LONDON, UK: Critical Metals plc, a mining investment company, has announced its intention to acquire a hydrometallurgical plant in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that can produce copper cathode and cobalt hydroxide.
The plant, known as the Kastro Plant, is located in Lubumbashi and has a feed capacity of 12,000 tonnes per month of copper oxide/cobalt ore. The plant can produce 400 tonnes of copper cathode and 200 tonnes of cobalt hydroxide per month, which have high market values.
The company has signed a non-binding term sheet with the current owners of the plant, Katanga Strategic Resources and Operations SARL (Kastro SARL), to acquire 100% of the plant assets for US$8 million. The company will also rent the plant for six months, with an option to extend, and use it to process ore from its Molulu copper/cobalt project, which is only 98 kilometers away from the plant. This will allow the company to increase its margins and sell its products to a wider global market.
The CEO of Critical Metals, Russell Fryer, said that the acquisition of the plant was “transformative” and “incredibly value accretive” for the company and its shareholders. He said that the company had access to funding via a US$3 million loan facility and was looking to raise further debt to finance the transaction. He also said that the company had recently signed a copper ore sales agreement with a local buyer to purchase all the copper oxide ore that was ready for sale.
The acquisition is subject to completing due diligence, entering definitive legal agreements, and obtaining regulatory approvals.