South African mining company, Sibanye Stillwater, is reportedly eyeing to buy a stake in Zambia’s Mopani Copper Mines.
According to reports, Mopani Copper Mines is looking for new investors after Glencore sold the asset and Sibanye Stillwater has expressed interest.
Mopani Copper Mine and smelter complex is now looking to get under new owners as Glencore sold the asset to the state in January last year, Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said on Wednesday.
Based on Froneman’s sentiments, Sibanye had registered an interest around a year ago, and confirmed that they “remain interested”.
It is reported by Mining Weekly that Zambia’s state mining firm ZCCM-IH hired Rothschild in June to help find a new investor to upgrade and expand it.
“We like Zambia, we like what the new president is doing there,” Froneman said.
As Sibanye Stillwater currently and mainly produces platinum group metals and gold, the mine has expanded into battery metals including lithium and nickel through a string of acquisitions.
Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, who was elected in August 2021, has overseen reforms in the mining tax regime in a bid to attract new investment and boost production in Africa’s second-biggest copper producer.
Looking at its lifespan, Mopani, is more than 90 years old and has the potential to produce 225 000 t/y of copper, nearly three times its expected 2022 production, but it needs an investment of at least $300-million to fund a complicated underground expansion.
It was recently posted that Glencore and Zambia’s State-owned mining company ZCCM-IH could jointly lend Mopani Copper Mines $200-million to help cover running costs under a proposal made by the global miner last week, Reuters reported.
“Glencore, which owned Mopani until March 2021, is prepared to lend up to $100-million as a short-term cash injection to Zambia’s Mopani copper mine, the global miner said in a Sept. 12 non-binding letter of intent,” reported the news agency.
Main Image: Sibanye Stillwater Mine/Bloomberg
