Copper producer Austral Resources Australia Ltd. has agreed to acquire the Lady Loretta copper mine in Queensland from Glencore, who has agreed to pay AU$45.5 million at completion.
Lady Loretta adjoins Austral’s Lady Annie Copper Mine, and the transaction allows Austral to consolidate control of a broader copper mineral system.
The acquisition also enables Austral to pursue low-risk, near-mine opportunities, while leveraging existing infrastructure and process capacity at Austral’s Mt Kelly processing plant.
Under the agreement, Austral will acquire 100 per cent of Noranda Pacific Pty Ltd., the owner and operator of the Lady Loretta mine, associated exploration permits for minerals, processing infrastructure and mining camp from Glencore.
Austral will receive US$40 million (AU$59.9 million) at completion, scheduled for January 31, with US$9.6 million (AU14.4 million) to be deducted from the payment as the estimated rehabilitation bond for the mine.
Austral will pay Glencore a 2.5 per cent net smelter return royalty on all copper oxides and copper sulphides produced from the tenements.
In turn, Glencore will operate all zinc activities at the mine, but Austral will be responsible for operations, as well as rehabilitation of the Lady Loretta mine.
Austral Chairman David Newling said: “This is a strategically important acquisition for Austral and is a highly attractive outcome for shareholders.
“With the three key pillars of our consolidation strategy now complete, our focus turns to disciplined execution, advancing near-mine opportunities at Lady Annie, progressing Rocklands toward restart in 2027, and building a long-term, multi-asset copper business capability of producing around 50,000 tonnes per annum of copper metal in North-West Queensland.”
The Lady Loretta mine has been producing high-grade zinc-lead ore since 2012, with ore historically mined at 1.6 million tonnes per year.
Austral said the acquisition represents a meaningful addition to potential future copper oxide feed ore tonnes.
In addition, copper mineralisation trends suggest an extension of the Lady Annie mining lease boundary onto Lady Loretta tenure, which has not been previously developed for copper.
Lady Loretta also has no major legacy or environmental liabilities and benefits from existing infrastructure, haul roads and site layout that can be leveraged for future development.
Following completion of the deal, Austral will focus on advancing technical and exploration work to assess the scale, timing and integration of additional copper feed opportunities associated with the Lady Loretta tenure.
Commencement of mining at the Lady Annie cutback is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026.
