Fortuna Buys Bambadji Gold Project from Barrick, IAMGOLD for $200M

Fortuna Mining Corp. paid $200 million in cash to acquire the Bambadji gold exploration project in Senegal from Barrick Mining Corp. and IAMGOLD Corp., the company said Monday. The deal consolidates roughly 60 kilometers of prospective strike along the Senegal-Mali Shear Zone, a Tier-1 gold belt, directly adjacent to Fortuna’s feasibility-stage Diamba Sud Gold Project.

Jorge A. Ganoza, Fortuna’s president and CEO, called Bambadji “a rare opportunity to consolidate a large-scale, highly prospective exploration land package immediately adjacent to our feasibility-stage Diamba Sud Gold Project.” The 190-square-kilometer property hosts multiple drill-defined targets and an extensive historical exploration dataset, he said.

Fortuna paid $130.35 million to a Barrick subsidiary and $69.65 million to an IAMGOLD subsidiary. The Sellers also received a 0.5 percent net smelter return royalty on the first 1.75 million ounces of gold produced from the Bambadji Nord property, split proportionally.

Diamba Sud holds mineral reserves containing 1.15 million ounces of gold. Fortuna expects to make a final investment decision on that project shortly. Bambadji sits on its eastern margin, with secondary roads providing direct access from the proposed plant site.

Historical drilling by Barrick and IAMGOLD returned intercepts including 15.22 grams per tonne gold over 7.0 meters and 4.08 g/t over 32 meters. The database includes roughly 214,000 meters of auger, reverse circulation and diamond drilling, though QA/QC data for earlier work is limited. Fortuna plans to twin some holes and reassay samples.

At least eight significant prospects have been identified across Bambadji, including breccia-style mineralization similar to Diamba Sud and sericite-albitite and high-tourmaline styles seen at other deposits along the shear zone. Many of the mineralized trends remain open along strike and at depth, with multi-kilometer gaps in drilling.

Fortuna approved an $8 million exploration budget for Bambadji for the remainder of 2026, funding 51,000 meters of reverse circulation and diamond drilling. The program targets eight priority prospects within 20 kilometers of the proposed Diamba Sud plant. Drilling is expected to start in the third quarter.

Paul Weedon, Fortuna’s senior vice president of exploration, reviewed the technical data. He noted that verification work identified limited QA/QC support for some historical results, and that additional twin holes and reassaying are planned.

The acquisition is the largest single outlay Fortuna has made since it began operating three mines in Argentina, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Guyana and Peru. The company also holds the Diamba Sud project in Senegal.

Barrick, one of the sellers, carries an Alpha Score of 70 out of 100 from AlphaScala, a Moderate rating in the Basic Materials sector. The score reflects the company’s operational scale and exposure to gold price cycles.

What would confirm the thesis: successful drilling that expands the resource base and improves confidence in grade continuity, particularly on targets near the proposed plant. A positive final investment decision at Diamba Sud would also support the logic of the consolidation.

What would break it: drill results that fail to replicate historical intercepts, cost overruns on the exploration program, or a sustained drop in gold prices that makes development uneconomic. The historical data limitations add uncertainty.

Drilling on Bambadji is scheduled to begin in the third quarter, with initial results expected before year-end.