The Globe And Mail reported that Inmet Mining Corp.which last month rejected a USD 4.9 billion takeover bid from a Canadian rival has announced a 27% increase in reserves at its massive Cobre Panama copper project in Central America.
The Toronto based miner said that it has raised copper reserves at Cobre Panama to some 26 billion pounds. It also said it boosted gold reserves by 41% to some 7.3 million ounces.
It extended the estimated mine life at the project in Panama to 40 years from 31 years significantly changing the metrics around an asset that has already been lauded as one of the world's largest copper projects in development.
The new reserve estimates might help explain why Inmet rebuffed takeover approaches from First Quantum Minerals Ltd. two weeks ago with little explanation.
Mr Stephen Bonnyman analyst of BMO Nesbitt Burns said that "The announcement highlights the scale of the deposit to possible acquirers and confirms Cobre Panama as one of the largest undeveloped copper resources in the world."
Inmet surprised investors at the end of November when it announced it had received and rejected a takeover bid valuing the company at USD 70 a share or 33 % more than where it was trading before the announcement.
Inmet also said the offer was the second from First Quantum in a month, underscoring global miners' convictions that copper demand will remain strong into the future even if growth has slowed in China and other major markets.
