All news

Prokhorov’s Intergeo, Canadian Mercator join efforts for non-ferrous metals producer

MOSCOW, December 12 (Itar-Tass) - Intergeo MMC Ltd, part of Russian tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov’s ONEXIM Group, and the Canadian Mercator Minerals Ltd have agreed a merger and set-up of a new independent producer of non-ferrous metals with an emphasis on copper mining, ONEXIM Group’s report goes. Financial terms have not been revealed.

Once the deal is concluded, the merged company will be renamed Intergeo Mining Ltd. It will be divided between Intergeo’s and Mercator’s shareholders into about 85 percent and 15 percent respectively.

The holding where Prokhorov’s assets will invest $100 million will include the operating manufacturing facilities to be developed over the short and medium term: Ak-Sugsk copper porphyry field in Russia, copper-molybdenum complex Mineral Park in the US and El Pilar in Mexico.

Intergeo is a diversified company specializing in the extraction of solid minerals. The company’s main spheres of business are development, geological research and acquisition of subsoil with non-ferrous ores. The company is part of ONEXIM Group with expertise in managing large global mining companies, including Norilsk Nickel and Polyus Gold. Intergeo’s key project is the open-pit copper-porphyry deposit Ak-Sug in southern Siberia. The company also owns a number of other projects, among them a major nickel-sulphide deposit Kingash, both located in southern Siberia.

Mercator is present in the US and Mexico and mines copper, molybdenum and silver. It owns a copper-molybdenum complex Mineral Park in Arizona and two assets in Mexico - a copper heap leaching project El Pilar and copper-molybdenum mine El Creston. Its stocks on Toronto Stock Exchange stood at 0.045 Canadian dollars. The company’s capitalization is $14.55 million.