Someone’s in talks with Monterrico

London-listed Monterrico Metals (MMTLF-O, MNA-L) has opened up a data room for a potential takeover bidder.

Monterrico did not name the other company, which did not authorize Monterrico to announce that discussions were under way. The talks centre around a bid that would deliver a “modest premium” to Monterrico’s share price. Shares closed at 2.65, up 8p, on Dec. 22, a price that puts a value of 70 million ($158 million) on the company.

A takeover bidder would be seeking Monterrico’s main asset, the Rio Blanco copper-molybdenum project in northern Peru. An ongoing feasibility study suggested production of 210,000 tonnes copper and 2,450 tonnes molybdenum annually, out of 25 million tonnes of ore, would be profitable.

The study put the size of a supergene reserve at 269 million tonnes grading 0.73% copper and 0.014% molybdenum, and a hypogene reserve at 548 million tonnes grading 0.53% copper and 0.011% molybdenum. An additional inferred resource amounts to 441 million tonnes with 0.52% copper and 0.024% molybdenum.

A draft version of the study, provided by consulting firm Hatch, is now in the company’s hands, and further optimization studies on two aspects of the project — a filtered tailings facility and a pipeline to carry concentrate to tidewater — have already been ordered.