Aim-listed Jubilee Metals has secured the exclusive rights to the Large Waste Project, in Zambia, for a reduced consideration of $18-million – previously $30-million.

The company has until mid-May to elect to acquire the assets and settle about $11.5-million remaining of the consideration over a period of 12 months.

Jubilee says it has been performing a due diligence on the project which included sampling campaigns, laboratory testwork and pilot-scale trials, the results of which will inform the board’s decision as to whether to exercise the option to acquire the assets.

On the back of encouraging results from the due diligence completed so far, Jubilee says it has entered into an agreement to sell ten-million tonnes of the estimated 260-million tonnes of material to a selected multinational metals company.

The value of the ten-million-tonne material trade is estimated at $6.75-million.

Under the terms of the agreement, Jubilee will gain a detailed insight into the performance of the material when processed at the partnered company’s existing facilities, the results of which will provide a high degree of confidence in the expected performance of the material if processed in future by Jubilee.

Jubilee CEO Leon Coetzer says the company’s copper strategy continues to gain further momentum on the back of the restart of its Roan Concentrator processing high-grade copper material, as well as the expansion of its Munkoyo mining operation.

He notes that the Large Waste Project offers tremendous potential for Jubilee to significantly expand its copper portfolio in Zambia.

“We have been considering carefully the optimal partner for the implementation of the project especially following the encouraging results of the due diligence review. Jubilee has held extensive engagements with numerous interested parties on the best way to monetise the project,” says Coetzer.

He adds that the project has attracted keen interest from both metal offtake backed funding as well as large multinational copper-producing entities interested to partner on the potential project.

“The trade of this small quantity of material compared with the size of the asset – less than 5% of the estimated contained material – not only demonstrates the potential value of the asset but also offers Jubilee the opportunity to confirm the technical performance of the material through a large-scale trial.”