Glencore International, the Swiss commodities and natural resources behemoth, furthered its stake in PolyMet Mining, buying an additional $13.1 million of the company’s stock. PolyMet plans a copper-nickel mine near Babbitt, Minnesota.
The Duluth News-Tribune has the story HERE.
Glencore bought the stock from Cliffs Erie LLC, which owned the shares from its sale of the former LTV taconite production facility near Hoyt Lakes to PolyMet. Glencore now owns more than 17 percent of PolyMet shares and has options for a 24 percent stake in the company.
Separately, PolyMet announced that Glencore recently paid the company $10 million, the second installment of Glencore’s original investment in PolyMet. Last month, HERE, auditors noted that PolyMet needed an infusion of cash to continue “as a going concern.”
PolyMet’s proposed mining operation is currently undergoing a second environmental review which is due to be released later this summer. The federal Environmental Protection Agency criticized the initial environmental review last year.