Copper market’s biggest whale fuels speculation of a major shift
The world’s single biggest buyer of copper, State Grid Corp. of China, has slowed its purchases of copper wire this year.
Australian copper miner OZ Minerals said on Monday it would buy base metals explorer Cassini Resources, raising its stake in Australia’s largest undeveloped nickel-copper deposit, West Musgrave, to complete control from 70%.
OZ Minerals acquired its majority stake in the West Musgrave project in Western Australia from Cassini in 2016, developing the project as a joint venture ever since.
Under terms of the deal, Cassini shareholders will receive an implied value of A$0.16 per share along with shares in new company Caspin Resources Ltd. Caspin will house gold and nickel-copper-cobalt assets that Cassini is spinning off an intention to list Caspin shares on the Australian stock exchange.
Excluding shares in Caspin, the OZ minerals acquisition, unanimously recommended by Cassini’s board, values Cassini at A$68.4 million ($46.86 million), with the offer representing a 28% premium to Cassini’s last close of A$0.125.
On Monday Cassini shares jumped as much as 36% to A$0.17, their highest level in more than five and a half years, while OZ minerals edged marginally higher.
($1 = 1.4596 Australian dollars)
(By Shreya Mariam Job; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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