AUSTRALIAN mining entrepreneur Joseph Gutnick’s brother Mordechai Gutnick and Mark Creasy are involved in a bid to potentially acquire a high grade zinc mine and refinery in Myanmar.
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Myanmar's Namtu-Bawdwin Mine
Gutnick is a director of ASX-listed Top End Minerals, which has paid $US500,000 for a nine-month option to buy a 60% stake in the Long Keng zinc mine and Lashio refinery for $43 million. The mine has inferred resources of 171,194 tonnes grading 36.84% zinc, while the refinery has capacity to produce 10,000t per annum of zinc and potential scale up possibilities to 18,000t. Creasy is to invest $A500,000 in Top End as part of the overall transaction, with a further $2.2 million raised by placing new shares priced at 2.2c. In the 1990s, Creasy sold gold discoveries he made in the Yandal Belt of Western Australia to Joseph Gutnick’s Great Central Mines for more than $100 million. Before the announcement of the Myanmar deal, Top End shares were trading at 2.8c, at which price the company was capitalised at $6.6 million. Shares in Top End have spent much of the past six months trading at between 2c and 3c. Myanmar has long been flagged as a geologically attractive destination, with political issues dissuading most interested parties from investing. Mining magnate Robert Friedland is one that has been active in the country. According to Top End, recent changes in Myanmar’s political landscape and the lifting of US and EU sanctions have made the investment climate more favourable. Towards the end of last week, zinc hit an eight-year high. Share this story:[/table]
TND Price at posting:
5.8¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
Myanmar's Namtu-Bawdwin Mine
