JX to sell 19% stake in Chile's Caserones copper mine for $350 mln

Japan's JX Advanced Metals, a unit of Eneos Holdings 5020, said on Wednesday it has agreed to sell an additional 19% stake in the operator of Caserones copper mine in Chile to Canada's Lundin Mining LUN for $350 million.

The deal will reduce JX's stake in the operator, SCM Minera Lumina Copper Chile (MLCC), to 30% from 49% while boosting Lundin's stake to 70% from 51%, the Japanese company said in a statement.

JX, which changed its name from JX Metals in May, sold 51% of its shares in the operator to Lundin in July 2023, with a call option to acquire an additional 19% of the shares within one to five years. Lundin has now exercised that option, JX said.

For JX, the deal, set to be completed in July, is part of an asset portfolio reshuffle. It looks to focus on the advanced materials business, such as sputtering targets for semiconductors, while managing volatility in its resource business.

Asked whether JX plans to sell an additional stake in MLCC, a company spokesperson said: "We want to maintain a certain level of copper mine interests from the perspective of raw material procurement, but we will also continue to review our portfolio."

Its parent Eneos, Japan's biggest oil refiner, said the latest deal will have limited impact on its earnings for the year ending March 31.

Last year, Eneos said it was preparing to list shares in JX, although the plans had yet to be finalised.