China Nonferrous Metals (01258) further acquires 55% of Kazakhstan's SM Minerals shareholding ratio to 70%

According to Zhitong Finance App, China Nonferrous Mining (01258) issued an announcement. On the date of this announcement, the company held a total of 15% of SM Minerals' issued share capital. On December 19, 2025, the company signed a share purchase agreement with the original shareholders to transfer 64,700 shares of SM Minerals (accounting for 55% of SM Minerals' issued share capital), with a purchase price of US$89 million. After the share purchase agreement is signed and delivery is completed, the company will hold a total of 70% of SM Minerals' issued share capital.

The Benkara project consists of mining rights in the northern part of Benkara and prospecting rights in the south of Benkara. They are collectively referred to as “mineral rights” and cover a total area of 34.3 square kilometers within Aktobe province in Kazakhstan. The mineral rights grant the holder the exclusive right to explore and mine copper mining resources within the permitted area for a fixed period of time.

As of the date of this announcement, the northern mining area of Benkara had ore resources of 384 million tons and 1.58 million tons of metallic copper, with an average grade of 0.41%. Among them, 940,000 tons of metallic copper were discovered and controlled, accounting for about 60%. The average grade of the project's companion gold is about 0.1 g/t. Due to delays in the testing of historical funds, the eligible report did not count the amount of companion money resources. Since July 2025, the company's supplementary survey has completed field work. After the resource estimation is completed, the updated copper metal resources and associated gold conditions will be further disclosed. The initial estimated construction scale of the project is 14 million tons/year for open pit ore processing capacity. The final product is copper concentrate, which will produce about 45,000 tons of copper per year in the copper concentrate. The Benkalanan deposit is still in its early stages. Currently, only inferred resource amounts have been confirmed. The preliminary plan is to complete the research and initial construction of the Benkara North Mining Area in 2027, start construction in 2027, and put into operation in 2029, providing a strong guarantee for the company to increase storage and production.

The northern mining area of Benkara has about 1.5 million tons of copper resources, which is extremely valuable for large-scale mining operations, and it is expected that subsequent exploration of this project will reserve space for future resource expansion. The acquisition will become a key strategic foothold for the company's regional layout in Central Asia, injecting new development potential into future resource development in Central Asia.