Private equity firm EMR teams up to buy Australian copper miner 

Private equity firm EMR Capital has teamed up with the former head of Equinox Minerals to buy a small Australian copper mine for up to A$15 million ($10.75 million) plus taking on about A$40 million in rehabilitation bond costs, the companies said in a joint statement.

The mine in Queensland state will be bought from Aditya Birla Minerals Ltd, a unit of India’s Hindalco .

The deal comes despite copper prices currently being mired near six-year lows around $5,000 a tonne, which has forced some companies to suspend production.

EMR is working with Lighthouse Minerals, a mining company set up by Crag Williams, the former chief executive of Equinox Minerals, a Zambia-focused copper producer that was taken over by Canada’s Barrick Gold for $7.5 billion in 2011.

EMR and Lighthouse aim to turn the Mt Gordon mine, which has been on care and maintenance since April 2013, into a mid-tier Australian copper producer.

The mine, which will be run by managing director of Lighthouse Minerals Carl Hallion, is expected to produce approximately 1.4 million tonnes a year of copper concentrate.

“The primary focus for now will be building up and making sure we have a successful restart at Mt Gordon,” Hallion told Reuters, adding that the company was open to further acquistions should the restart prove a success.

EMR executive chairman Owen Hegarty, a former managing director of Rio Tinto Asia, will be chairman.

“While commodity prices and markets remain challenging, we are confident of the medium- and longer term outlook for copper,” Hegarty said in a statement. ($1 = 1.3953 Australian dollars)

Source: Reuters – Private equity firm EMR teams up to buy Australian copper miner

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