First Quantum to sell Spanish mine for 0M
First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) agreed to sell the past-producing Cobre Las Cruces copper mine in Spain to an investment fund for up to 0 million to free up cash for other priorities.
Global Panduro, an entity controlled by US private equity firm Resource Capital Funds, will acquire Las Cruces to develop a polymetallic primary sulphide project on the site, First Quantum said late Tuesday in a statement. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
“First Quantum had earlier highlighted that the mine was non-core and stated its intention of monetizing the asset as a measure to support liquidity,” Shane Nagle, a mining analyst at National Bank Financial, said Wednesday in a note.
Under the terms of the transaction, Global Panduro will pay million in cash at closing and issue a million loan note to First Quantum. The purchase price also includes about million in deferred payments tied to certain project development milestones, as well as other deferred payments tied to exit and liquidity events.
The sale caps a busy year for First Quantum that has seen the Toronto-based miner expand copper production, boost liquidity, restructure its debt and sign a billion streaming pact while its massive Cobre Panama mine remains on a preservation and safe maintenance plan.
News of the transaction comes almost two years after First Quantum published an updated NI 43‑101 technical report that set out plans for a next‑phase redevelopment of the site via a new underground mine feeding a refinery to produce copper, zinc, lead and silver.
For Resource Capital, the acquisition adds a European asset that it expects to benefit from rising long-term demand due to artificial intelligence and grid electrification.
Located about 20 km northwest of Seville, Las Cruces includes a high-grade open-pit copper mine and hydrometallurgical plant that produced copper cathode from 2009 until 2021. It also completed tailings reprocessing from 2021 to 2023.
First Quantum shares fell 2.1% to C.19 Wednesday morning in Toronto, cutting the company’s market value to about C billion ( billion)./mining.com
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