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Ross Beaty's Lumina Copper (LCC:TSXV) which is developing the world-class Taca Taca copper deposit in Argentina has see renewed interest over the past month from investors as rumors spread that a buyer may be close to pulling the trigger on the multi-billion project.  This morning, the company's stock is halted pending an announcement.

Shares of Lumina are up over 50% since May 1st, bringing the current market cap to nearly $350 million.

Recall, Beaty was rumored to be close to selling Lumina in early 2013 for an estimated $1 billion (although, Argentinian politics got in the way in the interim).

Taca Taca would cost the potential buyer an estimated $3 billion to develop but would produce over 244Kt of copper per year over more than 28 years (based on 2013 PEA).

With that type of price-tag, clearly the Chinese come to mind as potential buyers, but others could include First Quantum or Freeport.

Lumina would be another sale to add to Mr. Beaty's resume which already includes the de-risking and sale of Northern Peru Copper and Global Copper Corp (among others).

If the halt is pending an announced takeover, then others with Argentine exposure could see a revival in their share prices.  On the junior side, this includes McEwen Mining and Lukas Lundin's NGEx Resources (which holds over 20 billion pounds of copper and 15 million ounces of gold across three projects that straddle the Argentinian and Chilean border.

Paul Matysek's Goldrock is another junior in Argentina which could see a revival should Lumina get sold.  Paul sold his Argentinian-focused lithium play, Lithium One, to Galaxy Resources in 2012 for $112 million.

Related: Tick Tock: Long-time Taca Taca Bid Could be Coming for Lumina Copper