UK Firm Acquires Stake in Iranian Copper Mine

British investment company Amedeo Resources announced on Thursday that it has acquired a 2.5% stake in Ganjine Kani Company for $500,000, a copper mining company close to the city of Mashhad in Iran.

The AIM-traded company said as part of the transaction, Amedeo has a five-year option to acquire a further 5% of GKC for $2 million.

AIM, formerly the Alternative Investment Market, is a sub-market of London Stock Exchange, which allows smaller, less-viable companies to float shares with a more flexible regulatory system than is applicable to the main market.

Amedeo said GKC is a producing miner and it also has the required infrastructure to produce copper concentrate from ore, UK portal Digital Look reported.

To date, around 1 million tons of ore have been extracted by GKC that contains, on average, 0.9% copper from its three mines.

Iranian studies estimated that the producing mine alone may have at least 6.5 million tons of copper ore with a 0.9% average copper content.

The extent of the ore and its copper content had yet to be confirmed to international standards.

Amedeo said GKC has been selling copper concentrate into Asia, including China.

MGR Resources, which trades and brokers iron ore and in which Amedeo has a 49% stake, intended to work with GKC to increase its supply of copper into East Asia and China.

“We are pleased to have made this acquisition, which will allow MGR to widen the commodities it trades and brokers and, at the same time, give MGR a captive supply of copper,” said Amedeo CEO Glen Lau.

According to its website, Amedeo’s investment policy is to invest primarily in the resources, energy and related infrastructure and asset sectors worldwide.

“The investment policy does not preclude investment in other sectors. The company may acquire controlling or non-controlling stakes and it may be an active or a passive investor. Investments may be either quoted or unquoted and may be in companies, partnerships, joint ventures or direct interests in projects.”

Iran is the leading copper producer in the Middle East and North Africa region, as it holds close to 14% of Asia’s copper deposits and about 3% of global reserves. 

The country holds about 4 billion tons of estimated reserves, according to the Geological Survey of Iran.