Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Golden Saint Resources (Africa) Ltd., a unit of gold mining company Golden Saint Australia, has been awarded three exploration licenses totaling 339.93 square kilometers in Sierra Leone, Golden Saint Australia said today in an e-mailed statement.

The permits in Bajia, Lowuma and Menima, areas that are “mainly known to be rich in diamonds” are in addition to the two exploration permits in Liberia totaling 590 square kilometers owned by Massa Investment Corp., a wholly-owned unit of Golden Saint Australia, the company said. An application for an exploration permit in Sierra Leone for an area of approximately 248 square kilometers is expected to be approved in the next three weeks, it said.

Golden Saint is close completing discussions to fund initial exploratory work for all the permitted areas and is seeking an initial public offering of its shares to be listed in Australia, it said.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Baldave Singh at bsingh35@bloomberg.net