US$1 million over the two-year option period by New Century towards development and exploration, plus reimbursement of ongoing care and maintenance activities, with an option of right to terminate after 12 months,” the filing read.
Accordingly, the potential new owner, based in North West Queensland, will evaluate the possibility of resuming mining and reprocessing about 42 million tonnes of tailings at Copper Mines of Tasmania.
“The company will investigate the refurbishment or replacement of the existing infrastructure for tailings reprocessing, with subsequent integration of sustainable in-situ ore processing to follow,” New Century told the ASX. “The option agreement will include a minimum expenditure commitment by New Century of $US10 million (about $A13.4 million) over a two-year option period towards development, exploration, plus reimbursement of care and maintenance.”
It went on to describe the copper asset as “one of the most significant copper mines in Australian history”, having commenced its operations in in the 1890s. Following its acquisition by MCBV in 1999, the mine successfully operated for over 15 years under the ownership of Vedanta.
