Copper and gold miner PanAust Ltd
(ASX:PNA) has struck a $50 million deal with the world’s top copper miner, Codelco, to take an operating stake in Chile's Inca de Oro copper deposit.
Shares in the Brisbane-based company went into a trading halt on Friday pending announcement of the acquisition.
According to The Australian newspaper, Chile’s Codelco announced at the weekend that it would sell PanAust a 66% interest. It is also believed another party is involved in the deal.
Initial resource estimates at Inca de Oro are of a 250 million tonne deposit with a grading of 0.46% copper.
Studies show the deposit could support a mine producing about 50,000 tonnes a year of copper and 40,000 ounces a year of gold.
A pre-feasibility study is expected to be finished this half followed by a feasibility study. If successful, construction of the mine should take about two years.
Codelco resumed copper extraction at its El Teniente copper complex on Sunday after halting output on Saturday following a major magnitude earthquake that has killed at least 700 people in Chile.
PanAust’s 2009 net profit came to $21.17 million.
