Burkina Faso-based banking group Coris Bank International Group (Coris) has announced the signing of a financing agreement worth $100 million with the UK-based gold exploration company, Hummingbird Resources Plc (Hummingbird).
Coris is a financial services group founded by Burkina Faso banking tycoon Idrissa Nassa. The pan-African banking group maintains active operations in Burkina Faso and across Francophone Africa through its subsidiaries in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Togo, Senegal, Benin and Niger.
The financing agreement with the Dan Betts-led exploration company will lead to the deployment of $100 million to cover the construction costs of the Kouroussa Gold Mine in Guinea, one of Hummingbird’s many operational mines in Africa.
Through Coris’ financing, the Kouroussa gold project will become Hummingbird’s next producing gold mine of about 100,000 ounces of gold annually in the coming years. Upon the completion of the project, the UK-based exploration company will be on course to generate $180 million annually in revenue.
Nassa, the founder and president of Coris, explained that the financing deal with Hummingbird is a step further in its plan to help strengthen Africa’s mining industry.
“The financing further proves that the African financial industry is capable of effectively meeting the financing needs of mining companies on the continent,” he said.
The deal comes nearly weeks after Coris launched its subsidiary in Guinea on Nov. 8 in a strategic move to deepen its presence in Francophone Africa and strengthen its brand and operations on the continent.
Its subsidiary in Guinea extends its presence as a pan-African Bank to nine countries. This includes its operations in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
Coris recently launched its e-currency in Togo in line with its decision to boost cross-border transfers and financial inclusion in West Africa through cutting-edge technology.
The e-currency, which is tagged Coris Money, will see the group leverage its 558,113 e-wallet users and deepen its digitization strategy in an effort to strengthen its regional position and activities in Togo and other countries in Francophone Africa.
As of press time, Dec. 20, shares in Coris on the Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres, a regional stock exchange for companies in West Africa, were trading at XOF9,500 ($16.3), giving the bank a XOF304-billion ($521 million) capitalization.
