Following months of speculation on its ability to buy new assets, Canadian miner Hudbay Minerals (TSX, NYSE: HBM) announced today it has completed the acquisition of all of the issued and outstanding common shares of Mason Resources (TSX:MNR) it did not already own. Each common share was bought at a price of C$0.40.
The transaction was closed for about C$31 million, as Hudbay took over the remaining 86% of Mason's shares. Hudbay acquired the Ann Mason copper project, which has the potential to be a long-life, low-cost mine in one of the world's best jurisdictions
"We are pleased to complete the acquisition of Mason and add the Ann Mason project to our pipeline," said Alan Hair, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hudbay in a press release. "The Ann Mason project meets our stringent acquisition criteria and has the potential to be a long-life, low-cost mine in one of the world's best jurisdictions for mining, and it is at a stage where we can leverage our management expertise in exploration, engineering, permitting and construction to create value for our shareholders."
Ann Mason is an advanced, large-scale, PEA-stage copper-molybdenum project that occupies 12,735 hectares in west-central Nevada. It is located 75 kilometres southeast of Reno and 7 kilometres west of the town of Yerington.
The site hosts two known mineral deposits: Ann Mason, which is believed to be the 4th largest copper porphyry resource North America, and Blue Hill, which is predominantly an oxide-copper deposit overlying deeper sulphide mineralization.
An updated Preliminary Economic Assessment for the project shows that it is expected to produce an average of 241 million pounds of copper and 46 million pounds of molybdenum per year during its 21-year mine life. It is also forecasted to produce a total of 400,000 ounces of gold and 8.8 million ounces of silver.
Mason also owned the Lordsburg property, located in southwest New Mexico approximately 370 kilometres southwest of Albuquerque.
Lordsburg, which hosts a copper-gold porphyry system, covers 2,013 hectares and it is adjacent to the historic Lordsburg copper-gold-silver district.
According to Reuters, Hudbay is also in talks to buy Chilean miner Mantos Copper SA.