April 04, 2017
Taharoa owners buy back ironsand lease
The Maori owners of a rich source of ironsand on the Waikato coast have bought the mining operation from its Australian owners.
Taharoa C Block Incorporation had leased the mine site for the past 43 years to New Zealand Steel, which is now owned by Australian listed company Bluescope.
A deal where Bluescope sells the lease to Tahora subsidiary Taharoa Mining Investments has now gone unconditional.
Wellington businessman Wayne Coffey will take a minority stake in Taharoa Mining and manage the business.
The website for Mr Coffey’s company Melrose Investments says Bluescope trebled the output of the mine over the past four years and exported more than $200 million a year of iron ore concentrate.
Titano-magnetite iron ore sand is mined on the beach at Taharoa and piped to an offshore loading point for shipment to north Asian steel mills.
In what’s described as a complex deal, Taharoa Mining takes on more than $76 million in liabilities while Bluescope pays it $51 million cash.
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