Glencore International has bought a stake in a mine in Peru for $475 million. The multinational mining and commodities trading company has acquired a 70% stake in Marcobre from the Hong Kong based copper mining company CST Mining Group.
The transaction is likely to be completed by October this year by which time various conditions would have been met.
Marcobre is the owner of the Marcona Copper Property and the Mina Justa project. The Mina Justa project is the main exploration and development prospect in the region. The purchase comes on the heels of Glencore raising $10 billion on the London stock exchange.
Glencore is also increasing its stake in the US company Polymet to 17.9% with an option of making that 24.95%. Polymet owns a copper and nickel project in Minnesota. Mining companies all over the globe are looking to increase their share of the copper resource worldwide.
The Chief Executive Officer of Glencore, Ivan Glasenberg feels that the company is well placed to take advantage of such opportunities because of its trading operations. It has about 8,000 suppliers and is therefore among the first to know about acquisition opportunities such as the Peruvian project.
Daniel Mate, co-director of the Zinc, Copper, Lead department, said, that Mina Justa would ideally complement Glencore's existing polymetallic mining operations in Peru, and add significant value to their worldwide group of copper mining assets.