Altona Mining is offloading its Finnish operations and most of its assets to Swedish company Boliden Mineral for $106 million.
Boliden agreed to purchase the West Australian mining company’s offshore operations as well as most of its exploration assets in Finland’s Outokumpu region.
Boliden, already a customer of Altona’s concentrates, will pay $US95 million ($101 million) for the assets, and with adjustments for working capital, net debt and net capital expenditure during settlement, the deal would amount to a total of $US100 million ($106 million).
Altona said it expected to have between $120 million and $125 million in cash after all costs.
Its remaining assets will include full ownership of an undeveloped copper mine near Mt Isa, the Little Eva Project, and an interest in a joint copper exploration venture with Chinalco Yunnan nearby.
It will keep two small assets in Finland, one of which Boliden will mine at a 2 per cent net smelter royalty rate, or purchase outright for $US3 million. Altona said once the deal was finalised it would look to either sell or secure a partnership for its Little Eva Project.
It also announced it would seek to reduce corporate overheads as a result of its reduced operations, and stem cash burn.
The agreement is expected to be finalised October, and is conditional on a shareholders approval, to be decided at a general meeting on August 14, and approval by Finnish competition authorities.
The company said benefits to shareholders would include a consideration equivalent to 20c per share, and a 15c per share cash return.
Credit Suisse and Gilbert and Tobin were advisers to Altona.
