SHIFTING DYNAMICS

AS THE AUSTRALIAN MINING INDUSTRY EMBARKS ON 2025, M&A ACTIVITY IS UNLIKELY TO SLOW DOWN.

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The Australian resources sector is poised for significant merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in 2025, with gold and copper projects emerging as focal points, according to legal experts at Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Russell Philip and Oliver Carrick spoke to Australian Mining about key trends, challenges and opportunities, highlighting the evolving M&A landscape.

Gold consolidation gains momentum

Gold producers are expected to continue consolidating as they seek to navigate cost pressures and scale up operations in 2025.

“Gold is one industry that has a lot of tailwind support for it as a safe haven investment hedge against inflation,” Philip told Australian Mining.

“Australian gold miners, following the merger of Newcrest and Newmont, are in a good position to capitalise on this momentum and solidify their market relevance.”

However, the outlook for copper is less straightforward.

“It’s not because of the lack of interest in copper,” Philip said. “It’s finding strong copper projects; everyone’s out there scouring for good copper projects at the moment.”

Private equity rises in prominence

With tighter equity capital markets, private equity firms are stepping in to fund mining projects.

“We’ve seen a significant uptick in companies looking at non-traditional financing,” Carrick told Australian Mining.

“Private equity is well-versed in structures like royalty financing, product streaming and convertible loan type arrangements.”