The Capricorn Copper workforce in North-West Queensland can expect increased professional opportunities and stepped up production as the mine enters a new chapter under 29Metals, according to the company head.

Chief executive officer and managing director Peter Albert was commenting after the company lodged its prospectus this week for a $527.8 million IPO, with plans to list on the ASX by the end of the month.

29Metals brings the EMR-owned Capricorn Copper mine under one umbrella with the Golden Grove mine in Western Australia and the Red Hill project in Chile.

It would list on the ASX as ‘the next force in the base metals space’, Mr Albert said.

“We have two operating assets, each with a mine life at the moment of 10 years, with combined reserves of 27 million tonnes at 3.2 per cent copper equivalent, and lots of exploration potential and resources of 127 million tonnes combined across the asset,” he said.

“So we’re very competitive and, may I suggest, a compelling investment opportunity on the Australian Stock Exchange.”

The move hailed a tremendous future for the 250-strong workforce at Capricorn Copper, he said.

“Now they are part of a bigger company – so there’s development and there’s career opportunities. They’ll be in a company that’s focused on a long-term future, in terms of the growth that we have at Capricorn Copper and Golden Grove and also additional future opportunities that will inevitably present to us. 

“They’re in a company that, from a market perspective, will be seen as a very attractive opportunity, not just in terms of recruitment and training and development, but also in terms of being a high-profile company where there are very few others that operate in this space at this size. So it really is a great opportunity for all of us.”

Being part of 29Metals would bring the opportunity to share human resources, technology, know-how, and financial resources, he said.

29Metals has a goal to achieve 50 per cent growth over the next five years in terms of production (copper equivalent).

It is in a position to potentially achieve that purely through organic growth, that is through its existing mining operations rather than through acquisitions or new developments.

At Capricorn Copper, mining is transitioning to a higher grade area of the Esperanza South orebody, which accounts for 60 to 70  per cent of the site’s production.

“As we get deeper the grade of that orebody improves quite significantly. And it’s a very low-cost, efficient mining technique called sub-level caving and that really boosts the copper production at Capricorn Copper,” Mr Albert said. 

“So that’s a big, key part of the growth profile. And at Golden Grove, again, multiple mining fronts there, but a similar story. It’s about a new orebody over there that we’re just getting into that has a long life and a grade as good as you get compared to almost anywhere in the world in terms of metal content – copper, zinc, gold, silver, and we will be mining that in the near future and for the next three to six years. 

“Those two combined, at Golden Grove and Capricorn Copper, take us a long way towards that 50 per cent growth. Then at Golden Grove there’s a third mining front, which is under feasibility study at the moment, called Gossan Valley and that has a potential to add even more.”

It comes as the recovery in copper prices has taken a classic hockey stick trajectory in the past six months.

“That’s being driven by the demand side. And forecasters talk about a 10 million-tonne deficit in the copper market over the next 10 years,” Mr Albert said.

“29Metals, with these assets, is poised to take advantage of that.”

EMR, a private equity group operating out of Melbourne and Hong Kong, will continue to own 45 per cent of the assets after the 29Metals float.

“They have invested significant capital into the assets over the last four or five years and brought the assets to where they are today, which is to really increase and enhance the resources, reserves, and production profile,” Mr Albert said.

Mr Albert said the group had been working towards the 29Metals IPO and listing for some time, but the move was postponed last year as the COVID pandemic took effect.