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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTHERNERA (t.SUF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter Bourgeois who wrote (874)	4/18/1998 6:29:00 PM
From: Goalie	Respond to of 7235

Hello Peter: I couldn't get your hyperlink to work....so here's the Financial Post ( page 13)story you referred to in your post: _________________________ Saturday, April 18, 1998 De Beers to give SouthernEra its day in court By PETER KUITENBROUWER The Financial Post Global diamond giant De Beers Consolidated Mines Ltd. said Friday it will allow SouthernEra Resources Inc. its day in South African court before exercising rights to a disputed diamond cache in the Transvaal. "De Beers has given a commitment that it will not take transfer of the mineral rights until mid-May at the latest," the company said Friday. De Beers said this week it had bought the rights to the property from 29 heirs of the original owner. SouthernEra has taken the heirs to court. Friday's news caps a bitter week for Toronto-based SouthernEra, which is battling for the deposit, the keystone of its aggressive investment schedule. The price of SouthernEra shares (SUF/TSE) rose 5› Friday to close at $8.05 although it has dropped $4.85 this week. SouthernEra disputes a claim by the heirs, who have formed NGS Minerals Ltd., that they are the rightful owners of the find. President Chris Jennings told a conference call with investors Thursday he suspects De Beers financed the heirs' move to register the rights. "Certainly not," shot back De Beers spokesman Andrew Cumine, speaking Friday from Johannesburg. "De Beers has not been associated with that at all." Cumine claimed the company discovered the Marsfontein anomaly, as the find is called, in the mid-1980s, "at a time when DeBeers was not interested in small diamond mines. "Now De Beers is interested in large projects, small projects and undersea projects," he said. One diplomatic source has suggested the diamond giant is merely "playing hardball" and has no real interest in who mines the diamonds. It wants to pressure SouthernEra to ensure any diamonds are marketed through its powerful, London-based Central Selling Organization. That is certainly a possibility, SouthernEra vice-president Lee Barker said. "In the life of De Beers and their stockpiles of diamonds, it's relatively small potatoes," said Barker. "Maybe they're trying to teach us a lesson because we discovered this particular deposit and they didn't." Cumine said, "We'd be very keen to market those diamonds and all diamonds. "People rely on the continuing support of De Beers to maintain the price of those diamonds and the value. The CSO guarantees to pay cash on the nose every month for diamonds." De Beers, whose net earnings topped US$1.2 billion in 1997, employs 9,000 in South Africa and 1,000 at the CSO in London. It markets more than 70% of the world's diamonds. But De Beers wants a bigger share. Cumine says his firm has held meetings with BHP Diamonds Inc., the senior partner in a diamond mine under development in the Northwest Territories, seeking to gain marketing rights to the Canadian gems when they come on stream. _______________________________