Calibre Mining announces its merger with Equinox Gold, creating the second-largest mining company in Canada. The new entity, New Equinox Gold, aims for substantial gold production by 2025 amidst increasing mining concessions awarded to Chinese firms, raising environmental and community concerns.
Calibre Mining Co., a Canadian firm with mining operations in Nicaragua, has confirmed its merger with Equinox Gold. This merger will establish them as the second-largest mining company in Canada based on their combined investments. Currently, Calibre operates the El Limon and La Libertad mines through its subsidiaries, producing significant gold outputs.
The new entity, named New Equinox Gold, will function under the Equinox Gold Corporation title, continuing operations from their headquarters in Vancouver, Canada. Combined, the two companies aim to generate 950,000 ounces of gold by 2025, excluding production from two mines under development, projected to yield an additional 590,000 ounces when fully operational.
Darren Hall, the president and CEO of Calibre, recently announced the production of their one millionth ounce of gold in Nicaragua, a milestone since production began in late 2019. In 2024, Nicaragua’s gold exports reportedly reached $1.354 billion.
An anonymous mining professional noted that the merger should not affect daily operations or extraction processes. In 2023, Calibre extracted 242,109 ounces of gold, but production in 2024 decreased to 207,220 ounces.
Despite a decline in annual production, sales from the extracted gold contributed approximately $574.4 million in revenue. The increasing gold prices, hitting a record $2,954.4 per ounce, present lucrative opportunities for mining companies.
Amid the merger, the Nicaraguan government is reportedly granting mining concessions to Chinese companies, raising concerns among environmental activists regarding the potential impacts on indigenous communities. Between late 2023 and early 2024, Nicaragua awarded 13 mining concessions covering 11.66% of metal-mining acreage, primarily to Chinese firms.
Environmentalist Amaru Ruiz described the concession cancellations as part of a strategy to streamline territories and prepare them for new contracts. He criticized the arbitrary nature of these decisions, highlighting fears of reprisals affecting denunciations from affected parties.
These rushed mining concessions, approved in record time, are alarming to environmentalists and indigenous communities, who fear that they threaten both the ecosystem and local land rights, exacerbating violent invasions by armed individuals into indigenous territories.
Calibre Mining’s merger with Equinox Gold forms a significant player in the mining industry, poised for increased gold production. The ongoing issuance of mining concessions to Chinese companies poses environmental and social threats, particularly to indigenous communities. The growing gold prices could amplify profits while raising ethical and ecological concerns about the impact of such large-scale mining operations.
Original Source: havanatimes.org
