PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Intrepid Mines on Monday said that it was considering alternative options for its Zambian assets, given the current copper price environment.
The announcement comes after the Zambian Ministry of Mines and Minerals Development’s conditional approval for the sale of Intrepid’s Zambian assets to Aim-listed Weatherly International lapsed on May 18.
Weatherly in December announced that it would acquire the Kitumba copper project from Intrepid for A$4.75-million in cash.
However, Weatherly has had difficulty obtaining financing for the acquisition, after the company was unable to fund the acquisition through an existing debt facility with Orion Mine Finance Fund.
The advanced Kitumba copper development project hosts a Joint Ore Reserve Committee- (Jorc-) compliant measured and indicated resource of 24.9-million tonnes at a copper grade of 2.32% containing 578 000 t of copper. Included within this resource is a Jorc-compliant reserve of 21.9-million tonnes at a copper grade of 2.20% copper containing 492 000 t of copper.
The Kitumba deposit is contained within a granted mining licence that is valid until 2029, while the wider project area also includes four exploration licences, with a combined current mining and exploration tenure area covering more than 900 km2.
To date, an estimated $30-million or more has been spent on exploration, drilling, metallurgical testwork and other studies for Kitumba.