Weatherly offloads Namibian project to Chinese

Finance

Publishing Date: 27 Jun 2011 3:22pm GMT
Author: Mining Journal

Jiangsu Eastern China Non Ferrous Metals Investment Holdings Company Ltd (ECE) has signed an agreement with Weatherly International plc to acquire a 60% stake in China African Resources plc (CAR).

Under the agreement, which was formalised at a ceremony attended by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Weatherly will contribute the Berg Aukas lead-zinc project in Namibia to CAR.

For its part, ECE’s initial contribution to the company will be £4.8 million (US$7.6 million).

Following completion of the deal, CAR’s focus will be to start a feasibility study with a priority to bring Berg Aukas into production as soon as possible, Weatherly said.

CAR’s longer-term strategy is to build a profitable and widely-based resources business. This could include the acquisition of additional assets from Weatherly, ECE or other companies.

Weatherly said that with ECE the companies “hope that the redevelopment and re-commissioning of Berg Aukas will be the first in a number of projects that will see CAR develop as an African-Chinese joint venture to the benefit of all its stakeholders”.