PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Gold miner Evolution Mining has taken full control of the Ernest Henry copper/gold mine, in Queensland.
The company last year struck a A$1-billion agreement with diversified miner Glencore Mining to take full ownership of the project.
Evolution has paid Glencore A$800-million from available cash on hand with the remaining A$200-million due and payable in January 2023.
“Acquiring full ownership of Ernest Henry is transformational for Evolution and again demonstrates our track record of identifying and securing opportunities that are both accretive and improve the quality of the portfolio,” said Evolution executive chairperson Jake Klein.
“Ernest Henry is a world-class operation in a Tier 1 jurisdiction which we know well through our previous economic interest investment in 2016. I extend a warm welcome to our new colleagues that join Evolution today. We look forward to continuing to build on our relationships with the local communities in Cloncurry and Mt Isa, and with the traditional custodians of the land, the Mitakoodi People.”
The increased copper production from Ernest Henry is expected to reduce Evolution's all-in sustaining costs by around 12% on a full-year basis, and will cement the miner as one of the lowest cost gold producers in the world.
Klein said that the operation also has attractive growth potential below the current operating footprint which is the subject of a prefeasibility study.
Glencore has struck an offtake agreement for all of the copper concentrate produced at Ernest Henry.