Capstone Mining Corp. (TSX: CS) announced Tuesday it has entered into an agreement to sell its 100% interest in the Minto copper mine to Pembridge Resources PLC (LON:PERE). Capstone has reportedly been working on a sale as early as February 2018.
Located about 240km north Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon territory, the Minto mine is currently on care and maintenance. At the time of its suspension in October 2018, the mine had proven and probable reserves of 3.9 million tonnes grading 1.67% copper and 0.41 g/t gold.
Contingent on certain conditions, mainly that the mine reaches commercial production, Capstone will receive up to $20 million in installments from Pembridge for the sale.
Meanwhile, Pembridge has also raised $10 million to fund the reopening of the mine. It expects to restart commercial production at Minto during Q4 2019.
Following the Minto sale, Capstone says it will shift its focus on the company's other operations, including completing the strategic process for its 70%-owned Santo Domingo copper-iron project in Chile. Its other assets are two producing mines: the Pinto Valley mine located in Arizona and the Cozamin polymetallic mine in Zacatecas state, Mexico.
Shares of Capstone Mining rose by nearly 4% on Tuesday morning. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $163 million.