Glencar Mining has announced the completion of the sale of its Wassa exploration operations in Ghana to Golden Star Resources.

The company told shareholders at its annual general meeting yesterday that the sale of the Wassa company by Satellite Goldfields Ltd, a 59.4 per cent-owned subsidiary of Glencar, had been finalised following the approval of the Central Bank of Ghana.

The bank, which provided the financing for the mine, cleared the way for the sale by releasing Glencar from its guarantee on the Wassa financing.

Glencar first agreed with the Central Bank of Ghana in March of last year to sell the mine as a going concern because of gold- recovery problems at the site along with a tough gold market environment.

Terms of the sale were agreed with Golden Star in November 2001.

The Wassa project cost Glencar more than €23 million, most of which was written off in the company's 2000 accounts.

While Glencar has not revealed the sale price, a pro forma balance sheet assumed Wassa would be sold at its book value of $28 million (€28.5 million).

In June, Glencar reported a loss of €12.8 million for the year ended December 31st, 2001.