Street Talk

South African giant bids $1.6b for NSW miner amid copper rally

Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

Updated May 27, 2025 – 7.22pm, first published at 11.11am

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South Africa’s Harmony Gold has confirmed it’s made a $1.6 billion bid for Mac Copper, the ASX-listed owner of the CSA copper mine in NSW, after Street Talk revealed the takeover proposal on Tuesday morning.

Harmony Gold, listed in Johannesburg and New York, is seeking to buy Mac Copper – née Metals Acquisition Corporation – just 15 months after it listed on the ASX. It said the bid offered a 21 per cent premium to the last traded price, and the two companies have entered a binding agreement.

Sarah Thompson has co-edited Street Talk since 2009, specialising in private equity, investment banking, M&A and equity capital markets stories. Prior to that, she spent 10 years in London as a markets and M&A reporter at Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

Kanika Sood is a journalist based in Sydney who writes for the Street Talk column.

Emma Rapaport is a co-editor of the Street Talk column. Prior to that, she was a markets reporter at The Australian Financial Review.