Glencore Xstrata’s sale of its Las Bambas copper project to a Chinese consortium is on track after shareholders of MMG, the Hong Kong listed subsidiary of the China Minmetals group, approved the planned deal yesterday.
MMG is expected to take over the Peruvian project before the end of September after it and its partners struck a $5.85bn deal in April to acquire the mine from Glencore. The MMG-led consortium will also reimburse what Glencore spends on building the project this year up to the point the deal completes.
Las Bambas will be one of the world’s largest copper mines after it starts up in 2015, with annual output equivalent to more than twice the amount of copper that MMG now produces. Andrew Michelmore, chief executive of MMG, said it was a transformative deal for the company.