Lundin Mining is weighing the potential sale of its Zinkgruvan and Neves-Corvo zinc mines in Sweden and Portugal, respectively, reported Bloomberg News, citing people familiar with the matter.

The sale forms part of the company’s efforts to raise funds to invest in its copper assets in Argentina and Chile.

Discussions are still preliminary and there is no guarantee that the company will move forward with a sale, the people said.

Operational since 1857, the Zinkgruvan underground mine is located in the south-west of Stockholm. It reported production of 76,349t of zinc in 2023.

The Neves-Corvo mine reported production of 108,812t of zinc and 33,823t of copper.

The two mines together contributed 19% of Lundin's revenue in the previous year.

The potential divestment also comes as Lundin Mining has been undergoing leadership changes and refocusing its business strategy.

Lundin CEO Jack Lundin was cited by the news agency as saying: “We have a strong balance sheet today, and we are not in a position where we need to divest out of any of our assets in our portfolio.

“We are not required to make a sale to make our ambitions in South America a reality.”

Lundin Mining was reportedly in talks to divest a stake of between 40% and 50% in the Josemaria mine in the San Juan province of Argentina to Japanese trading houses and large miners.

The Josemaria copper-gold-silver project is wholly owned and operated by Lundin Mining’s Argentinian subsidiary Desarrollo de Prospectos Mineros.