Rich lister Kerry Harmanis buys into advanced nickel play Centaurus

Former nickel mogul Kerry Harmanis has snapped up a 5 per cent stake in surging nickel explorer Centaurus Metals.

Harmanis paid $2.6m for his 5.08 per cent shareholding in Brazil-focused Centaurus (ASX:CTM), which has notched a strong ~250 per cent gain since the broader market hit those late March lows.

Its share price currently sits at multi-year highs.

In April, Centaurus completed the acquisition of the advanced, high-grade Jaguar nickel sulphide project from global mining giant Vale.

A maiden resource is on target to be released in mid-2020, the company says.

Harmanis is the founder and executive director of Jubilee Mines – a company he helped build into a successful nickel producer.

Jubilee was sold to Swiss mining heavyweight Xstrata for $3bn in 2007. That sale netted him a hefty $500m payday.

Besides Centaurus, Harmanis also had substantial stakes in a number of other explorers such as Talisman Mining (ASX:TLM), Gateway Mining (ASX:GML) and Kin Mining (ASX:KIN).