KALGOORLIE (miningweekly.com) – Copper miner Sandfire Resources has told delegates at Diggers and Dealers, in Kalgoorlie, that the company is still open to value accretive acquisitions.
“We believe we have the opportunity to build on the portfolio that we have,” MD and CEO Karl Simich said on Tuesday.
Sandfire is in the midst of a A$167-million takeover offer for Africa-focused copper developer MOD Resources, which owns the T3 copper project, in Botswana, where a prefeasibility study estimated that the project would require a capital investment of $155-million to develop an openpit operation and plant with a 2.5-million-tonne-a-year throughput capacity, producing 23 000 t/y copper and 690 000 oz/y of silver in concentrate.
Simich had previously told shareholders that the acquisition of MOD added a near-term project in Botswana to the company’s global development pipeline, while also adding significant landholding on the highly prospective and under-explored Kalahari copper belt.
Simich on Tuesday said that any future acquisition targets would need to adhere to a strict list of criteria, to allow Sandfire shareholders to gain value.
He said that any assets under consideration would need to have a production profile that was "meaningful" to Sandfire, at around 30 000 t of copper or copper equivalent, and with a mine life of more than five years.
“If they have a five-year mine life, we also need to see significant exploration potential in the region,” Simich said.