Grant Thornton shops collapsed Queensland base metals play Aurora

afr.com:

Grant Thornton’s dealmakers were busy mailing out preliminary sale documents for the collapsed North Queensland base metals miners Aurora Metals over the weekend, which once belonged to the now-defunct $1.3 billion listed miner Kagara.

Aurora’s halted zinc mines are located near Queensland’s Chillagoe-Mungana Caves (pictured). 

A five-page teaser seen by Street Talk said the receivers were open to receiving bids for Aurora’s zinc, copper, lead, gold and tin projects – and accompanying processing plants and other mining infrastructure – in any combinations the suitors would like.

However, they made it clear 100 per cent cash offers would have an upper hand over other deal structures including a deed of company arrangement.

Aurora’s primary operational assets include its Mungana underground zinc mine and King Vol zinc mine, which are running in care and maintenance mode. Situated about 200 kilometres from Cairns in a rural town called Chillagoe, the mines come with a 600,000 tonnes-a-year processing plant at Mungana.

Aurora’s other assets include Mt Garnet mine sites and an associated processing plant with 500,000 tonnes annual capacity.

The sell-side pitch talked up Aurora’s producing (but halted) mines in Chillagoe and Mt Garnet, their 1.1 million tonnes of combined annual processing capacity, and future upside from current exploration licences.

The latter, according to the flyer, includes additional ore sources at Chillagoe that could extend the projects’ life to late 2020s or early 2030s, and potential gold deposits, dubbed Red Dome near the Mungana plant. Lastly there’s the Einasleigh copper, zinc and lead deposits, which would require the new owner to build processing capabilities.

Aurora Metals tried divesting