Harmony clears another hurdle in MAC Copper acquisition

The South Africa Reserve Bank has approved Harmony Gold’s proposed acquisition of MAC Copper, marking another milestone for a deal that will see a new owner of the CSA copper mine in New South Wales.

MAC, which is dual listed across the ASX and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), calls its CSA mine, which it acquired from Glencore in 2023, as its primary asset. Located near Cobar in central NSW, CSA is considered to be one of Australia’s highest-grade copper mines.

If successful, the acquisition will add CSA to Harmony’s growing portfolio of Australian copper mines. Harmony also holds the Eva copper project near Cloncurry in Queensland, with the company confident it can become the largest copper mine in north-west Queensland.

MAC chief executive officer Mick McMullen said the $US1.03 billion deal was still subject to a shareholder vote and approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board.

“The receipt of regulatory approval from the South Africa Reserve Bank marks another significant step towards implementation of the transaction,” he said. “The MAC directors remain unanimous in recommending that shareholders vote in favour of the scheme.”

MAC shareholders have until August 27 to cast their votes, with the results shared at a court and general meeting on August 29.

Once approved by shareholder vote, the scheme is expected to be implemented in the fourth quarter of 2025.