Glencore (LON: GLEN), one of the world’s most significant mining mega-companies, has recently acquired the remaining shares of PolyMet Mining Corp., a Canadian mining exploration company, for a sum of US$71M. The acquisition marks a significant milestone in Glencore’s growth strategy, as it continues to rapidly expand its global mining and metals portfolio.
PolyMet is a company that focuses on discovering and developing copper, nickel, and platinum group metal deposits in Canada and the United States. With the acquisition complete, Glencore will have access to PolyMet’s high-quality assets, which are primarily located in the well-known Kidd Creek copper-zinc-silver deposit in Ontario, Canada.
More specifically, Glencore will gain direct ownership of NorthMet, set to be Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine. It will also make it Teck Resources’ (TSX: TECK.A) 50-50 partner in the NewRange Copper Nickel joint venture, which own NorthMet and the Mesaba copper, nickel, cobalt, and platinum group metal deposits.
NorthMet and Mesaba contain measured and indicated resources of 637Mt and 2Bt respectively. Additional inferred resources sit at 400Mt for NorthMet and 1.3Bt for Mesaba.
In total, the two assets represent around one-half of the known 7.25Bt Duluth Complex resource in north-eastern Minnesota in the US.
NorthMet is expected to produce 29,000tpd over a 20-year permitted mine life, with initial production aimed for 2026. Over its first full five years of operations, it is projected to deliver annual payable production of 30,000t of copper, 3,600t of nickel, 58,000oz of palladium, and 12,000oz of platinum.
According to a Reuters calculation, Glencore’s non-binding cash offer of US$2.11 per share values PolyMet at about US$410M.
