COPPER: Glencore sells Las Bambas for $5.85B to Chinese

PERU – Swiss miner Glencore Xstrata Plc has agreed to sell its Las Bambas copper project to a consortium 65% owned by MMG Limited of Hong Kong, 22.5% Guoxin International Corp. and 15.0% by Citic Metal Co. Price of the transaction is US$5.85 billion, payable to Glencore in cash upon closing. The consortium will also reimburse Glencore for capital expenditures and other costs, approximately US$400 million, incurred during the first three months of 2014.

The Las Bambas project, located in the Apurimac region of Peru, will be the world's largest copper mine once it reaches full production. Xstrata originally gave the go-ahead for a US$4.2-billion project in 2010. With a planned output of 400,000 tonnes of copper plus significant gold and silver credits, the mine and conventional concentrator was originally to begin commissioning in the second half of 2014. At the end of 2013, Glencore gave the following resources numbers for Las Bambas: Measured and indicated, 1.21 billion tonnes grading 0.66% Cu and inferred, 500 million tonnes grading 0.50% Cu.

MMG sees the acquisition of Las Bambas as a means of securing its reputation as an international base metal producer. The project will produce more than 2.0 million tonnes of copper in concentrate in its first five years of operation.

Learn more about MMG and its other mines at MMG.com.