To: Gunnar who wrote (179 ) 7/2/1998 3:20:00 PM From: Greywolf Respond to of 486
Tenke Mining is holding discussions with a number of major mining companies with respect to participation in the Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt project in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of Congo. A number of proposals are under discussion and the company expects at least one more. The company estimates it will take until August to refine the proposals, although it is possible it will be earlier. Parallel discussions regarding project debt funding are at an advanced stage with strong indications of a fully underwritten debt requirement on normal project finance terms. At a detailed project level, two specialist appointments have been made in support of the project implementation: CMPS&F, experienced mining engineering consultants based in Australia, has been appointed to provide engineering support services to the company's project team during the pre-commitment phase of the project. CMPS&F, a subsidiary of Groupe EGIS of France, is focusing on preliminary engineering for long lead items and assistance with technical bid evaluations; Enthalpy Pty Ltd. of Australia has been retained to provide specialist project management support and is concentrating on project mobilization activities including the bid, evaluation and finalization of EPC/M contracts. The company is receiving excellent support from its partner, Gecamines and from the government. The Tenke Fungurume copper/cobalt concessions are estimated to contain over 500 million tonnes of global resources grading 3.5 per cent copper and 0.27 per cent cobalt and significant further exploration potential exists. A draft feasibility study is nearing finalization. This is based on mining an initial 85 million tonnes of ore with an average extraction grade (acid soluble) of 3.19 per cent copper and 0.29 per cent cobalt to give copper production of 100,000 tonnes per year for the first four years and 200,000 tpa from years six through 15. Associated cobalt is approximately 6,000 tpa, rising to 13,000 tpa. Costs to construct the project are estimated to be approximately $475-million (U.S.). Operating cash costs for the first phase are estimated to be 6 cents (U.S.) per pound of copper assuming a cobalt by-product credit of $10 (U.S.) per pound. For the 15 year project as envisaged by the draft feasibility study, the equivalent average cash cost is minus 7 cents (U.S.) per pound. These costs should position the project near or at the bottom of the world copper production cost curve. A futher note is that emilbe wrote on the Dibb page dib.se in Sweden that Anglo American Corporation of South Africa has stated in their yearly report that they have an intention to invest in the Tenke Fungurume mines owned by Lundin. I seem to recall that this is one of the companies that there was speculation about when it became apparent that TNK was looking for joint venturers.