First Quantum Minerals Ltd. will acquire Lumina Copper Corp. for approximately $470 million. Lumina owns the Taca Taca copper deposit located in the Puna region of Salta Province in northwest Argentina, approximately 120 km east of Escondida.
Taca Taca currently has an NI 43-101 compliant indicated mineral resource estimate of approximately 9.6 million metric tons (mt) of copper contained in 2.17 billion mt grading 0.44% copper, 0.08g/mt gold and 0.013% molybdenum, and an inferred mineral resource estimate of approximately 3.4 million mt of copper contained in 921 million mt grading 0.37% copper, 0.05g/mt gold and 0.012% molybdenum, using a 0.3% copper equivalent cut-off. These estimates are defined by 148,000 m of drilling. The deposit remains open in some areas to depth and along the southern boundary of the northeastern limb.
“The acquisition of Lumina is another step in First Quantum’s long-stated objective of geographical diversification through the acquisition of world-class, early-stage copper assets,” said Philip Pascall, chairman and CEO of First Quantum. “Taca Taca will significantly add to First Quantum’s development pipeline and is at the stage where we can apply our resources and development expertise to realize its full potential and further add to First Quantum’s copper production profile. Once the acquisition of Lumina has been completed, we will immediately review the Taca Taca project to determine the most efficient and economical timing for its development in the context of the projects that we are currently developing.”
First Quantum Minerals operates seven mines, is developing five projects worldwide, including the Kansanshi copper-gold mine in Zambia, the Las Cruces copper mine in Spain, the Guelb Moghrein copper-gold mine in Mauritania, the Ravensthorpe nickel-cobalt mine in Western Australia, the Kevitsa nickel-copper-PGE mine and the Pyhäsalmi copper-zinc mine in Finland and the Çayeli copper-zinc mine in Turkey.
