TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Vancouver-based Candente Copper could become a takeover target, as it nears the feasibility stage for its Cañariaco Norte project in Peru, chairperson and CEO Joanne Freeze said in an interview on Friday.

The company has signed “several” confidentiality agreements (CAs) and “a number of major and mid-size international companies” had expressed interest in the project, and were studying technical data and visiting the site, Candente said in an earlier news release.

“You have to assume they’re interested in everything,” Freeze said, adding that buying the Toronto- and Lima-listed junior was one of the potential outcomes.

She declined to say how many CAs Candente had signed.

Candente in October separately listed the other exploration properties it owned in Peru into a company called Cobriza Metals, which it listed on the TSX-V, which could make it more attractive for a company seeking to buy the Cañariaco Norte project.

The company also adopted a poison pill in October, which protects shareholders in the event of a hostile takeover attempt.

Freeze said Candente spun out Cobriza at the other properties, which were exploration stage, while Cañariaco was reaching development stage, meaning that it would attract more institutional investors than the retail investors that might be more interested in an exploration play.

The Cañariaco Norte copper project is located in north-western Peru, near Rio Tinto’s La Granga property and Gold Fields’ Cerro Corona gold-copper mine, and has a measured and indicated resource of 7.5-billion pounds.

The results of a prefeasibility study published in January forecast an average output of 262-million pounds a year of copper, 39 000 oz of gold and 911 000 oz of silver a year for 22 years, at a mine that would cost $1.43-billion to build.

Candente said on Thursday that preliminary modelling indicated it could build a larger mill than the prefeasibility study anticipated, which Freeze said could result in an around-10% rise in copper equivalent output.

As for timing of the results for the feasibility study underway, the company is unsure.

It wants to do more drilling at the property and is waiting for approval from the government to do so, which it expects within three months.

Provided Candente received approval, Freeze said the results of the feasibility study would then be forthcoming in “the neighbourhood of six months”.

Shares in the company slipped 3% on Friday to close at C$1.22 in Toronto, valuing the firm at C$144-million.