Silver Lake Resources Limited (ASX: SLR) shares are not having a great day today. At the time of writing, the Silver Lake share price is down 1.12 % to $1.77.
Mind you, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is not having a great day either. But the ASX's flagship index is currently down 0.77%, so Silver Lake shares are still underperforming today. And that's probably not what Silver Lake investors would like to see right now.
The Silver Lake share price is still healthily in the green for 2020 thus far (up 28.36% year to date). It's also up almost 64% since 16 March. But Silver Lake shares are still down more than 35% from the 52-week high we saw back in July. They are also down more than 10% since 21 December alone.
So what's the latest from this mid-tier ASX gold miner?
Well, the company has released a number of significant announcements to the market over the past two weeks or so.
Firstly, on 23 December it told investors that, as of 18 December, the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (ASX: GDX) has increased its holding in Silver Lake. This represented a move from 84.98 million shares to 94.52 million shares. The latter represents 10.72% of Silver Lake voting power.
Silver Lake's latest sale
Secondly, Silver Lake told investors on 23 December it has decided to divest its Andy Well and Gnaweeda projects in Western Australia to Latitude Consolidated Ltd (ASX: LCD) for approximately $8 million. This transaction is "expected to close in early 2021". According to the company, it "realises immediate value for two non-core projects for Silver Lake shareholders, whilst providing the best opportunity for the Andy Well and Gnaweeda project to realise their potential within a focused exploration company".
These two projects reportedly cover 343sq kms. The projects are estimated to contain approximately 776,000 ounces of gold (measured and indicated reserves). The release notes that these two fields were placed on "care and maintenance" in September 2017. This was due to low gold prices and capital requirements of the mines' then-owner Doray Minerals Limited.
Silver Lake notes that the mines' existing reserves have returned samples indicating a gold ore concentration ranging from 9.4 grams per tonne to 64.9 grams per tonne.
Latitude's management was pleased with the acquisition. It noted that:
This is a tremendous development for Latitude and after diligently reviewing several project opportunities over recent months, we are pleased to report the acquisition of the Andy Well and Gnaweeda Gold Projects in WA. The Board's intention has been to identify a strategic acquisition opportunity that provides our shareholders with exposure to a compelling geological story, with a clear pathway to generate growth through brownfields exploration, and we believe Andy Well and Gnaweeda tick both of these boxes comfortably.
