Pursuant to Regulation 30 of SEBI Listing Regulations and in continuation to the earlier intimation made by the Company vide its letter VEDL/Sec./SE/21-22/93 dated October 27, 2021, titled “Intention to Divest Mt Lyell Copper Mine in Australia”, Monte Cello BV (“MCBV”), a 100% subsidiary of Vedanta Limited, had entered into an Option Agreement with New Century Resources in November 2021 to divest Copper Mines of Tasmania (“CMT”). MCBV is 100% owner of the Mt Lyell Copper Mine in Australia, a small copper asset which has been on care and maintenance for the last 7 years and not strategic for Vedanta with its size and country presence.
Mt Lyell has been in operation since the 1890’s and was acquired by MCBV in 1999. Under Vedanta ownership, Mt Lyell was successfully operated for over 15 years. The mine was placed into care and maintenance in 2015 following two safety incidents and a depression in the copper market.
Following an internal strategic review, decision was made in 2021 to divest CMT, running a global sale process to bring in a capable operator and potential owner to evaluate and eventually restart operations at Mt Lyell, creating value for the community, Tasmanian economy, shareholders and Vedanta.
New Century Resources is a 100% subsidiary of the Sibanye-Stillwater Group. It owns and operates the Century Zinc Mine in Queensland, Australia and is among the Top 15 global zinc producers.
The option to acquire CMT has been exercised by New Century on November 01, 2023. The terms of the sale transaction include U$ 10m payment by New Century to MCBV on signing of the sale transaction agreements, replacement of closure bond of ~U$ 4.5m followed by U$ 10m payment on CMT achieving its first commercial production. MCBV shall also be entitled to receive a royalty consideration based on future revenues of CMT. The transaction is subject to full-form documentation and necessary regulatory approvals which is expected to be completed on or before December 31, 2023.
