South32 tops up shareholding in Arizona Mining

8th December 2017 By: Mariaan Webb - Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

South32 tops up shareholding in Arizona Mining

Graham Kerr

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Australia-headquartered South32 has bought another C$4.5-million worth of shares in Arizona Mining, maintaining its current ownership in the company of 15%.

Arizona Mining, which is advancing the Hermosa base metals project near Tucson, Santa Cruz, said on Thursday that South32 had agreed to subscribe for an additional 1.43-million shares at C$3.14 a share.

The companies announced in September that South32 would increase its shareholding in Arizona by acquiring an additional 15-million shares, or 4.9% of Arizona’s shareholding, on the open market over the next 12 months. This agreement allows South32 to acquire up to 19.9% of Arizona.

The diversified mining group in May invested C$110-million to take a 15% shareholding in Arizona Mining in a private placement.

South32 CEO Graham Kerr has previously indicated the group’s interest in the highly prospective Hermosa project.

Prefeasibility studies at the Hermosa-Taylor project, 80 km southeast of Tucson, show that the project will have a net present value of some $1.26-billion and an after-tax internal rate of return of 42%. The project currently has an 8.6-million-tonne measured resource, grading 4.2% zinc and 4% lead, as well as 63.8-million tonnes of indicated resource and 38.6-million tonnes of inferred resource.