Amedeo Resources acquires small stake in Iranian mining firm

Amedeo Resources announced on Thursday that it has acquired a 2.5% stake in Ganjine Kani Company for $0.5m, a copper mining company close to the city of Mashhad in Iran.

The AIM-traded company said as part of the transaction, Amedeo has a five-year option to acquire a further 5% of GKC for $2m.

It said GKC is a producing miner, and it also has the required infrastructure to produce copper concentrate from ore.

To date, around one million tonnes of ore has been extracted by GKC which contains, on average, 0.9% copper from its three mines.

Iranian studies estimated that the producing mine alone may have at least 6.5 million tonnes of copper ore with a 0.9% average copper content.

The extent of the ore and its copper content had yet to be confirmed to international standards.

Amedeo said GKC has been selling copper concentrate into Asia, including China.

MGR Resources, which trades and brokers iron ore and in which Amedeo has a 49% stake, intended to work with GKC to increase its supply of copper into East Asia and China.

“We are pleased to have made this acquisition which will allow MGR to widen the commodities it trades and brokers and, at the same time, give MGR a captive supply of copper,” said Amedeo CEO Glen Lau.