Andrew Forrest
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s Wyloo Metals has taken a 5.28% stake in nickel miner Western Areas, just a day after the company announced deal talks with fellow listed Independence Group (IGO).
IGO and Western Areas earlier this week confirmed that they were in preliminary discussion in relation to a change of control proposal, however, both parties remained firm that there was no certainty that a definitive transaction would transpire.
Wyloo’s investment in Western Areas comes as the company is considering a superior offer for Canada’s Noront Resources, whose Ring of Fire land package in Ontario late last month attracted a C$325-million offer from diversified major BHP.
Wyloo has a 37.5% partially diluted interest in Noront and has pointed out that BHP’s bid was unlikely to satisfy the minimum mandatory tender condition without Wyloo’s support.
Western Areas holds a number of producing nickel assets in Western Australia, and in 2022 the miner expects to produce between 16 000 t and 17 000 t of nickel in concentrate at unit costs of between A$4.25/lb and A$4.65/lb.
Western Areas is expected to spend between A$150-million and A$170-million next year on the development of Odysseus, where first concentrate production remains on track for late in the 2022 calendar year.