The Northern Miner January 6 2020 Issue 1

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COMMENTARY: ‘DECK IS STACKED’ FOR MORE M&A IN 2020, GEORGE SALAMIS SAYS / 3 Geotech_Earlug_2016_Alt2.pdf 1 2016-06-24 4:27:20 PM

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O3 Mining’s Jose Vizquerra has tough act to follow PROFILE

| Young exec challenged by grandfather, Buenaventura founder

The mill at Nexa Resources’ Vazante zinc-lead-silver mine in Brazil.   PHOTO BY MINING.COM

BY TRISH SAYWELL

Growth ambitions undiminished for Brazil’s Nexa Resources SITE VISIT

| Aspires to be ‘new-generation’ miner, CEO Tito Martins says

BY FRIK ELS Special to The Northern Miner SAO PAULO, BRAZIL

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ith prices down nearly 10% in 2019, now is not an easy time for zinc miners. Measured from the highs hit from March to April, the metal — used mostly to galvanize steel and as an alloy — is down more than 20%. That’s officially a bear market. Zinc’s fortune compares with that of nickel, which despite a sharp correction recently, finished 2019 up about one-third. On-again offagain Indonesian ore export bans have buoyed nickel, but most of the excitement surrounding the metal has come from electric vehicles (EVs). In contrast, battery metal and EV enthusiasts have mostly ignored zinc-air technology despite its safety, energy density and cost advantages over lithium-ion. Largescale deployment of zinc-air batteries is years away and novel applications like thermal sprays for offshore wind farms haven’t really caught the attention of investors. For now, the metal is still tied to the fortunes of the global construction and auto industries, both of which have suffered from northern-miner_wide.pdf

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global trade and economic growth worries. But there is also an increasingly louder chorus saying that the bearishness on zinc is overdone. A recent analysis by BMO Capital Markets shows that while the demand growth for zinc is pedestrian, supply may come under expectations, especially in China where environmental rules are increasingly strict. The project pipeline also shrinks dramatically after 2022. Stocks are historically low and infrastructure spending in developed economies can’t be put off forever. And one good thing about zinc is its lack of scrap supply. To use one of mining’s more evocative phrases: zinc is a sacrificial metal. This was the backdrop for a November interview with Tito Martins, president and CEO of Nexa Resources (NYSE: NEXA), at company headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Martins was the executive in charge of the base metal operations of the world’s number-two miner Vale (NYSE: VALE), before joining Nexa in 2012. Impressive IPO When Nexa Resources had an initial public offering (IPO) in mid-October 2017, the zinc market looked 2019-10-07

very different than today. The zinc price came close to hitting decade highs earlier that month and the company, spun out of the metals arm of Brazil’s largest conglomerate Votorantim after a combination with Peru’s Milpo, raised a smidgen under US$500 million ($658 million) in New York and Toronto. At the time it was the thirdlargest mining IPO in Toronto stock exchange history, which is no small feat for a market hosting north of 60% of the world’s listed miners. With annual revenues of $3.2 billion, Nexa is the world’s fourthlargest zinc producer with output of 557,000 tonnes zinc equivalent at three mines in Peru and two in Brazil. Refined zinc production from the company’s three smelters totals 617,000 tonnes. Martins is sanguine about zinc’s prospects, which would be expected, but also realistic about the outlook for the metal. Martins says while the supply picture for zinc (and copper, which represents 7% of the company’s output) is well understood, the prospects for the base metals depend on the demand scenario, especially once the U.S. and China come to an agreement on trade. See NEXA / 2

tsaywell@northernminer.com

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hen Jose Vizquerra was considering work ing full-time on exploration projects in Canada with Osisko Mining (TSX: OSK), the first thing he needed to know was whether he had the blessing of his grandfather, Alberto Benavides de la Quintana. Benavides founded Buenaventura (NYSE: BVN) in the early 1950s and built it into the largest mining company in Peru and one of the biggest in South America. “When I told him I was going to leave the family business and asked him if he would be OK with that, he said, ‘Yes, I’m fine with it, but I would like to make a bet with you — I want to see if you can build something bigger than what I have built,” Vizquerra recalls. “And I said: ‘I’m 32 years old, game on!’” Vizquerra, who drops the Benavides portion of his surname to avoid favouritism when he’s in Peru and build his own name in the business, is the first to admit he has an enormous mountain to climb to fulfill the wager. Benavides created Buenaventura in 1953 when he was 33 years old and built it into a powerhouse that today has nine mines and thousands of employees. In 1996, the company became the first Peruvian mining company to list on the New York Stock Exchange, initially raising US$170 million. Today the company has a US$3.9-billion market capitalization. Benavides joined Forbes’ list of billionaires in 2013 but it wasn’t wealth that motivated the Harvard-

educated geologist. “He never wanted to find mines to become popular or rich,” Vizquerra says. “He was always a very simple and humble man. He would never drive a car better than a Toyota, and he never moved from the house he had when he was married. He never had a private jet or took astronomically expensive holidays. His purpose was to look for mines to develop the Andes of Peru.” Many of Vizquerra’s fondest memories are of the many hours he spent at his grandfather’s side as a boy and later teenager, soaking in Benavides’ vast stores of knowledge about geology and mine building, his passion for rocks, and his easy leadership style. Vizquerra visited his first mine, Orcopampa, with his uncle Raul when he was 12, and from the age of 18 spent every Saturday morning at his grandfather’s office in Lima, See VIZQUERRA / 6 PM40069240

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NEMASKA LITHIUM: FILES FOR CREDITOR PROTECTION / 7

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