Ecora Resources Agrees $50 Million Streaming Deal for Zambian Copper Mine
Ecora Resources, a leading critical minerals company, has announced an agreement with Moxico Resources for its Mimbula copper mine in Zambia. Based on current reserves, with potential for further extensions, the deal spans the entire 11-year life of the mine.
The CEO of Ecora Resources, Marc Bishop Lafleche, emphasised that this acquisition will boost the company’s focus on copper. Eventually, driving earnings and generating and generating free cash flow. He stated:” This acquisition will cement Copper at the core of our commodity exposure and be immediately accretive to earnings and free cash flow”. Moreover, the company currently manages over 20 royalty and streaming assets. This offers exposure to critical minerals such as Copper, Cobalt, and Nickel.
Mimbula: A High-Quality Copper Asset
Located in Zambia’s Copperbelt Province, the Mimbula project is around 10 km southeast of Chingola. It started production and making profits in late 202 using a heap leach and solvent extraction/electrowinning (SX/EW) process, in order to produce Copper cathodes at 99.999% consistency. At its first phase, the mine produces 10,000 tonnes per annum (tpa).
At the second phase, the aim is to boost annual production to 56,000 tpa. The initial step of this expansion was completed earlier this year. This has led to the double, notably, 20,000 tpa. Last year, the mine produced 14,000 tonnes of Copper cathodes at operating costs that ranked it among the most efficient global Copper mines.
Owning 93% of the project, Moxico Resources predicts the final stage to be completed by early 2025, reaching full capacity by mid-2026. Looking ahead, plans are underway for a phase 3 expansion. This would include constructing a processing plant to extract Cobalt. In fact, the mine currently holds up to 38.6 million tonnes resource grading 0.037% Cobalt.
Lafleche praised the investment opportunity saying:” Mimbula has everything we look for in an investment; it is high-quality ore body, with low operating costs, and with an exceptional management team who have developed the project from concept to a high margin operation currently undergoing a brownfield expansion to increase production capacity.”
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