PMEA Blog

MELBOURNE: Oceana Gold, which took over rival miner Climax Mining this month, said Thursday it wants to buy more deposits of the precious metal to feed rising demand.

The Australian company which controls the largest gold mine in New Zealand, has considered buying assets in Papua New Guinea and Australia, Stephen Orr, the company’s chief executive, said in an interview. He did not name any potential targets.

Miners globally are merging or buying rivals to take advantage of soaring demand for metals, as underinvestment has led to a lack of discoveries and new mines. Oceana bought Climax Mining, of Sydney, to get access to a planned $80 million copper and gold mine in the Philippines.

“There’s a significant number of undervalued assets which present opportunities for us to do very accretive transactions,” said Orr, 51, referring to takeovers that increase a company’s profits. “We’re positioning ourselves to be a consolidator.”

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