Meridian Mining has awarded European engineering company AFRY an engineering, procurement and construction management contract for the Cabaçal copper-gold project in Brazil. The appointment marks a further step towards a construction decision, but is not a final investment decision for the mine.
Meridian said it had committed more than $30 million, approximately €27.7 million, to pre-construction work and equipment. The work covers engineering, access roads, power infrastructure and preparations for the processing system. AFRY has been appointed to work on the project’s design and delivery, connecting the Brazilian development with European mining-services expertise.
Cabaçal has an installation licence for a proposed 138-kilovolt electricity connection, along with access arrangements for a planned 24.3-kilometre line. These are development milestones, but do not constitute a final investment decision. Power supply and road access are important to the greenfield operation because delays in either could disrupt commissioning even if the mine and processing plant are otherwise technically ready.
Financing remains the central condition for construction. Meridian reported receiving more than 20 indicative financing proposals, including packages combining debt and equity totalling approximately $400 million, or €358 million using the stated conversion basis. The proposals are expressions of interest, not signed facilities or cash disbursements. Meridian is assessing potential financing partners and commercial structures before proceeding to binding documentation.
The developer’s feasibility assessment outlines initial capital requirements of roughly €288 million. The estimate is subject to its underlying foreign-exchange assumption and to the distinction between mine construction costs, contingencies and financing needs. Cabaçal’s projected economics are feasibility estimates that depend on metal prices, recoveries, execution costs, operating performance and the ability to fund construction without excessive dilution.
The project is expected to produce copper, gold and silver concentrates. Meridian has described potential demand from metals traders and smelters as strong, but reported interest is not equivalent to completed offtake contracts unless terms have been signed. The developer still needs to turn preliminary engineering and permitting milestones into completed site works and commercial arrangements. The near-term investment question is whether indicative proposals can be converted into binding debt and equity on acceptable terms; until binding financing is secured, Cabaçal remains in pre-construction rather than a fully financed mine build.
