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DRC deal will test First Quantum's ambition and resolve
January 19, 2012 - 18:53 GMT
Location:
Windhoek
KEYWORDS:
First Quantum
,
DRC
,
ENRC
,
cobalt
,
copper
,
Zambia
,
Kolwezi
,
Kanshansi
,
Trident
First Quantum Minerals, one of the most actively traded names on the Toronto Stock Exchange, gleaned $1.25 billion in recompense for the three copper and cobalt assets it lost to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) authorities in 2010. That may be enough to pacify its shareholders, but will it satisfy the company’s ambitions?
The agreement, which also involves ENRC, was sealed with the consent of the DRC government, ending damaging and costly legal battles between the Vancouver-based miner, the Kazakh miner and the African nation’s administration.
Even though First Quantum appears satisfied to have salvaged its initial investment, the settlement with ENRC is by no means what it hoped for.
First Quantum says that the deal with ENRC “brings to a close our current involvement in the DRC”, but will it able to resist the allure of the abundant copper and cobalt deposits in the country?
Banking on Zambian assets
First Quantum is now banking on its Zambian assets – the Kansanshi mine and a new project, Trident – to deliver around 400,000 tpy of copper within the next five years.
The DRC appropriated the holdings in its territory in 2009 and sold them on to ENRC in August 2010, prompting First Quantum...
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Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC.
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