Wednesday June 4, 2025
Volume 40 No. 19
$2 inc. GST
The Cobar Weekly MAC donates $100,000 to museum Pg 3
Cobar Autumn race meeting photos Pg 5
Electric scooter rider arrested Pg 6
Harmony Gold makes bid for CSA Mine CSA Mine is looking like it will get a new “Having carefully considered the merits of He said in addition to the transaction being owner after MAC Copper entered into a the transaction, the MAC board has unani- beneficial for shareholders, it’s also a great binding scheme implementation deed with mously concluded that the scheme is in the outcome for other stakeholders in the CSA Copper Mine, who will benefit from the stewSouth African company, Harmony Gold, best interests of MAC shareholders.” Mr McMullen said several developments ardship of a well-respected and high-quality last week. MAC Copper Chief Executive Officer Mick including a larger reserve life, production guid- operator in Harmony. McMullen and four of Harmony Gold’s senior ance, the new Merrin Mine development and “They understand deep mines, they underexecutives were in Cobar last week to speak the recent debt refinancing made the mine an stand shafts, cooling plants etc.” Continued Page 2. to the CSA Mine workforce about the vision attractive purchase. for the mine. Mr McMullen said Harmony Gold was buying CSA’s parent company, MAC Copper, which meant they were buying all their assets. He said Harmony’s primary focus had been to add the CSA Mine to their portfolio. “They obviously saw CSA as a long life, high grade production with great jurisdiction,” Mr McMullen said. “It’s quite a vote of confidence in the mine. “It’s a sizeable transaction, including the debt. It’s about a $1.6-1.7 billion US dollar transaction or $2.5 billion Australian dollars, pretty close to that,” he said. He said the CSA Mine was seen as a good fit for Harmony as the company transforms into a global gold and copper producer. Mr McMullen said initially Harmony had approached MAC to talk about a sale in February 2024. “At the same time we were busy trying to buy other assets to grow our production base,” Mr McMullen said. “But ultimately we just couldn’t get to the scale that we needed to get to. “And at the same time we had a cashed up viable buyer. “You’ve got to look at the risks of staying on your own or being part of a bigger organisa- The CSA Mine’s parent company, MAC Copper’s shares surged last week following the tion,” Mr McMullen said. announcement of a proposed US$1.6 billion acquisition by Harmony Gold.