Chile's Enami evaluating Las Bronces stake option
Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:59am EDT
reuters.com
SANTIAGO, June 20 (Reuters) - Chile state copper company Enami is studying whether to exercise an option to buy a 49 percent stake in the Las Bronces mine, currently undergoing a $1.74 billion expansion by owner Anglo American Plc (AAL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
The option allows Enami to purchase a 49 percent stake in the mine through 2028 and comes up every three years.
It was originally granted in 1978, when Enami sold Las Bronces, then called Disputada de Las Condes, to the Exxon (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) company.
"Enami is evaluating the option, as it does every time it comes up," the small state miner told Reuters.
Anglo American announced in November that it would expand the mine over the next three years, raising production to some 400,000 tonnes of copper per year by 2011, from 226,000 tonnes currently.
The expansion is part of a drive by Anglo American to raise copper output to about 1.7 million tonnes by 2016, compared with current annual output of 650,000 tonnes. (Reporting by Pav Jordan) |
