SSR Mining (SSRM 0.96%) stock soared 11.6% through 11:15 a.m. ET Wednesday, and it's not hard to figure out why:
In a filing with the SEC, SSR Mining announced this morning it will sell its entire 80% stake in its Turkish Copler gold mine to Cengiz Holding A.S.
Image source: Getty Images.
Details, please
Two years ago, a catastrophic landslide cost the lives of nine miners and caused SSR to suspend mining operations at its Copler mine. At the time, SSR predicted it would take "a total of 24 to 36 months to complete" repairs on the mine, and to remediate the effects of the landslide, at a total cost of "between $250 million to $300 million."
Two years later, Copler still isn't operational.
Instead of completing the work, SSR has elected to sell its stake in the mine to local conglomerate Cengiz for $1.5 billion. The transaction is expected to close within 120 days of signing a definitive agreement, so this should happen before the end of H1 2026.
NASDAQ: SSRM
Key Data Points
What does this mean for SSR Mining stock?
There are a couple ways of looking at this. On the downside, SSR Mining is giving up Copler and all the money it could have made from reopening the mine at some future date and from digging out and selling all the gold it contains. On the upside, SSR is saving itself the additional cost of repairing the mine, and getting $1.5 billion in cash up front -- cash it can deploy to expand work at its other mines, and even at the company's separate Hod Maden development project in Turkey.
With $1.5 billion in new cash added to the company's existing cash reserves, more than a quarter of the company's market cap will be backed up by cold, hard cash.
