PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Unlisted Wyloo Metals will proceed with the compulsory acquisition of nickel miner Mincor after gaining a more than 90% interest in the takeover target at an offer price of A$1.40 a share.

The offer period closed at the end of trade on Wednesday.

Wyloo CEO Luca Giacovazzi said he was thrilled to have completed the acquisition of Mincor and was looking forward to combining the company’s assets with the rest of Wyloo’s nickel portfolio.

“The acquisition of Mincor turns Wyloo into a fully integrated nickel business that brings together high-grade nickel production from Kambalda with our planned downstream processing facility in Kwinana,” he said.

“The acquisition also complements our high-grade Eagle’s Nest nickel/copper/platinum group element project in Ontario and our exploration projects in Quebec.

“By adding Mincor to our portfolio, we’ve introduced a producing mine alongside our long-life development projects, with all our orebodies located in the tier-one jurisdictions of Australia and Canada.”

Giacovazzi said in a statement on Wednesday that there was significant exploration upside in Kambalda in Western Australia’s Goldfields region.

“Kambalda is one of the most prolific nickel sulphide regions in the world. It has produced more than 1.6-million tonnes of nickel over the past 50 years or so and hosts some of the highest-grade nickel sulphide orebodies on the planet,” he said.

“The mines in Kambalda have had five-year mine lives since the 1970s. Mining companies have historically focused on incrementally extending production, but none have taken a systematic approach to exploring the Kambalda and Widgiemooltha Domes.

“We think the district has huge potential and we’re looking forward to investing more into exploration.”

Mincor MD and CEO Gabrielle Iwanow said on Wednesday that Mincor’s merger with Wyloo brought together complementary assets and skill sets.

“Mincor has a great team of some of the world’s very best, highly respected technical experts who have a detailed understanding of Western Australia’s nickel resources. Wyloo made it clear from the outset that they were not only attracted to Mincor’s projects, but also its people,” she said.

“There’s a clear cultural fit and a drive for growth that’s common across both companies. The team is really excited to see what we can achieve when we bring together Mincor’s producing assets with Wyloo’s plans for downstream processing and long-term growth projects.”

Meanwhile, mining magnate Dr Andrew Forrest, who chairs Wyloo’s parent company Tattarang, said on Wednesday that the demand for critical minerals was expected to grow exponentially as the world raced to decarbonise the planet and that Wyloo, now a major supplier of critical minerals, would play a crucial role in meeting that demand.

“Wyloo has targeted nickel sulphides as they are the greenest and cheapest option for battery manufacturing: they have the best economics, can be processed into battery grade nickel with the lowest environmental footprint and are fully recyclable,” he said.

“We are going to give the market a choice between clean nickel and dirty nickel.”