Rudy Gomez, a mining prospector, has sold the Carrapateena gold and copper project to Oz Minerals. The prospective mine is located in South Australia close to the BHP Billiton Olympic Dam mine.
Oz Minerals also has an existing mine in the region known as Prominent Hill. The geological region here is known to be resource rich.
The latest millionaire to be created out of the mining boom will see the metallurgist gain $145 million from the sale of his 58% share of the Carrapateena project to Oz Minerals. Teck Resources owns another 34% of the project and minority shareholders have the rest. Located at the south east of the Olympic Dam mine and up close to Lake Torrens the Carrapateena copper and gold project is likely to have 2.7 to 3.3 million tonnes of copper.
It is also expected to have about 3.6 to 4 million ounces of gold and 124 to 138 million pounds of uranium oxide. Some amounts of silver and rare earth minerals may also be found in enough quantity to make economic al their extraction. It is billed to be the largest undeveloped copper project in Australia as of now.
Oz minerals was formed by the merger between Oxiana and Zinifex during the global financial crisis. They have been reluctant to invest in a new resource due to the high valuation of deposits by miners against the backdrop of the current global commodities price hike.