Brazil-focused explorer Centaurus Metals is offloading its iron ore projects to focus its efforts on copper, nickel, cobalt, and gold.

The Centaurus (ASX:CTM) share price — which has traded between 0.6c and 1.8c over the past 12 months — was up over 8 per cent to 0.65c on the news.

Centaurus sold its Conquista iron ore project in south‐east Brazil to privately‐owned Brazilian miner R3M Mineração for $185,000 plus a 12 per cent royalty if the project goes into production.

R3M is already operating at the nearby Candonga iron ore project, which it bought from Centaurus in 2016.

R3M can bring niche assets into production relatively quickly, Centaurus managing director Darren Gordon says.

“Assuming that Conquista ultimately reaches production levels similar to those seen at the neighbouring Candonga project, the royalty has the potential to deliver significant value to us even with conservative assumptions on average mine gate sales prices over the next 5‐6 years,” he said.

The Centaurus Metals share price over the past 12 months.
The Centaurus Metals share price over the past 12 months.

The next focus for Centaurus will be the sale of its advanced Jambreiro iron ore project, which “could generate very significant cash flows in the current iron ore market environment where significant premiums exist for high-grade, low impurity ore”, Mr Gordon said.

The company had 2.1 million in cash at the end of the last quarter.