Brazilian miner Vale’s Canadian subsidiary and Australia-based New Century Resources have entered into exclusive talks regarding the sale of the former’s producing Goro nickel-cobalt mine (Goro mine) in New Caledonia.
In this connection, New Century Resources has commenced a 60-day exclusivity period with Vale Canada to undertake due diligence and for negotiating the acquisition of a stake of 95% in Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie (VNC), the owner of the mine.
According to the Australian firm, the financial terms of the potential deal will include a financial package for supporting the transition and continuity of Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie’s operations from Vale Canada to it. This will be subject to due diligence and negotiation of formal agreements, said the Australian miner.
The parties also intend to engage jointly with the French government to get continued financing support.
The Goro project comprises a fully integrated and operational mine, a processing plant and a port facility.
Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie is implementing a simplification plan at Goro mine
Currently, Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie is implementing a simplification plan at the Goro mine with an aim to transform it into a sustainable top-10 nickel and cobalt producer in the world.
The plan calls for conversion to low-impurity limonite only feed, decommissioning of the existing highly complex refinery, and transition to 100% mixed hydroxide product (MHP) to address the demand from the electric vehicle industry. Besides, Vale Nouvelle-Calédonie is looking to get a licence for saprolite ore export for creating further by-product revenue.
New Century Resources expects to become one of the important suppliers of nickel and non-DRC sourced cobalt for the electric vehicle industry should it manage to acquire the Goro mine.
New Century Resources managing director Patrick Walta said: “New Century is pleased to secure this exclusivity agreement in relation to the potential acquisition of the Goro Nickel & Cobalt Mine. The Company is excited to continue to work with Vale on the completion of due diligence and negotiation of formal agreements for the acquisition.
“New Century has been impressed by the VNC site team and also the quality and scale of infrastructure at the Goro Mine. The current initiatives instituted by VNC to simplify the flowsheet provide strong potential to transform Goro into a sustainable long-life operation and a major global supplier of Nickel and non-DRC sourced Cobalt.”
