Assore International Holdings (AIH), a subsidiary of South Africa’s Assore Group, has made a C$68-million investment in Toronto-listed Marimaca Copper which owns the Marimaca project in Chile’s Antofagasta region.

The strategic investment comprises two parts: first, the acquisition of 9.42-million shares of Marimaca from an affiliate of Tembo Capital Mining, Ndovu Capital, at C$4.50 a share generating C$43.38-million for Tembo Capital. Second, AIH subscribed to 5.73-million units through a C$25.76-million nonbrokered private placement.

Following these transactions, AIH will own about 14.99% of the issued and outstanding common shares on a non-diluted basis and 18.07% of the common shares on a partially diluted basis. Prior to the Tembo acquisition and the AIH private placement, the mining investment group did not own any securities of Marimaca

Marimaca also announced that another investor would subscribe for one-million units by way of private placement on the same pricing terms as the AIH private placement for gross proceeds of C$4-million.

The proceeds from the private placements will be used to advance the development of the company’s flagship Marimaca project and for exploration work programmes at key targets within the company’s regional land package.

Marimaca president and CEO Hayden Locke expressed gratitude to Tembo for their support and welcomed AIH to the team. He emphasised the strategic fit of AIH’s investment with Marimaca’s objective to become a significant copper producer and to explore further value creation opportunities.

“Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Tembo for its strong support of the company. When conflicting investment and project development timelines meet, especially with one of a company’s key investors, it can create challenges for management. With this transaction, Tembo has introduced a new investor that is perfectly aligned with the company’s longer-term objective, to be a copper producer. I am also very pleased that Tembo’s former nominee director, Tim Petterson, has agreed to stay on the board as an independent director,” said Locke.

Kieran Daly, MD of AIH and now a nominee on Marimaca's board, highlighted the alignment between AIH's mining expertise and Marimaca’s growth ambitions.

“The well-defined Marimaca resource along with its considerable upside and medium-term copper production potential, is very interesting to us, and we are excited to partner with Marimaca by leveraging our mining heritage, experience and expertise to realise Marimaca’s potential,” he said.