Ann: West African Resources Pours First Gold at Sanbrado, page-104

Nordesmic I would love to see this as a vote of confidence for Burkina Faso, but I can't really. Both companies are already heavily invested, not to say dependent on Burkina Faso. I see it as the two companies getting together to improve their chances of survival with more operating mines. Note that they were in discussions to merge a year ago, but didn't agree on terms. Now SMF has little choice because they are crippled by the Boungou event. So EDV is willing to take them in - but at a huge loss to SMF shareholders vs pre-attack levels. This is not a 'positive' merger event - it is a distress sale. In a sense the takeover confirms that SMF has practically written off the Boungou mine, and its shareholders take the loss.

If WAF were to suspend operations due to a terror attack, then somebody takes it over cheap because they can't pay their loans, would you call that a vote of confidence? I suppose it would be in the sense that somebody would only buy it if they still thought there was some potential value in the company.

In any case the takeover has little impact on WAF as they are now in production and in position to make a lot of money quickly - IF they can keep operating while keeping staff and communities save from the virus. That's a big if - I just hope management is doing everything in their power and more.