Critical Metals PLC (LSE:CRTM) agreed to advance funds for facilities and infrastructure at Molulu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is working to acquire a copper-cobalt project.
The company announced in May a deal to acquire a majority stake in Madini Occidental Ltd which holds an indirect 70% beneficial interest in a ‘small scale mining license’. The licence, which is host to the Molulu project, is described as being adjacent to several medium and large-scale producers.
Workstreams continue for the due diligence and in the meantime the company will advance US$140,000 of the US$850,000 funding commitment in the acquisition, to pay for certain facility and infrastructural improvements at Molulu.
“While we are making good progress towards completion of our first potential acquisition, we are eager for opportunistic infrastructural upgrade work to commence on site ready for us to hit the ground running upon completion,” said Critical Metals chief executive Russell Fryer.
“As mentioned previously, we believe that the historical mining on site will enable a low cost restarting of production, and these upgrades to roads, the campsite, and a better generator setup, amongst others, will help towards a swift production restart.”
Fryer added: “We are seeing continued record demand, and therefore prices, for copper, with prices over $10,300/tonne as I write.
“The board believes that the demand for copper, as a ‘critical metal’, will continue to increase, in part due to the increased environmental agenda globally for which electrification is a central theme. In addition, cobalt is highly sought-after by both the aerospace industry and the rechargeable power unit sector.”
