Glencore weighs sales of two copper mines
Embattled mining and commodities giant Glencore PLC Monday said it has started steps to sell its wholly-owned Cobar copper mine in Australia and Lomas Bayas copper mine in Chile.
The move came as the Anglo-Swiss multinational, the world's largest copper supplier, tries to reverse its plunging stock value and complete a plan announced in September to cut the company's $30 billion net debt by one-third by the end of 2015.
"The sale process is in response to Glencore receiving a number of unsolicited interest for these mines from various potential buyers," the Baar, Switzerland-based company said. "This will allow potential buyers to bid to purchase either one or both of the mines and may or may not result in a sale."
The announcement did not include Glencore's expected valuation of the mines.
The company's stock closed down 6.16% at 121.5 pence per share in London Stock Exchange trading.
Cobar is a high-grade underground copper mine and a concentrate plant in New South Wales, Australia. The plant produces approximately 1.1 million tons of ore annually, and it generates roughly 50,000 tons of copper in concentrate each year, the company said.
Lomas Bayas is a low-cost open pit copper mine located in Chile's Atacama desert, north east of the port of Antofagasta. The operation produces approximately 75,000 tones of copper cathode annually, Glencore said.
Hedge fund manager James Chanos, a historical short-seller, told Bloomberg Television in a Monday interview he might soon be a "potential purchaser" of Glencore shares. He signaled that such a move theoretically could cover previously-placed bets on a drop in the company's stock value.
Chanos questioned what he characterized as Glencore's recent history of buying assets at the top of the market and "selling at the bottom," amid a global fall in commodity prices.