Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) expects to tie up the acquisition of the Leigh Creek copper mine in Australia by early next week.
All requirements, including Foreign Investment Review Board approval, have now been met, Strategic said, with settlement to take place within five business days.
WATCH: Strategic Minerals raring to go at Leigh Creek after seal of approval
Consideration will be A$1.5mln (£850,000) cash and shares worth A$1.45mln.
John Peters, managing director, said investors in London had been supportive of the acquisition.
"Leigh Creek is a low-cost project containing significant quantities of copper, with excellent infrastructure in place."
Production will resume in about a year’s time, he added.
"Once production commences and SML has a second line of cash flow, we will be in a significantly stronger position to consider cash management alternatives, which includes dividend payment as well as continuing our strategy of acquiring value accretive projects.”
READ: Strategic Minerals extends access to ore stockpile in New Mexico
The deal equates to 24,900 tonnes of JORC compliant resource copper metal acquired at less than U$100 per tonne of contained copper
An offtake agreement is already in place for all copper produced with the initial rate of production to be over 200 tonnes of metal per month.
In late afternoon trading, Strategic Minerals shares were 5.1% higher at 2.05p.
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