Mining veterans back Zanaga Iron Ore in $21.5M deal

me-metals: A team of some of the biggest names in the mining industry has thrown its support behind a $21.5 million investment in Zanaga Iron Ore (LON: ZIOC), injecting fresh momentum into one of the world’s largest untapped iron ore deposits.

According to me-metals cited from mining.com, The deal brings together some of the sector’s most influential figures, including former Anglo American chief executives Mark Cutifani and Tony Trahar, alongside Mick Davis, the ex-Glencore and Xstrata boss who now leads private equity firm Vision Blue.

Zanaga has also tapped investors with deep mining and infrastructure expertise, including private equity firm Greymont Bay, development specialist Heeney Capital, and industrial developer Gagan Gupta, founder of Arise. The financing could rise to $23 million depending on additional subscriptions.

Their involvement could provide the long-delayed Zanaga project with the necessary push to move beyond the planning stage.

Shares in Zanaga Iron Ore surged on the news, climbing 8% to 11p. This givesthe company a market capitalization of £70 million ($89 million).

“This transaction enables us to capitalize on our preparatory discussions with strategic partners and assemble a construction consortium for the Zanaga Project, aimed at unlocking the full potential of what we believe is the world’s most compelling undeveloped iron ore asset globally,” chairman Clifford Elphick said in a statement.

After Glencore’s stake

Zanaga will allocate $15 million of the funds to buy out Glencore’s (LON: GLEN) 43% stake in the project, severing long-standing ties with the commodities giant. This move ends Glencore’s marketing rights to future production and removes its representative from Zanaga’s board.

The remaining funds will sustain project operations over the next year, advance studies, and kick off a formal bidding process to assemble a construction consortium for the planned 30-million-tonne-per-year mine.

The announcement comes as iron ore futures continued their decline, with prices falling for a sixth consecutive session on Monday amid escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and China. This overshadowed positive Chinese manufacturing data.

The most-traded May iron ore contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2.81% to 779.5 yuan ($106.91) per tonne, while the benchmark April iron ore contract on the Singapore Exchange shed 2.53% to $99.85 per tonne.

Market sentiment was further dampened by renewed speculation that China may slash crude steel output by 50 million tonnes in 2025, adding further pressure to iron ore prices.

source: mining.com

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