Canada extends review of Chinese state firm’s Arctic gold mine bid
- Shandong Gold Mining will need to wait at least another 45 days to know the fate of its proposed purchase of TMAC Resources
- If approved, sale would give Chinese company access to operations in Canada’s strategic far north
Canada has extended a national security review of a US$165 million Chinese takeover of a Canadian gold mining company operating in the country’s strategic far north.
TMAC Resources said on Friday that a federal review of state-owned Shandong Gold Mining’s takeover bid for the struggling miner had been extended for another 45 days.
TMAC offered no explanation for the extension.
If approved, the deal would give Shandong Gold Mining, China’s second-biggest gold producer, full control over TMAC’s sole asset, the Hope Bay gold project.
Located in Nunavut in Canada’s far north, Hope Bay not only has a wealth of gold deposits, it is also on the Northwest Passage, a sea route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans via the Arctic.
Although the route remains frozen and impassable for most of the year, some scientists say climate change will soon open up the passage for longer periods – potentially opening a much shorter shipping route between Asia and Europe.