Western Areas Ltd., Australia announced that the takeover contract was concluded between a subsidiary of Glencore International AG and Cosmos Nickel Complex (CNC) at the end of last week.

The total takeover amount is A$24.5 million (= about US$19.0 million), of which A$11.5 million is to be paid at the time of the contract being inked, and the remaining amounts to be paid thereafter will be A$7 million 9 months later and A$6 million 18 months later.

CNC shut down the operation for a few years, but this complex includes Odysseus deposit having nickel reserves of 7.3 million tons with nickel content of 2.4% according to JORC stipulation (174,000 tons in pure nickel equivalent) and Western Areas Ltd. appraises this as one of the most important unexplored nickel deposits in Australia.

The contract includes a concentrator with an annual processing capacity of 450,000 tons, an accommodation facility with 500 beds, offices, expendable supplies and a runaway.

For a reference, this deposit is located 28 km to the northwest of Leinster nickel operation of BHP Billiton plc (Nickel business was shifted to South32 on May 25 when the company split-up was completed).

• [Editor:Zhang Xing]