First Quantum to sell Spanish mine for $190M

[Ben Graham]

First Quantum Minerals (TSX: FM) agreed to sell the past-producing Cobre Las Cruces copper mine in Spain to an investment fund for up to $190 million to free up cash for other priorities.

Global Panduro, an entity controlled by US private equity firm Resource Capital Funds, will acquire Las Cruces to develop a polymetallic primary sulphide project on the site, First Quantum said late Tuesday in a statement. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

“First Quantum had earlier highlighted that the mine was non-core and stated its intention of monetizing the asset as a measure to support liquidity,” Shane Nagle, a mining analyst at National Bank Financial, said Wednesday in a note.

Under the terms of the transaction, Global Panduro will pay $45 million in cash at closing and issue a $65 million loan note to First Quantum. The purchase price also includes about $80 million in deferred payments tied to certain project development milestones, as well as other deferred payments tied to exit and liquidity events.

The sale caps a busy year for First Quantum that has seen the Toronto-based miner expand copper production, boost liquidity, restructure its debt and sign a $1 billion streaming pact while its massive Cobre Panama mine remains on a preservation and safe maintenance plan.

News of the transaction comes almost two years after First Quantum published an updated NI 43‑101 technical report that set out plans for a next‑phase redevelopment of the site via a new underground mine feeding a refinery to produce copper, zinc, lead and silver.

For Resource Capital, the acquisition adds a European asset that it expects to benefit from rising long-term demand due to artificial intelligence and grid electrification.

Located about 20 km northwest of Seville, Las Cruces includes a high-grade open-pit copper mine and hydrometallurgical plant that produced copper cathode from 2009 until 2021. It also completed tailings reprocessing from 2021 to 2023.

First Quantum shares fell 2.1% to C$36.19 Wednesday morning in Toronto, cutting the company’s market value to about C$30 billion ($22 billion).