According to a report from Mining.com, Harmony Gold, South Africa's largest gold producer, has agreed to acquire MAC Copper for US$1.03 billion, accelerating the company's strategic shift towards copper through a key asset in Australia.
The all-cash acquisition will give Harmony full ownership of MAC Copper's sole asset, the CSA copper mine located in central-western New South Wales. CSA is Australia's highest-grade and oldest operating copper mine, dating back 150 years. With a mining depth reaching 1,900 meters, CSA is one of Australia's deepest underground mines.
Harmony has offered to acquire MAC's shares at US$12.25 per share, a 20.7% premium over MAC's latest closing price on the New York Stock Exchange. MAC's board of directors unanimously supports the acquisition.
Like Newmont and Barrick Gold, Harmony is also implementing a diversification strategy. The company is considering entering the copper market, a metal crucial for electric vehicles and power grid infrastructure.
This transaction will expand Harmony's copper assets in Australia, following its purchase of the Eva copper mine project in Queensland in 2022. The Johannesburg-based mining company aims to bring Eva into production by 2028. With the addition of CSA and Eva, Harmony hopes to achieve an annual copper production of 100,000 mt within five years. Last year, CSA alone produced 41,000 mt of copper.
Outside of Australia, Harmony also owns the Hidden Valley gold mine in Papua New Guinea and co-owns the Wafi-Golpu copper-gold mine with Newmont. The company is moving away from a single-focus gold mining model, as mining metals in South Africa has become increasingly complex and costly.
