Due diligence period extended on copper project

This morning our junior exploration investment Mandrake Resources (ASX: MAN) announced another extension to the due diligence period for its new copper acquisition in Chile.

MAN first announced the acquisition of the 'Delfin' copper project on 25 March this year and has been conducting due diligence on the project since then.

Today, MAN confirmed that it had secured a further 1-month extension to its diligence period at no extra cost, taking the due diligence period end date to 24 September 2022.

Interestingly, MAN detailed that the extension was done to renegotiate the terms for the acquisition so that payments can be linked to "project access/drilling".

This sounds like MAN will renegotiate the terms away from direct payments to the vendors so that the company makes payment if and when project access agreements are resolved or drilling programs are run.

As mentioned in the announcement today, this should mean the transaction is de-risked for MAN.

We are still looking forward to MAN completing the acquisition, given that the project sits in one of the planet's most copper rich regions.

In fact, the world's biggest copper mine, operated by BHP/Rio Tinto and contributing ~5% of global copper production, sits only ~100km away from MAN's project.

We covered the acquisition in detail in our last MAN note, which you can read here: Cashed up MAN picks up high grade Chilean copper asset