Will it break below $1, page-10

Aeris Resources and 29Metals are considered the most likely buyers of Copper Mountain’s Queensland-based Eva Copper Project, say sources.First round bids were due for a sale process of the asset in the middle of last week, with Macquarie Capital advising on the competition.
Both 29Metals and Aeris Resources declined to comment on whether they were suitors.However, Aeris said it was currently focused on its recent purchase of Round Oak Minerals, while 29Metals said its primary focus was delivering growth potential from within its portfolio.
But the groups are of a size that would be considered likely buyers for the project, given it is thought to be too small for some of the top ASX-listed mining stocks.
The Eva Copper Project is a green field project and requires about $750m of investment to develop the open pit mine, say market experts.One possible challenge is finding a group willing to make a big bet on the investment at a time that commodity prices have fallen.Copper Mountain is listed in Canada but the understanding is that a motivation for listing in Australia was to promote its Eva Copper Project in Australia.
One mining expert said that the asset was “not bad” and well located, and could therefore generate some robust interest.Price expectations for the development project, 75km from Cloncurry and 95km north-east of Mount Isa in northwest Queensland, are thought to be about $300m.
The Eva Copper Project was granted construction approval in December subject to 80 per cent of detailed engineering being complete, project financing and Covid-19 restrictions being lifted, and is on track to be commissioned towards the end of 2024.The Canadian group’s Copper Mountain mine in British Columbia produces about 100 million pounds of copper equivalent per year.It also owns the Cameron Copper Project in Queensland within the Mt Isa region.
The Eva Copper Project was inherited after Copper Mountain’s buyout of Altona Mining in 2018.
However, Copper Mountain has since undergone a change in management and the thinking is that the new team does not have the same interest in developing the Australian project.Copper remains in strong demand by acquisitive miners given its use in making batteries for a large range of electronics including batteries used in electric vehicles.