Eloise change of ownership

AFR today (excerpt, my bold):

The number of pure copper mining stocks on disallowed looks set to grow after micro-cap explorer AIC Mines struck a deal to take Queensland’s Eloise copper mine out of private hands.

The $27 million cash and scrip deal will ensure the current owner of the mine – a private company controlled by Barminco founder Peter Bartlett – becomes a strategic shareholder in AIC Mines, with close to 30 per cent of the shares on issue.

Eloise is a small mine having recently produced about 11,500 tonnes of copper and 7000 ounces of gold a year. That is about 9 per cent of the cumulative volumes OZ Minerals expects to produce from its three mines this year.

But the built infrastructure at Eloise makes AIC Mines a potential consolidator of the famous base metal region around Cloncurry, where a host of nearby copper assets lack their own processing infrastructure.

The 25-year-old Eloise mine has about four years of official resource life left, and AIC will prioritise drilling with the hope of extending the life further.The company is seeking to raise $35 million to help it digest the acquisition.

__________________________

Ash here.

The "nearby copper assets lack(ing) their own processing infrastructure" is a clear reference to MEP's Jericho JV with OZL and the very extensive tenements MEP controls around the Eloise mine.

The Jericho deposit has good grades and is open at depth and in extent. While it may be sub-economic to OZL, it is a worthwhile project as feedstock to the Eloise concentrator 5 km away.

Everybody will be talking to everyone. Watch carefully.

Ash