VANCOUVER (miningweekly.com) – Africa-focused project developer Ivanhoe Mines has received the third of five instalments from Chinese mining company Zijin Mining Group.
The transaction is part of Zijin’s strategic co-development agreement under which it acquired 49.5% of Ivanhoe’s majority stake in the Kamoa-Kakula copper discovery, now being jointly developed by the partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Zijin – through its Hong Kong-based subsidiary, Gold Mountains International Mining – agreed to pay $412-million for a 49.5% interest in Ivanhoe subsidiary Kamoa Holding, which currently owns 95% of the Kamoa-Kakula project. Zijin paid an initial $206-million at closing in December last year, followed by the payment of the first two of five scheduled $41.2-million instalments in March and July this year.
The third instalment lifts Ivanhoe’s consolidated working capital to about $395-million, representing about C$0.68 per issued and outstanding common share of Ivanhoe Mines.
The remaining $82.4-million is required to be paid in two further equal instalments in three-and-a-half-month intervals, with the next instalment due on February 8, 2017. The instalment payments are secured by a pledge of shares of Kamoa Holding, with proportionate releases of the security on the pledged shares following receipt of each instalment payment, Ivanhoe advised.
Ivanhoe had earlier this month published a maiden resource statement for the Kakula discovery, which forms part of the larger Kamoa project, outlining a compliant indicated resource totalling 192-million tonnes, grading 3.45% copper, containing 14.6-billion pounds of copper at a 1% copper cutoff.
At a higher cutoff of 3% copper, Ivanhoe said, the discovery held indicated resources totalling 66-million tonnes, grading 6.59% copper, containing 9.6-billion pounds of copper.
Ivanhoe also announced on Tuesday that, from Wednesday, its shares will trade on the OTCQX Best Market in the US, under the symbol IVPAF.