Copper producers branch out
COPPER producers Aeris Resources and Red River Resources appear to be set on expanding, merging and acquiring a diverse range of projects beyond their bread-and-butter metal.
Aeris Resources managing director Andre Labuschagne told investors that the company is ready to grow beyond its Tritton Copper mine in NSW.
“We’ve restructured the balance sheet, we’ve restructured the organisation and we now have a balance sheet where we’re ready to look at growth opportunities,” Mr Labuschagne said.
“We’ve always said we want to grow this business beyond Tritton.
“We’re looking for more opportunities to bring into the business as we grow through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and also looking at the ground around Tritton.”
The company experienced a share price drop after announcing a pause in drilling at its joint venture (70:30) with Argonaut Resources on the Torrens project in South Australia, which Mr Labuschagne said has now stabilised.
“We want to show the market that the current value of the share price does not reflect the value of this business, especially as a copper producing company,” he said.
The Tritton project is surrounded by high quality neighbours Aurelia Metals and CSA Copper and the Torrens project is near OZ Minerals Carrapateena project and BHP’s Olympic Dam.
“There’s a lot of upside and various exploration opportunities in and around our tenements,” Mr Labuschagne said.
While recent attempts to acquire CSA Copper fell through, Aeris continues to explore merger and acquisition opportunities with a focus on base metals and gold – much like Red River Resources, which is also in the process of expanding beyond copper.
Red River Resources managing director Mel Palancian said the company is proud of its Thalanga copper project but excited to acquire the Hill Grove Gold-Antimony project in NSW.
“Hillgrove is pretty much Thalanga – just in a different commodity,” Mr Palancian told conference delegates.
“There’s over a million ounces of gold in the ground and that’s averaging about five grams a tonne and about 1.5pc of antimony and about 100,000 tonnes of antimony metal in the ground.
“Antimony is really a cousin of lead, it’s used in fire suppressant, in cladding in building materials, it’s also used in batteries and in ammunition.”
The Chinese Government considers antimony a critical raw mineral to be a protected and also controls mine production of antimony.
Current mining restrictions and increased smelting capacity have resulted in China’s antimony concentrate exports increasing – which places Red River in prime position to meet demand.
“We’re really excited about Hillgrove, I think it’s going to be a great addition to our portfolio,” Mr Palancian said.