M Critical Minerals has acquired two copper projects in the North West province of Queensland from Rio Tinto, it announced on February 16.
The projects include two active copper mines and well-known copper projects. They include:
- The Mittigudi project, which straddles the Mt Gordon Fault Zone and is along strike of the Capricorn copper mine, Mount Oxide copper project and also neighbours “the Big One” copper Mine Licence Application.
- The Leichardt project, towards the east, is across two tenements with anomalies consistent with IOCG (iron oxide copper-gold) prospects supported by historic copper occurrences.
“With our existing tenements, these new acquisitions, and applications, M Critical Minerals holds rights over and is exploring thousands of square kilometres of prospective critical minerals opportunities,” officials said. “We are working to help supply the world with the copper and other critical minerals it needs for sustainable electrification, expanding power usage due to AI adoption, and a range of civilian and defence uses.”
Matt Latimore, co-founder of M, said that the takeover was part of its growth plan.
“The company is building a strong stable of projects across copper, vanadium and graphite for exploration, development and production,” he noted.
“As energy transition and electrification continue at pace around the world, demand for copper is increasing,” added Gerhard Redelinghuys, co-founder and managing director.
“Demand for copper is outstripping supply at present, resulting in historically high prices, while analysts project annual copper production shortfalls of 10 million tonnes by 2040. M Critical Minerals is acquiring, exploring and developing today to meet this demand.”
Part of the M Group, M Critical Minerals was established in October 2024.
Source: M Critical Minerals