Sandfire Resources NL has today completed the acquisition of the 30% interest in the Springfield Exploration and Mining Joint Ventures (Springfield project) held by Talisman Mining Ltd, giving it 100% ownership of the Springfield project including the high-grade Monty copper-gold mine.

Sandfire has completed the acquisition of Talisman’s subsidiary, Talisman A Pty Ltd (TLMA), for the purchase price of A$72.3 million in cash on a debt-free and cash-free basis. Talisman retains an ongoing 1% Net Smelter Return (NSR) royalty payable on any future discoveries at the Springfield project.

Through its acquisition, Sandfire will assume the existing 2.25% gross revenue royalty held by Taurus Mining Finance Fund payable on 30% of the copper and gold produced from the Monty deposit area, capped at 29,700 t of copper and 16,500 oz of gold (based on a 30% revenue share).

As previously advised, the acquisition was funded from Sandfire’s existing cash reserves.

The diagram is a location plan showing the Springfield Joint Venture and Halloween West tenements relative to Sandfire’s 100%-owned Doolgunna project.

The Springfield project includes the Monty copper-gold mine, currently being developed as a new satellite underground mine to feed Sandfire’s nearby DeGrussa copper-gold mine and the surrounding exploration tenements (the Springfield Exploration Joint Venture). The package includes Talisman’s interest in the Halloween West project.

Sandfire Managing Director and CEO Karl Simich said, “The consolidation of 100% ownership of the Monty copper-gold mine and surrounding exploration tenure marks another important milestone in the company’s long-term growth strategy in the Doolgunna-Bryah Basin region. With the new Monty mine due to intersect first ore towards the end of this year, we believe this is a well timed acquisition, which further strengthens our growth pipeline in this world-class VMS district.

“We are looking forward to bringing the Monty mine into full commercial operation next year, while also continuing to aggressively explore the area for additional VMS discoveries – both in the immediate near-mine environment and further afield across the highly prospective mine corridor and within our extensive 6,588 km2 tenement holding across the Bryah Basin.”