And now, the nighttime news for all you CMR bears and bulls.
[The bulls may like this one more]
ft.com
Codelco pulls out of Zambian sale talk.
The copper mines' privatisation is close to collapse as Anglo loses its purchase partner. Negotiations close to collapse as Codelco pulls out.
Zambia Copper Investments (ZCI) which in Jan provisionally agreed to buy most of the assests from the govt promptly said it would now have to review its own position.
When ZCI agreed to buy the Konkola, Nchanga, Nkana and Nampunwe assets from the govt, it made it clear that the deal depended on being able to find a substantial mining partner, and on the availability of non-recourse finance for the project.
ZCI was recently advised that non-recourse finance (where the loan is tied to the project and lenders cannot get their money back from other assets taht the companies may have) was unlikely to be made available.
Anglo had said it would commit $300 mil of capital to the investment starved mines and implement an $ 800 mil plan to develop Konkola deep.
Now there appears to be a real possibility that neither the $90 mil nor the investment will be forthcoming.
end story. You bulls sleep tight, you bears might want to cover, cause Ted owns a cobalt mine/mill/refinery and 8000 t of African supply just went poof!
You see boys, it's all connected. Maybe CDI gets it and they just can't let on. AIDS, famine, no diesel (gasoil for the limey's), electricity grid a mess and a huge war next door. Go to the SA govt Dept of Mines website, 1st page says their mission is to redistribute SA mineral wealth. Anglo desperate to get capital out of Africa.
If Ted proves up reserves at Inco, or if he hits at BINCO (didn't hit on the 1st 3 holes, I guess if he hits on a hole between #4 and #120 he's still ahead of INCO's record) I wonder if Anglo would be interested in a country with low AIDS rate, no war, plenty of fuel and reliable electricity at 2 c a kwh.
Hey Ralph, fill me in on some ancient history. Has INCO brought any new mines on since 1968? [not prospects, I mean actual metal shipment] Were they forced to buy VB cause they're running out/going too deep in Sudbury/Thompson? Nobody else seemed to excited about 4.3 bil. |
