Copper producer Austral Resources Australia has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to acquire the Lady Loretta mining lease and associated exploration permits for minerals (EPMs) from Glencore’s subsidiaries.
The move will allow Austral to tap into additional copper resources adjacent to its Lady Annie Project, bolstering copper development in north-west Queensland.
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The acquisition is poised to enhance Austral’s mining operations by integrating the Lady Loretta zinc-lead-silver-producing mine site, which is located 150km north-west of Mount Isa, Queensland.
The high-grade lead-zinc orebody currently undergoes extraction at a rate of 1.6 million tonnes per year.
Glencore’s Lady Loretta underground zinc operations are set to continue until the planned closure date of December 2025.
Austral’s assumption of responsibility for mining operations and the mine’s progressive rehabilitation is expected to commence following the completion of the transaction.
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By GlobalDataAustral chairman David Newling said: “We are extremely excited with the acquisition of Lady Loretta and the strongly beneficial impact it could have as a part of our long-term copper production profile.
“Lady Loretta is an eminently sensible acquisition for us, given its tenements and ours abut, and that it enables a meaningful extension of copper mining from our Lady Annie deposit, which will support production from our Mt Kelly SX-EW processing facility.”
The transaction’s structure is expected to involve the acquisition of the Glencore entity that owns and operates Lady Loretta, along with several related EPMs.
The final binding documentation is conditional upon the mineral lease renewal and other standard terms.
Newling added: “Lady Loretta, together with our own Mt Kelly processing plant and recently acquired Rocklands project and processing plant from Copper Resources Australia Limited reveal our ambition to consolidate sensible parts of the Mt Isa and Cloncurry copper region.
“We are of the belief that many of the regional assets would strongly profit from the benefits that consolidation can bring, such as blended mining and processing strategies, along with the reduced cost profile that a larger organisation can bring.”
