Copper 360 has raised R274 million ($15 million) through debt and equity to fund the Nama Copper acquisition and expanded production growth plan for the Rietberg Mine in South Africa, which will target 85% more production than initially planned at listing.
The only listed copper producer in South Africa agreed to acquire Nama Copper from Mazule for R200 million ($10.9 million) on November 28, 2023.
Nama has historically processed copper slag through a sulphide flotation plant that is almost a replica of the modular flotation plant that Copper 360 is currently constructing
Copper 360 said new equity represents less than 6% of total issued share capital but provides 6,253 tonnes of additional copper metal forecast for fiscal year 2025 and fiscal year 2026, representing additional forecast sales of R1 billion ($54.4 million) at $8,500 per tonne copper.
“Our ability to raise additional capital in very difficult financial markets whilst several major producers are retrenching people and cutting growth is a testament not only to the value investors see in the copper price but also the value Copper 360 offers all stakeholders,” said Copper 360 chief executive Jan Nelson.
“Our acquisition of Nama Copper is now fully funded, and this ensures that we will double our production in the 2025 FY.”
He said the company will have three new copper processing plants in production by February 2025, and the new Rietberg Copper Mine will be online early in 2025.
“The bottom line is [that] we forecast to deliver R1 billion ($54.4 million) more in copper sales than originally planned at listing, which more than easily justified the slight dilution to shareholders as 70% of new capital is financed through debt,” he said.
Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
