Coda Minerals’ off-market takeover of its joint venture partner Torrens Mining has been declared "unconditional", with Torrens shareholders to pocket 0.23 Coda shares for each Torrens unit held. Coda currently controls just over 80 per cent in the $15m market-capped Torrens and the company says the combination will create a leading Australian base and precious minerals exploration company.
The takeover revolves around the Elizabeth Creek copper project in South Australia’s world-class Gawler Craton. In January 2021, Coda earned a 70 per cent interest in the project – originally wholly owned by Torrens – by reaching a total exploration expenditure of $6.62 million.
Coda believes wrapping the project up into one entity will create synergies for both companies and the project itself which will lead to a reduction in overheads.
The project hosts three sedimentary copper-cobalt deposits with a combined 1.1 million tonnes of copper equivalent. Notably, its Emmie Bluff deposit constitutes the bulk of the metal inventory with a whopping 43.3 million tonnes of ore grading 1.3 per cent copper and 470 parts per million cobalt for 562,000 tonnes of contained copper and a further 20,000 tonnes of cobalt.
Coda is currently passing the rig over Elizabeth Creek as it attempts to get a handle on a potential IOCG deposit it calls Emmie IOCG. It believes Emmie IOCG’s close proximity to the Emmie Bluff deposit could present an opportunity to share infrastructure and mutually reduce capital expenditure requirements.
The company has integrated Emmie IOCG into the wider ‘Emmie System’ in its ongoing Elizabeth Creek scoping study that is on track for completion in the first half of the year.
The copper and gold projects remaining in Torrens’ portfolio make the deal even sweeter for Coda. In Victoria, it holds the Mt Piper gold, Club Terrace copper-gold and Balmoral gold projects. In addition, abroad it holds the Laloki and Rigo copper-gold project in Papua New Guinea. The newly formed entity has plenty to go on with.
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