MACA to partner with Beadell at Tucano

Mining and civil engineering firm MACA has received a letter of intent to provide mining services to Beadell Resources’ Tucano gold project in Brazil, with the value of the deal yet to be finalised.

Under the terms of the proposed agreement, MACA will provide drill and blast, load and haul, and crusher feed services under a five-year term, while acquiring Beadell’s existing mobile mining fleet and equipment for $40 million.

MACA said it would use a combination of its existing cash reserves and debt facilities to finance the equipment acquisition, which would be transferred over a two-year period.

Beadell managing director Peter Bowler said the partnership meant the company would not need to purchase additional mobile equipment.

MACA said it expected work in hand to increase to about $1.65 billion, and to achieve revenue of more than $650 million in the 2015 financial year.

MACA's share price took a significant hit in early September after it announced it would raise $58.5 million through a 30 million share placement.

The offer was valued at $1.95 per share and made to institutional investor clients of Perth stockbroking firm Hartleys.

The company's share price at the time was about $2.19 per share.

Its shares tumbled on the ASX, falling to an all-time low of $1.18, and have struggled to recover since.

MACA's operations are predominantly located within Western Australia, however it provides load and haul, drill and blast, crush and screen and train loading services to Arrium at its Peculiar Knob iron ore mine in South Australia.

Shares in MACA were 3.8 per cent higher at $1.23 per share, whille Beadell shares fell by 1.4 per cent to 34.5 cents per share at 9:45am.