Less than 24 hours after it was announced Newmont and Greatland Gold were officially in talks over the Telfer copper-gold mine in Western Australia, an agreement has been struck.
Newmont will sell Telfer, its 70 per cent stake in Havieron, and any other related interests in the Paterson region, to Greatland for up to $US475 million ($713.8 million).
Newmont and Greatland already owned the Havieron project in a 70:30 joint venture.
And while Telfer is not strictly part of Havieron, the projects were considered by most potential buyers to be a package deal, making Greatland an obvious choice as its new owner.
In February, Newmont declared it would sell any ‘non-core’ assets that fail to meet its Tier 1 standard, which put several projects in its portfolio up for grabs, including Telfer.
Newmont president and chief executive officer Tom Palmer said the deal represents the first asset sale in the company’s divestiture program.
“I am pleased that Telfer and Havieron are being sold to Greatland, a company with a highly experienced management team and board of directors,” Palmer said.
“I have full confidence that the Greatland team will be outstanding stewards of these assets.
“Including the Telfer divestiture, we continue to expect to reach at least $2 billion in total proceeds from the sale of our high-quality, non-core assets, enabling us to focus attention on our suite of Tier-1 assets, further reduce debt, and return capital to shareholders.”
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2024, subject to certain conditions being satisfied, which includes the remediation of Telfer’s cracked tailings dam.
“Settlement of the potential acquisition is proposed to be conditional on completion by Newmont of ongoing remediation works in respect of the Telfer tailings storage facility,” Greatland said.
Subscribe to Australian Mining and receive the latest news on product announcements, industry developments, commodities and more.
