Taseko Mines (TSX: TKO; NYSE: TGB; LSE: TKO) began on Monday a $500 million offering of senior secured notes due in 2030. The aggregate principal amount, interest rate and other terms will be determined at pricing and are dependent on market conditions and other factors.
The company plans to use the net proceeds, together with cash on hand, to redeem its outstanding 7% senior secured notes due in 2026. A portion of the amount raised will be used for capital expenditures at the Florence copper project in Arizona and the Gibraltar copper-molybdenum mine in British Columbia.
Taseko acquired the open pit Gibraltar mine and mill for C$1 in 1999. Since then, it has invested in modernization and expansion of the operation, making it the second largest open pit copper mine in Canada. The two processing plants are rated at a total of 85,000 t/d and produce 130 million lb. of copper annually.
The Florence greenfield project was acquired in 2014, and Taseko has chosen in-situ recovery methods rather than traditional mining and milling. Construction of the commercial production facility began in 2023, and when fully operations, it was producing 85 million lb. of copper annually using solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) technology for at least 22 years.
