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Gold/Mining/Energy : Mining News of Note -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LoneClone who wrote (38399)	6/10/2009 8:29:31 PM
From: LoneClone	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 194002

AngloGold forms alliance focusing on Middle East, North Africa miningweekly.com 10th June 2009 JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold major AngloGold Ashanti has formed a strategic alliance with United Arab Emirates gold exploration company Thani Dubai Mining to explore, develop and operate mines across the Middle East and in parts of North Africa. Each company would own a 50% stake in the alliance, which would pursue gold, precious metals and base-metals projects. AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson Julia Schoeman said on Wednesday that the strategic importance of the Middle East and North Africa region, was that these regions have not previously been widely explored for gold, precious metals or base-metals and had the potential for development. The alliance would focus its efforts in North Africa on Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan, she said. The majority of AngloGold’s current operations were in South Africa, with a few other projects in Africa and elsewhere. It currently had no operations in North Africa or the Middle East. AngloGold noted in a statement that Thani had extensive knowledge of developing resource businesses in the Middle East and Africa and long-standing and high-level relationships with national governments and major industry players. Further, it also had a thorough understanding of the risks associated with mineral resource development and the requisite technical know-how. “Through this alliance we are able to access skills and regional expertise to leverage these opportunities,” Schoeman added. The alliance would be led by a board, which would comprise equal numbers of representatives from AngloGold Ashanti and Thani. Project acquisitions and exploration programmes would be equally funded by the two partners up to and including the completion of the project prefeasibility study. AngloGold would then develop, manage and operate any subsequent mining operations. A number of opportunities in the region had already been identified, with an evaluation process under way. These included two projects in Yemen and two in Egypt. The most advanced of these projects was a 2,5-million ounce measured gold resource. Australian gold exploration company, Centamin, had historically mined the two projects in Egypt, Schoeman noted. “We believe that the complementary skills and regional expertise that this alliance brings will provide the mechanism for achieving the alliance’s strategic objectives in the region,” AngloGold Ashanti CEO Mark Cutifani commented. “Both parties have much to contribute to this alliance which is well placed to become one of the leading mineral resource developers in the region,” Thani Dubai Mining chairperson Abdulla Al Thani stated.