Publically traded company Copperstone Resources on Wednesday announced that it had signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire the Viscaria copper project in Kiruna, northern Sweden, from ASX-listed Sunstone Metals.
The transaction is proposed as a scrip and share deal and will make Sunstone the largest shareholder of Copperstone, which trades on Nasdaq First North (Stockholm).
The Viscaria project has nearly 345 km of historic drill cores and estimated mineral resources of 52.4-million tonnes at 1.2% copper of different classes; potentially 608 900 t of copper.
Between 1983 and 1997 LKAB and Outokumpu produced 12.5-million tonnes at 2.3% copper, or about 287 500 t of copper.
The purchase price amounts to 160-million B-shares of Copperstone and 40-million krone in cash upon closing, as well as 46-million B-shares of Copperstone and 20-milllion in cash upon the receipt of an environmental permit.
“Copperstone and Viscaria constitute an excellent strategic fit; Copperstone being the local partner, well placed to bring the project forward and providing the Copperstone large scale potential and its Granliden, Svartliden and Eva assets to be combined with a potential significant copper producer, providing further employment opportunities to Norrbotten, our own region. In addition, Sunstone brings to the combined entity competence and track record of international copper porphyry discoveries,” said Copperstone chairperson Michael Mattsson.
“Sunstone is pleased to be partnering with Copperstone with the vision of building a significant copper company in Scandinavia. We are excited about the future opportunities generated from this transaction“, comments Sunstone CEO Malcolm Norris.
The transaction is subject to finalised due diligence and shareholder approval. Closing is expected around November 2018.