PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Copper/gold miner Oz Minerals will start the compulsory acquisition of the remaining shares in takeover target Avanco, after gaining a 90.46% shareholding in the company.
Oz Minerals’ offer of 8.5c in cash and 0.009 of its own shares for every Avanco share held will close on July 6.
“The combination of Oz Minerals and Avanco provides an operating asset in Antas, and importantly it adds to our organic growth pipeline with its development and exploration opportunities in the Carajas and Curupi provinces in Brazil,” said Oz Minerals CEO Andrew Cole.
“Our integration team and other key personnel are now in Brazil working with the Avanco team to optimise the assets and unlock the potential of the impressive project pipeline.”
Meanwhile, Oz Minerals on Wednesday told shareholders that it had entered into an earn-in agreement with private explorer Mineral Prospecting Sverige to explore for iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) in the Norrbotten district in Sweden.
Oz Minerals can earn a 75% interest in the project by spending $10-million over a 66-month period, with the company also holding the right to purchase a further 25% equity at a price that will be determined by an independent appraisal of fair market value.
Historic exploration on the leases has intersected a copper and zinc skarn system in the southwest of the licence and has defined two small magnetite-hosted iron occurrences.
Subsequent gravity and electromagnetic surveying revealed a continuous 3.8-km-long, untested gravity anomaly between the two iron occurrences, with a coincident electromagnetic response.