South Africa's SibanyeStillwater continued its push into battery metals, announcing it would buy Brazil's Santa Rita nickel mine and Serrote copper and gold mine in its biggest investment to date in the sector.
The precious metals miner said it had signed an agreement with funds advised by Appian Capital Advisors to acquire the two mines for $1 billion and receive a 5% net smelting return royalty on potential future underground production at Santa Rita.
Sibanye has been working on metals for electric car batteries to transform the company from a gold and platinum group metals (PGM) producer into a diversified mining company.
Chief executive NealFroneman said the deal needed approval from South Africa's central bank.
Earlier this year, Sibanye moved into battery metals by buying a nickel processing plant in France and taking a minority stake in a lithium project in Finland. Last month it bought a 50% stake in a joint venture with a US company to develop a lithium-boron project.
Sibanye said the acquisition of two mines in Brazil will add two low-cost production assets to the company's "green Metal" portfolio and will immediately increase its cash flow and earnings.
Scherb said the two mines were hotly contested, with car companies, offshoring groups, financial investors and special-purpose buy-out firms among the bidders. He declined to say which car companies had expressed interest. 'This shows that concerns about the security of supply of transition commodities are very real,' he said.
