OZ Minerals Eyeing Chile, Peru Copper and Gold Targets

OZ Minerals, owner of the Prominent Hill copper mine project in South Australia, is eyeing potential copper and gold mining targets in Chile and Peru.

With only two exploration projects outside Australia, Terry Burgess, Chief Executive Officer of OZ Minerals, said buying overseas mining projects could help augur the company in the midst of the global uncertainty affecting copper demand and prices.

"I think that now, due to uncertainty in the market, there will be more opportunities to buy," Mr Burgess said in Reuters News.

Large stocks of copper remain untouched in Asian warehouses. The fact that the economic growth of China, the world's second largest economy and prime mover of commodities, is waning has also affected global demand for copper and other base metals and minerals. Prices of copper, which tripled in value in the last decade to around $8,000 per tonne, are seen to fall in the near term, prompting mining companies to sell and cash in while still at the top of the market.

"I have seen more opportunities recently than I have ever seen in the last couple of years. Maybe people are taking some note of the uncertainty and think if they are going to sell their assets now it's the right time to do so."

Created upon the merger in 2008 of Oxiana and Zinifex, OZ Minerals, apart from the Prominent Hill copper mine project, also owns the Carrapateena copper project in South Australia which it bought recently. Its two non-Australian projects are located in the United States and Cambodia.

"We are actively looking for copper and copper-gold mines in Chile and Peru ... We are looking for anything that has the potential to produce between 15,000 and 150,000 tonnes of copper," Mr Burgess said.

"Our preference would be brownfield exploration as a starting point. A joint venture would also be good with the right partners."

In its website, OZ Minerals said it looks to build a pipeline of projects through acquisitions and organic development.