Is Anglo pulling out of Zambia?
Anglo American's Zambian Affiliate Halts Shares (Update3)
Johannesburg, Jan. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Anglo American Plc's
Zambian copper-mining affiliate, Zambia Copper Investments Ltd.,
asked the stock exchange in Johannesburg to halt trading in its
shares, as copper miners slow projects in the African country.
An announcement will be made within 24 hours, said Marion
Dixon, an Anglo spokeswoman.
Zambia Copper, 50.9 percent owned by Anglo, in October
deferred digging the $800 million Konkola project, following the
earlier closure of a Zambian mine by Metorex Ltd. The price of
copper in London has slumped 16 percent over the last 12 months as
use of the metal suffers with the economic slowdown.
``In this kind of climate I'd see this as a death-knell
story,'' said Ross Gardiner, an analyst at SCMB Securities.
ZCI and its partners last year took over the bulk of Zambia's
copper deposits for $90 million and pledged to spend $1 billion
rehabilitating them and digging Konkola. The project, combined
with investments of $537 million by First Quantum Minerals Ltd.
and Glencore International AG, was expected to be the first step
in a plan to make Zambia the third-biggest copper supplier.
Zambia relies on copper for about 80 percent of its export
income.
ZCI shares were unchanged at 3.36 rand before they were
suspended, while Anglo shares rose 5 pence, or 0.4 percent, to
1,165p in London.
In August ZCI said its first-half loss widened to $38.2
million from $5.6 million the year earlier because of lower metal
prices.
--Antony Sguazzin in the Johannesburg bureau (27 11) 286 1934, or
asguazzin@bloomberg.net. Editor: Coulter |
