Thomson Reuters






By Euan Rocha


TORONTO, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Timmins Gold Corp,
which owns the San Francisco gold mine in Mexico, said on
Wednesday it will sell C$25 million ($22.7 million) in equity to
a syndicate of banks, the latest in a slew of recent share
offerings from Canadian miners.


The Timmins deal, designed to strengthen its balance sheet,
builds on a wave of offerings that may signal a thaw in the
financing environment for miners, which have long been out of
favor with investors.


The bank syndicate, led by RBC Capital Markets, will buy the
shares at C$1.50 each, a significant discount to Timmins'
closing price of C$1.73 on the Toronto Stock Exchange on
Tuesday. The transaction was done as a bought deal.


A bought deal occurs when an underwriter, or a syndicate,
buy shares from an issuer before selling them to the public.


While these deals typically occur at a slight discount to a
company's last trading price, the large discount that Timmins
agreed to underscores the challenges still facing gold miners.


The price of spot gold has fallen by nearly 30
percent in the past 12 months, and is now trading at around
$1,240 an ounce. The drop shook investor confidence in gold
miners, whose equity values have tumbled.


Bought deals and equity offerings from gold miners were all
the rage between 2009 and 2011, when the price of gold was on a
tear, but the pace and size of these deals has plummeted in the
past two years, as the gold price has fallen after peaking at
more than $1,900 an ounce in 2011.


The market for mining deals, however, is beginning to show
signs of a thaw. The world's largest gold producer, Barrick Gold
Corp , announced a huge $3 billion equity
offering late in 2013 that was aimed at trimming its debt load
and strengthening its balance sheet.


Exploration and development company Torex Gold Resources Inc
outlined a C$125 million bought deal on Tuesday that is
being led by BMO Capital Markets. Canadian base metals miner
HudBay Minerals Inc announced a roughly C$150 million
bought deal earlier this month, which is being co-led by GMP
Securities and BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.


Other miners that have recently announced plans to tap the
market include Athabasca Minerals Inc, Platinum Group
Metals Ltd and Castle Mountain Mining Co.


The equity offerings come ahead of the spring drilling
season for many North American miners and the annual Prospectors
and Developers Association of Canada conference in March, which
is the biggest gathering in the industry.


Despite the pickup in financing activity, bankers remain
cautious, noting that investor sentiment for mining companies is
still tepid and warning that exploration-stage companies will
still struggle to raise funds in the near term.


Timmins said proceeds will be used for general corporate
purposes, including repayment of debt and working capital needs.


Shares in Timmins fell 12 percent to C$1.52 in early trading
on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Wednesday.