EMED Mining Completes Land Acquisition to Restart Rio Tinto Mine Operations

PUBLISHED: 03 Aug 2012 @ 08:56 | Comments (0) | More info about Kenneth G. Mondero

EMED Mining plc (LSE:EMED), gold and copper explorer, has acquired the last piece of land necessary to restart operations of the Rio Tinto Copper Mine in Spain for €5 million, the company said today.

The purchase will be satisfied by €1 million in cash at the execution of the Sale and Purchase Agreement, announced today, €1.5 million payable in two years, and issuance of new ordinary shares worth €2.5 million to the seller of the property.

“The acquisition of the Land is required in order to restart and maintain production at the Mine,” EMED said in a statement, adding that the land will be used for deposition of tailings.

Further Expansion

The company was also granted options to acquire additional lands surrounding the mine for a total price of €9 million, exercisable in four years.

“The Option Lands are of interest to the Company because of the scale of potential expansion in the longer term,” the company further stated.

EMED Mining Managing Director, Harry Anagnostaras-Adams, said they expect the operations to resume by the end of 2012 after all statutory requirements are accomplished.

Rio Tinto Copper Mine was closed in 2000 due to lower copper prices after having been mined for about 150 years, producing copper, gold, silver, and sulphur.

“Of equal importance to the preparations for production will be the implementation of a drilling program targeting to increase resources and reserves,” added Mr. Anagnostaras-Adams.

Reserves are currently estimated at 123 million tonnes at 0.49% copper with a mining life of 14 years, or a total of 0.61 million tonnes of contained copper, according to the company’s initial assessment.

Shares of the AIM-listed miner were now 10.8% higher than yesterday’s close, or 10.25 pence, after rising as high as 10.48 pence in early morning trading on the Alternative Investment Market, following the news.

Company Spotlight

EMED Mining plc is gold and copper – focussed exploration and development company trading on both the Alternative Investment Market and the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Its key projects are the Rio Tinto Mine in Spain and the Detva Gold Project in Slovakia. The company also holds 18% ownership of another AIM-quoted mining company, KEFI Minerals plc, which focuses its gold and copper exploration In Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

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