China’s Zijin Mining Group has signed an agreement to acquire a majority stake in Tibet Julong Copper for $548m in cash.
Fujian-based Zijin is acquiring a 50.1% stake in Julong Copper through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tibet Zijin.
The stake will be acquired from Zangge Group, Zangge Holding, Zhongsheng Mining, Shenzhen Chenfang and Huibaihong Industrial.
The transaction is part of Zijin Mining’s plans to further increase its resources reserves and realise its sustainable development.
Julong Copper owns three copper mines
Incorporated in December 2006, Julong Copper is involved in exploration and development of copper mines.
Currently, the company owns the Qulong Copper and Polymetallic Mine, the Rongmucuola Copper and Polymetallic Mine and the Zhibula Copper and Polymetallic Mine.
The projects are located at a linear distance of 20km southwest of the county seat of Maizhokunggar County.
The Qulong Copper and Polymetallic Mine and the Rongmucuola Copper and Polymetallic Mine are a complete porphyry-type copper deposit, while the Zhibula Copper and Polymetallic Mine is a skarn copper deposit.
The company has obtained mining permits for the Qulong Copper and Polymetallic Mine and the Zhibula Copper and Polymetallic Mine.
The three mines have 7.9576 million tonnes of copper metal volume in aggregate, according to the filed resource reserve volume reports.
In addition, the mines are estimated to possess 370.6 thousand tonnes of associated molybdenum metal volume in total.
Zijin Mining stated: “As the Rongmucuola Copper and Polymetallic Mine will share the same mining pit and processing plant with the Qulong Copper and Polymetallic Mine, its investment before production commencement has already been included in the Qulong Copper and Polymetallic Mine.
“As the stripping ratio is small, stripping of infrastructure is not required. The project can commence production once the mining permit is obtained.”
In December last year, Zijin Mining agreed to acquire Canada-based Continental Gold in an all-cash deal worth CAD1.4bn ($1.05bn).
