(Corrects fifth bullet point and paragraph 8 to say the company wouldconsider a deal at 5 cents a pound, not 6 cents. Also corrects paragraph5 to say it values Canariaco project at nearly 2.5 cents a pound or$250 million, not 3 cents or $309 million)
* Open to deal on Canariaco project - CEO
* Sees commercial production at the project by 2015
* Canariaco has pre-production costs of about $1.4 bln
* CEO says many companies interested in Canariaco
* Will consider deal at 5 cents a pound or more
By Arnika Thakur
BANGALORE, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Canada's Candente Copper Corp<DNT.TO>, which owns one of the largest undeveloped copperdeposits in Peru, is ready to sell itself but only at double its currentvalue, its chief executive said.
With copper prices<CMCU3> rising, Canadian miners HudBay Minerals Inc <HBM.TO>and First Quantum Minerals <FM.TO> have recently bought smallPeru-focused miners, putting the spotlight on Candente's Canariaco Nortecopper project in the South American country.
"There are manycompanies interested in buying our project, but we would not sell atanything near our current market cap ... we are working very hard to geta better valuation on our shares right now," Candente's co-founder andCEO Joanne Freeze told Reuters by telephone.
The Canariacoproject has a current resource base of 10.3 billion pounds of copperequivalent, nearly a quarter of estimated global copper demand thisyear. It is Candente's primary project.
Canariaco is valued at nearly 2.5 cents a pound, Freeze said, or $250 million.
"It's a robust project and copper is an attractive commodity rightnow," said Freeze, who lived and worked in Peru in the mid-1990s and hasheaded the mineral explorer for nearly 14 years.
She said many groups were interested in partnering with Candente on the project, but declined to give details.
Freeze wants at least 5 cents a pound for the project, which is movingfrom the pre-feasibility stage, with commercial production targeted by2015.
The average price for such projects in Peru is about 3.8cents a pound, said Stonecap Securities analyst Gary Hon, who valuesCanariaco at about 2.4 cents a pound.
THE BETTER MINE
InDecember, First Quantum completed the acquisition of Antares Minerals<ANM.V>, which owns the Haquira project, and last month, HudBayagreed to buy Norsemont Mining Inc <NOM.TO> to get access to theConstancia copper project.
Canariaco stacks up well versus Constancia and Haquira, Wellington West analyst Steve Parsons wrote in a recent note.
Candente may spark interest from Chinese companies, given the increasing demand for copper and gold.
"Some of the obvious ones could be the Chinese as they're quite interested in the region," said Hon at Stonecap Securities.
Zijin Mining Group Co Ltd <601899.SS> was cited as a potentialpartner for Candente in 2006 to develop the Canariaco project, Hon wrotein a client note.
The cost of developing the mine is estimated at more than $1.4 billion, which raises funding issues, analysts said.
"I don't see any funding restraints," said Freeze.
Candente recently raised about $30 million, she said, and believes thatPeruvian Pension Funds -- which has $22 billion to deploy -- are alikely source of funds.
Candente's shares were trading flat atC$2.13 on Wednesday afternoon on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stockhas risen nearly five-fold in the past year. ($1=.9919 Canadian Dollar)(Reporting by Arnika Thakur in Bangalore; Editing by UnnikrishnanNair)