Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden closing in on Zambia copper stake

SAUDI Arabia was closing in on a stake in a copper mine in Zambia with a deal expected by year-end, said Reuters citing the comments of Robert Wilt, CEO of Ma’aden, the Kingdom’s flagship mining company.“We are looking at Zambia, we are talking with a company there, with a mine there, so those are pretty advanced stage discussions,” Wilt, who is also vice chairman of Saudi Arabia’s international mining venture Manara Minerals, said Wilt, speaking on the sidelines of the Future Investment Forum conference in Riyadh“We’d have something wrapped up by the end of the year,” he said.Reuters reported earlier this month that Manara, a joint venture between Ma’aden and Saudi Arabia’s $925bn Public Investment Fund was closing in on a deal to buy a minority stake in Canadian miner First Quantum Minerals’ Zambian copper and nickel assets.The Saudi company was in advanced talks to acquire between 15% and 20% equity in the Zambian assets with one of them estimating the stake at between $1.5bn and $2bn.“Obviously, Africa is mineral rich with a lot of copper in the copper belt. So it just makes perfect sense, because the geographical proximity and our desire for copper to be looking in Africa,” Wilt said.Manara has made significant investments in metals as part of Saudi Arabia’s efforts to secure minerals and expand Saudi Arabia’s mining sector, said Reuters.Wilt said copper was becoming a “top priority” for Manara because it was a base metal like aluminum that would be increasingly in demand with the energy transition.“The niche battery metals, while important, are not as fundamental to the success of the development of the downstream, but copper is essential.”The post Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden closing in on Zambia copper stake appeared first on Miningmx.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Mining.com