* CEO says company able to go it alone on copper/golddiscovery
Ecuador riskier than Chile, much less explored
By Barbara Lewis
SANTIAGO, April 9 (Reuters) - SolGold has receivedadvances from a dozen big miners, including BHPand Vale , for its copper and gold discovery inEcuador, an executive said on Monday, but has rejected them todevelop the project alone.
SolGold bucked a trend of a lack of new discoveriesfollowing a fall-off in investment during the commodities crashof 2015-16. The company's flagship project in Ecuador, namedCascabel, appears from exploration to be a major new high-gradecopper and gold find to rival some of the largest existingmines. Exploration Manager Jason Ward, speaking on the sidelines ofthe CRU/CESCO copper conference in Santiago, said the companyhad been approached many times by potential partners and hadrepeatedly said no.
Copper is especially sought-after as assets in top producingcountry Chile become exhausted.
On Monday, Vale became the latest to ask SolGold whether itwants a venture partner, Ward said.
Vale, the world's largest iron ore producer, has said it isseeking to expand its copper output. It had no immediate commenton Monday when asked about SolGold.
Ward said a takeover would be "irresistible" once the rightoffer came along, possibly from a gold miner rather than a morediversified major, given the large amounts of gold associatedwith copper in the Ecuadorian discoveries.
However, he added that the time was not yet ripe, ascommodity prices are expected to rise.
SolGold CEO Nick Mather has a track record of makingdiscoveries and selling them on rather than developing them, butsaid the company could break that pattern in Ecuador.
"Our business model is not based on getting approaches.We're quite capable technologically and financially," he toldReuters ahead of this week's conference.
Ward said the plan was to keep drilling, which adds to thevalue of the reserves in Ecuador as more information isestablished.
"It is definitely not the right time to sell now," he said.
SolGold, an Australian company listed in Toronto and London,caused a stir in 2016 by rejecting a $30 million offer from BHPfor a 10 percent stake in the company.
The offer also included an additional $275 million proposallinked with acquiring a 70 percent stake in the unit managingCascabel.
SolGold said it preferred to work with Newcrest ,which has a 14.5 percent stake, because that would leave it incontrol.
It says it has first-mover advantage in a country it enteredin 2013, putting it at the vanguard of a flurry of interest asEcuador's government seeks to diversify from oil to mining. (Reporting by Barbara Lewis, Additional reporting by AlexandraAlper and David Sherwood, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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