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Gold/Mining/Energy : first quantum minerals FM on TSE -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: keith schaefer who wrote (266)	11/23/1999 10:10:00 AM
From: joseph schevenels	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 385

Only Quantam Bid For Nkana Stands-Zambia Fin Min 9:31 Tuesday, November 23, 1999 LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia Monday said that only a bid by Canada's First Quantum Minerals Limited for Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines' (ZCCM) Nkana division now remained under government consideration. Finance Minister Katele Kalumba said two other bids previously considered serious were now on the sidelines and the government wanted First Quantum to consolidate its bid positions so negotiations could begin. ''First Quantum is the remaining serious bidder for the purchase of Nkana,'' Kalumba told reporters. ''The government is ready to start negotiations and we urge them to consolidate their bid positions.'' Kalumba said the Nkana deal excluded the smelter, which would be sold to Anglo American Plc as part of its purchase of a major stake in the ZCCM assets of Nchanga, Nampundwe and Konkola Deep. The Anglo American deal is due to be signed before December 31. The government says it will also reach a final decision on the sale of ZCCM's Mufulira division before year's end and it is in talks with Polish company KGHM Polska Miedz SA . No details of these negotiations have been made public. The Anglo American-ZCCM deal as well as the sale of Nkana and Mufulira will end Zambia's ambitious privatisation of its vast mining empire. Zambia loses $6 million monthly on the mines, which have seen no new capital investment in the past 15 years. Delays in privatising the mines have strained relations between the government and its Western lenders and donors.