Investment firm La Mancha Holding has reached an agreement to acquire a 30% stake in Canadian gold miner Golden Star Resources by investing $125.7m in the company via a private placement.

Golden Star currently operates the Wassa and Prestea underground mines in Ghana and the new arrangement will allow the company to form a strategic partnership with La Mancha in order to fast track the development of these sites.

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"La Mancha has a strong track record of creating sustainable shareholder value and their previous investments demonstrate their ability to identify compelling growth opportunities."

The company will issue 163.2 million common shares to La Mancha under the placement initiative.

The investment is expected to enable Golden Star to bolster its balance sheet and offer a strong platform for the pursuit of organic growth opportunities.

Golden Star will leverage the investment to expedite exploration and mineral reserve definition drilling at Wassa Underground, Prestea Underground and the Father Brown satellite deposit.

Golden Star Resources president and CEO Sam Coetzer said: “La Mancha has a strong track record of creating sustainable shareholder value and their previous investments demonstrate their ability to identify compelling growth opportunities at an early stage.

“The transaction also de-risks our balance sheet and lends us a platform to participate actively in the consolidation of the African gold mining industry.”

The investment represents La Mancha’s latest gold company partnership following its previous strategic collaborations with Endeavour Mining in West Africa and Evolution Mining in Australia.

La Mancha CEO Andrew Wray said: “We have worked closely with Golden Star to understand the potential of its asset base and to agree this transaction, which will help to unlock the value of the world-class Wassa and Prestea ore bodies through accelerated exploration and resource definition drilling, and the injection of development capital to fast-track the expansion of high-margin production at both operations.”

Golden Star expects to produce approximately 230,000 ounces (oz) to 255,000oz from its two underground operations this year.

The company recently reported an increase of 147% to Wassa Deep’s inferred underground resources to a total of more than five million ounces of gold.