Glencore begins the process of selling its 23% stake in Volcan

the swiss company Glencore explore a possible sale of its interest in Volcan. The company has received a letter from its controlling shareholder in which it is informed that it has “disclosed, as part of its preliminary financial results, that in the fourth quarter of 2022 it has begun to explore the process of the possible disposal of 23.3 % of its participation in the Capital Stock of Volcan Compañía Minera SAA”.

Glencore indicated that the process is subject to strict confidentiality and that this stage does not involve any director, manager or employee of Volcan or subsidiaries. It should be remembered that Glencore joined Volcan as a majority partner in 2018 and that 41% of Volcan’s class A shares are held by the Swiss company.

In 2021, mining recorded growth of 9.7%, recovering the production volumes of all metals (zinc +14.8%, silver +21.5%, lead +9.3%, gold +9.7%, copper +6.9%), according to Energiminas.

Likewise, Volcan has four advanced projects: Romina, Carhuacayán, Palma and Zoraida. Due to the continuation of the global health crisis caused by COVID-19, Volcan kept these projects on stand-by, with the exception of Zoraida, without executing meters of diamond drilling.

The Romina project continues with the feasibility study, and sterilization drilling has already begun on land where the mine’s auxiliary services are planned to be built. On the other hand, in Carhuacayán mineralogical characterization works were carried out prior to the geometallurgical modeling of the deposit.

While Glencore’s profits rose 60% last year to a record $34.1 billion — more than half came from coal production. For this reason, more than US$7,000 million will be distributed to its shareholders. According to Bloomberg, the Swiss company is looking to simplify its business and is selling its smaller or less profitable assets.