PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed junior MinQuest is making a play for the Wolverine zinc mine, in Canada, which is owned by Yukon Zinc Corporation.
MinQuest said it was examining the possibility of using the existing processing and tailings management facilities at Wolverine to fast-track the development of its own Kona mineral resource at the Fyre Lake copper project.
“Using the existing infrastructure at Wolverine could decrease the preproduction capital expenditure for putting Fyre Lake into production by as much as C$150-million to C$200-million, which would substantially improve the economics of the Fyre Lake copper project,” MinQuest MD Jeremy Read said.
Yukon Zinc had, since 2008, invested some C$500-million in acquiring, developing and putting the Wolverine project into production, as well as to fund its ongoing operation.
Commercial production at the mine started in 2012, with full design capacity of 750 000 t/y achieved in the first quarter of 2013. The mine was, however, placed on care and maintenance in January, as Yukon Zinc faced some financial difficulty.
In April, a Canadian Court ordered Yukon Zinc to find investment partners or buyers for its assets.
MinQuest’s conditional offer to buy the Wolverine zinc mine included the remaining mineral resource, the processing and tailings management facilities, workshops, office buildings and mine and operating leases.
An asset purchase agreement was currently being finalised and the MinQuest offer was conditional upon the company securing the funding to complete the asset purchase by August 10.