Cameco closes the book on Centerra

TORONTO - TSX- and NYSE-listed Cameco Corporation has sold 88,6-million shares in Centerra Gold for C$871-million, and made arrangements to transfer the other 25,3-million shares it owns in the gold miner to the government of Kyrgyzstan.
After the transfer is completed, Cameco will have sold its entire interest in Centerra, ending its participation in the gold-mining business and freeing the company to focus on its core uranium-mining and nuclear-energy businesses.
Cameco announced earlier this month it would sell the 88,6-million shares in a public offering at C$10,25 apiece.
The transfer of the rest of the stake to the Kyrgyz government was agreed to in April, as part of an investment agreement signed for Centerra's Kumtor mine in the country.
In the April agreement, which followed years of negotiations and delays, Centerra and Cameco agreed to give the Kyrgyz government an increased share in Centerra, in exchange for security of tenure, a bigger concession area and a simplified, fixed tax regime of 14% of the gross revenue for the Kumtor mine.

Cameco spun out its gold assets into Centerra in 2004. Besides Kumtor, Centerra also owns and operates the Boroo mine, in Mongolia, and is planning a new operation, Gatsuurt, also in Mongolia.

NEW DIRECTORS
Centerra said separately on Wednesday that it has appointed three new directors to its board.
Firstly, John Lill will replace Cameco CFO Kim Goheen, who has stepped down as a director of Centerra now that the uranium miner no longer has a stake in the company.
Centerra has also expanded the number of directors to 11 from nine, and appointed Aleksei Eliseev and Iurii Kosvin to the board as representatives of the government of Kyrgyzstan.
Shares in Centerra slid 0,48% on Wednesday, to C$10,30 apiece by 14:13 in Toronto. Cameco gained half a percent, to C$34,01 a share.