Perth-based Altona Mining has abandoned its Chinese Cloncurry copper project deal after failing to complete agreement with the Sichuan Railway Investment Group.
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Altona told the ASX Monday it had opted against providing SRIG more time to secure the remaining approvals for the state-owned company to buy two-thirds of the copper deposit in a deal that was expected to be worth $270 million.
The deal was originally due to be signed in October, but was extended several times while SRIG waited for Chinese regulatory approvals.
Altona said Sichuan province’s Supervision and Administration Commission had not completed its assessment by last Friday and the deal appears to be a casualty of China’s crackdown on international acquisitions.
“Altona has determined it will not provide SRIG with a further extension to enable it to seek the necessary approvals,” the company told the ASX.
“The transaction under the framework agreement is now at an end, freeing Altona from its exclusivity with SRIG.”
Altona said it was in good shape to now seek an alternative transaction with a third party.
“The company retains a cash balance of $36 million, has no debt and retains 100% ownership of the well-defined Cloncurry Project and its associated exploration opportunities,” the company said.
The Cloncurry Copper Project is near Dugald River, 70km north of Cloncurry and contains 1.67 million tonnes of copper and 0.43 million tonnes of gold.
Altona says a seven million tonnes a year copper-gold mine and concentrator would be developed on site to produce 38,800 tonnes of copper and 17,200 ounces of gold annually for 13 years.