Date announced: 3/11/2019
Value: US$806.5 million
On March 11, 2019, Imperial Metals Corporation (TSX:III) announced its agreement to sell a 70 per cent interest in the Red Chris mine in British Columbia, Canada for US$806.5 million to Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX:NCM)(Newcrest). Imperial and Newcrest will form a joint venture for the operation of Red Chris going forward, with Newcrest acting as operator. Red Chris is a copper-gold porphyry with an operating open-pit mine hosting mineral resources of 20 million ounces of gold and 13 billion pounds of copper. The acquired property comprises 23,142 hectares of land with 77 mineral tenures, five of which are mining leases, and sits within the traditional territory of the Tahltan Nation. Imperial intends to use the proceeds from the sale to repay certain existing debt obligations, with remaining funds to be utilized for working capital purposes. This transaction marks Newcrest's first entry into Canada as an operator.
BLG is acting for Imperial Metals Corporation with a team led by Fred R. Pletcher, that includes Erik Goldsilver, Stephen Robertson and Salvador Pimentel (corporate and mining), Randy Morphy and Kim Maguire (tax), David Camp (indigenous), Subrata Bhattacharjee and Denes Rothschild (competition) and Steve Winder (employment).