Australia’s Cyprium Metals (ASX: CYM) has tapped global commodities trader and miner Glencore to help accelerate the restart of the company’s Nifty copper complex located near Port Hedland.
On July 26, the parties announced a commercial strategic partnership that will see Glencore purchase copper products at market price, including off-spec materials produced during the start-up period, from Nifty’s two processing plants.
This offtake contract covers 100% of cathodes produced and delivered to Port Hedland, and has an initial fixed term. The sale contract would run from 2026, the earliest likely date that Nifty might produce concentrates, the company said.
The deal would also see Glencore make all reasonable efforts to consider delivering these concentrates to the Mt Isa smelter, which serves one of the world’s largest mining complexes and is the second-largest copper producer in Australia.
Subject to final agreements, the Swiss-based group will make a A$20 million prepayment on the copper production to accelerate construction of a new surface mine as well as provide working capital to move the purchase point to Nifty.
Other aspects of the partnership include an option for Cyprium to purchase sulphuric acid to eliminate uncertainty in supply as well as technical support from Glencore.
“This commercial partnership gives us certainty of revenue during the crucial startup phases of Nifty’s two processing plants, removes uncertainty in sourcing a key input into cathode production, and aligns with creating and maintaining a strong Australian job base in the ultimate critical mineral, copper,” Cyprium’s executive chair Matt Fifield said in a news release.
Located on the western edge of the Great Sandy Desert in the northeastern Pilbara region, the Nifty mine began operations in 1993 as an open pit oxide copper mine, then transitioned to an underground sulphide mine in 2006.
Between commencement of the oxide operation and November 2019, when the mine was placed into care and maintenance, Nifty has produced more than 700,000 tonnes of copper metal. Cyprium acquired 100% of the Nifty project in March 2021 as part of a larger transaction with Metals X (ASX: MLX).
A resource statement put out earlier this year estimated a total resource of 125 million tonnes averaging 0.83% copper for 1.04 million tonnes of the metal. Most of the resource is in the indicated category, at 80.9 million tonnes grading 0.79% for 635,765 tonnes of copper.
