PANAMA – Minera Panama, a subsidiary of Vancouver's First Quantum Minerals, and Petaquilla Minerals have reached a deal worth $60 million to completely separate operations of Petaquilla's Molejon gold mine and First Quantum's Cobre Panama copper project.
Certain exploration properties are to be exchanged, and the purchase agreement for aggregate will be terminated without prejudice by June 30, 2014. Petaquilla will cede ownership of the Llano Grande road that provides main access to the Cobre Panama site, selected other roads, and the rights of way for the Cobre Panama electrical distribution corridor. Petaquilla will transfer titles and rights to land it holds within a 30-km radius of the Cobre Panama project, excluding the Molejon concession. Petaquilla will also waive any rights to several copper deposits and any mineral deposits outside the Molejon mining concession. Lastly, Petaquilla agrees to collaborate, assist and support Minera Panama's current surface rights, Law 9 amendments, and any future expansion of the Cobre Panama project.
Petaquilla will receive $3.3 million when the foregoing are met, a further $46.7 million conditional on meeting specific deliverables before July 6, 2014, an additional $5 million a year from now, and the final $5 million 30 days after the Cobre Panama project makes its first ore shipment.
Petaquilla and Inmet Mining had varied joint ventures in Panama, but the February 2013 takeover of Inmet by First Quantum made the negotiating of new arrangements necessary.
Information about the $6.5 billion Cobre Panama development is available at MineraPanama.com/en.
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