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Aditya Birla Minerals, a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries, has signed a binding agreement with Lighthouse Minerals Holdings Pty to sell the Mt Gordon Copper mine in Australia for A$5 million (about ₹23 crore) cash. It will also receive further staggered payments based on the LME (London Metal Exchange) copper price.
The deal is expected to be completed by the end of next month.
The mine was put under care and maintenance in April 2013 after copper prices crashed below the cost of production.
The considerationUnder the terms of the deal, Lighthouse, partly owned by EMR Capital Resources Fund 1, will pay A$5 million in cash, a further A$10 million subject to copper prices holding above A$4.20 a pound over six months, reimburse cost of care and maintenance up to A$500,000 a month until the deal is completed, and replace all environmental and performance bonds amounting to about A$41.7 million.
The transaction is subject to the buyer obtaining approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board and ABML procuring the discharge of all inter-company indebtedness between ABML and Birla Mt Gordon Pty, said the company, in a statement on Monday.
Hindalco Industries, which owns 51 per cent in the Australian Stock Exchange listed Aditya Birla Minerals, signed a new copper concentrate offtake agreement with Lighthouse Minerals. The agreement will come into effect on completion of the transaction.
Neel Patnaik, Managing Director, Aditya Birla Minerals, said the transaction reflects the efforts taken by the company and its employees and ANZ Corporate Advisory over the past two and a half years.
Other projectsThe company plans to operate the Birla Nifty copper mine and technically review the Birla Maroochydore copper project. Concentrates produced at the Nifty copper mine are shipped to Hindalco’s plant in India for smelting.
Expressing concern over falling aluminium prices, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, Hindalco, recently said commodity markets and the aluminium industry in particular are going through a challenging phase due to a sharp slide in realisations.
“Hindalco’s financial performance will be significantly impacted as interest and depreciation flow through the profit and loss statement. This will impact performance in the near term,” he said.
On Monday, Hindalco’s shares rose 2.4 per cent to close at ₹78, on the BSE.
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