Evolution Mining said it has entered into a binding agreement to acquire an 80% interest in the Northparkes copper-gold mine in New South Wales, Australia, from CMOC Group. Sumitomo Metal Mining and Sumitomo Corp. will retain their 20% stake in the joint venture.
“The acquisition of Northparkes represents a unique opportunity to add another quality asset to our portfolio, strengthening our positioning as a business that prospers through the cycle,” said Evolution Executive Chair Jake Klein.
“Northparkes is a Day-1 cashflow producing asset with a ~30-year mine life, considerable upside and a well-established team that has a great track record and technical experience at the operation.”
Under the transaction structure, Evolution will acquire all the shares in CMOC’s Australian subsidiary CMOC Mining Pty Ltd, which will not trigger any pre-emptive rights, for a total cash consideration of up to US$475 million.
Evolution has also agreed to enter into an offtake agreement with IXM S.A., a subsidiary of CMOC, under which IXM will purchase copper concentrates produced from Northparkes equal to Evolution’s 80% attributable interest over the life of mine’s existing ore reserves.
In addition, the miner will assume the obligations of CMOC as guarantor under the Triple Flag Metal Purchase and Sale Agreement, under which Evolution will deliver a percentage of its attributable gold and silver production from Northparkes to Triple Flag Precious Metals.
Northparkes has been in operation since 1994 and was the first mine to use the block cave mining method in Australia.
Source: Evolution Mining