M&A

Chile's Codelco considering Queensland copper entry

The world's largest copper miner, Codelco, is set to run the ruler over at least one Australian junior copper hopeful, with an agreement to conduct due diligence over Cannindah Resources' flagship Mt Cannindah project in Queensland. Cannindah has agreed to allow the multinational to access the project, existing data and drillcore, and conduct low-impact ground-based exploration activity over the coming weeks. Chilean lithium producer SQM has made a big splash in the local lithium sector with a string of large and small farm-in agreements, but Codelco's arrival represents a potential seismic lift in the red metal space – particularly given dire warnings of significant shortages over the coming years.