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Goldcorp Said to Hire Scotiabank to Explore Mexico Mine Sale

Goldcorp Said to Hire Scotiabank to Explore Mexico Mine Sale

(Bloomberg) -- Goldcorp Inc. hired the Bank of Nova Scotia to sell its Camino Rojo gold and silver project in Mexico, adding to the list of operations it may unload to focus on more profitable mines, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Vancouver-based gold producer is also working with Scotiabank on the sale of its Los Filos operation in Mexico, which is said to be in advanced stages of a sale, the people said, asking not to be identified.

Los Filos might fetch about $300 million while Camino Rojo could sell for about $200 million, according to an estimate from Andrew Kaip, a Toronto-based analyst at BMO Capital Markets. 

A representatives for Toronto-based Scotiabank declined to comment, while a representative for Goldcorp didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

David Garofalo, Goldcorp’s chief executive officer, said earlier this year the company had started the sales process for Los Filos, and was weighing whether to push ahead with the sale of mines in Guatemala and Argentina. Garofalo characterized all three mines as non-core. The company said at the time it wanted to pay down debt and allocate its capital for the development of new projects.

Camino Rojo, located in the state of Zacatecas, wasn’t listed at the time as being among the projects for sale. The gold and silver development is in advanced stages, located about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Goldcorp’s Penasquito mine, according to the company’s website. The project is in the midst of a pre-feasibility study that was expected to be completed this year.

Goldcorp rose 0.60 percent to C$17.39 in Toronto Tuesday.

To contact the reporters on this story: Scott Deveau in Toronto at sdeveau2@bloomberg.net, Danielle Bochove in Toronto at dbochove1@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Fournier at efournier5@bloomberg.net, David Scanlan