VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Jan. 05, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX-V:EQX) (“Equinox Gold” or the “Company”), is pleased to announce that Mr. Ross Beaty, Chairman of the Company, has acquired 22.5 million common shares of Equinox Gold, bringing his total holdings in the Company to 41.4 million common shares.
As previously announced on October 25, 2017, pursuant to a share and debenture purchase agreement between Equinox Gold, Mr. Beaty and Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (“Sandstorm”), Sandstorm has sold to Mr. Beaty 4.0 million common shares of Equinox Gold and US$15.0 million principal of the debenture payable by Equinox Gold to Sandstorm at a combined purchase price of approximately US$18.2 million. The debenture has been converted to 18,518,518 common shares that have been issued to Mr. Beaty.
Sandstorm now holds a total of 24.0 million common shares and common share purchase warrants exercisable into 9.1 million common shares at an average exercise price of C$2.92, bringing Sandstorm’s total holdings in Equinox Gold to 5.7% on a basic basis and 7.7% on a partially diluted basis. The sale of the Equinox Gold securities was planned as part of the business combination to form Equinox Gold that was completed on December 22, 2017. Sandstorm may from time to time acquire additional securities of Equinox Gold, dispose of some or all of the existing or additional securities it holds or will hold, or may continue to hold its current position. Accordingly, since Sandstorm’s holdings in Equinox Gold have decreased to less than 10%, as required pursuant to National Instrument 62-103 - The Early Warning System and Related Take Over Bid and Insider Reporting Issues, Sandstorm will be filing an early warning report containing additional information on Equinox Gold’s SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.
When combined with shares that Mr. Beaty purchased in the open market during November and December 2017, Mr. Beaty now holds a total of 9.8% of Equinox Gold (on a basic basis) and is the Company’s largest shareholder.
About Equinox Gold
Equinox Gold is a Canadian mining company with a multi-million-ounce gold resource base, near-term and growing gold production from two past-producing mines in Brazil and California, and a long-term growth platform with a diverse portfolio of gold and copper assets in North and South America. Early works construction is underway at the Company’s Aurizona project in Brazil with the objective of pouring gold by year-end 2018, and a prefeasibility study is underway at the Company’s Castle Mountain project in California with the objective of restarting production.
