The billion-dollar acquisition of an Australian copper mine involving an investment by a Bermudian-based company is one step closer to a reality.

Metals Acquisition Corp announced that both Osisko Bermuda Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Montreal-headquartered Osisko Gold Royalties, and Glencore have received approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board for their investment in MAC as part of the proposed acquisition of the CSA Copper Mine.

FIRB approval is a condition precedent to the acquisition of CSA from Glencore as announced by MAC in March of last year.

The transaction is said to be valued at $1.1 billion.

Mick McMullen, MAC CEO, said: "We are pleased to inform our shareholders that Osisko and Glencore have satisfied these key conditions precedent under the CSA acquisition agreement and streaming funding agreement respectively as we work towards obtaining shareholder approval and closing the transaction."

These latest approvals are in addition to MAC’s own FIRB approval which it received last August. As a result, the transaction is not subject to any further Australian foreign investment approvals.

Mr McMullen added: “This is another significant milestone for MAC as it nears the close of the transaction. We encourage all shareholders to vote FOR the transaction on June 5, 2023.”

CSA is a producing, high-grade, underground copper mine located in the Tier 1 mining jurisdiction of western New South Wales, Australia. It has been in operation since 1967.