renounceable entitlement offer to eligible investors.The placement will see the issue of 125 million new fully-paid ordinary Saracen shares to investors at an issue price of $2.95 per share to raise $369m.It will utilise Saracen’s existing placement capacity and does not require the approval of shareholders.The entitlement offer will raise a further $427m by giving investors the opportunity to subscribe for one new fully-paid ordinary Saracen share for every 5.75 existing shares.It will see the issue of approximately 144.9 million shares at $2.95 per share.The balance of the transaction price will be funded from a $450m senior secured term loan taken out with Westpac, BNP Paribas and Citibank.Saracen also has existing cash reserves of $196m and a $45m working capital facility which is currently undrawn.Largest gold producer
The pit is a large-scale, long life, Tier 1 operation which produces an average 660,000 ounces of gold per annum at an all-in sustaining cost of approximately $1100/oz.
Super Pit production during 2019 was impacted by rock slides in 2018 which caused one million tonnes of rock to tumble down the eastern wall of the Fimiston pit.The slides – which occurred over two days in May – destroyed a ramp and blocked access to part of the pit, temporarily suspending operations and cutting expected future production rates until remediation works have been implemented.Monthly ore figures since the slides has reduced from over 1.2Mt to 0.4Mt and the average width of mining bench down from 300m to less than 100m.A remediation plan is currently at corporate review and approval stage.Once approved, remediation is anticipated to take 3.5 years, over which time gold production is expected to average 245koz (Saracen’s 50% share) and then revert to historical levels.