Mining giant BHP's proposed $9.6 billion takeover of Oz Minerals has been overwhelmingly approved by shareholders at a meeting in Adelaide today, with 98.33 per cent of votes in favour.
The board of Oz Minerals had recommended shareholders accept the offer, which was initially rejected in August, before BHP upped the bid from $25 a share to $28.25 in December. The offer price includes a special dividend of $1.75 to be paid by OZ Minerals to shareholders on May 2.
Today's vote coincides with a ramp up in construction at Oz Minerals' $1.7 billion West Musgrave project, near Western Australia's border with South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Oz Minerals' flagship Prominent Hill and Carrapateena mines in South Australia, which produce copper, gold and silver, are close to BHP's Olympic Dam operation.
The West Musgrave project, 1,300 kilometres north-east of Perth, is now coming full circle after it was sold by BHP in 2014 to Cassini Resources, which was acquired by Oz Minerals in 2020.
Similarly, when Billiton merged with BHP in 2001, it sold its 50% interest in Prominent Hill because the project was deemed too small. The new owners, Oz Minerals, began earning an interest in Prominent Hill from Minotaur in 2003 and eventually took over the entire project.
Carrapateena is a more recent discovery, the full size of which is yet to be announced, but there is speculation it could rival Olympic Dam.
A little-known fact is that Australia holds the world’s SECOND-largest reserve of copper. That’s according to the global authority on the matter, the US Geological Survey (USGS).
Geoscience Australia has neatly illustrated the primary regions where these reserves are concentrated:
Much of it is in northern South Australia which holds an ancient geological landform known as the Gawler Craton. As you can see below, this prospective copper-gold craton covers more than half the state (red shaded area):
Traditionally, it’s been recognised for hosting IOCG deposits, these are geological riches that include copper, gold, and often uranium. BHP's Olympic Dam is one of the world’s largest IOCG deposits.
Mining giant BHP became an even bigger giant today!
