xstrata v hanlong, page-10

DH,

Interesting theory thrown in by the AFR's journos abt the dataroom visit last week. Anyway's lets look at why Xstrata? Worth reading this frm their 2010 AR.

http://www.xstrata.com/annualreport/2010/overview/chiefexecutivesreport/entryintoironore.html

FWIW's Xstrata appears 2b in the process of building a iron ore portfolio. Since 2009, they've embarked on the acq. trail in West Africa.

1) In 2009, their first acq was ZIOC's Zanaga iron ore project in Congo. This has 4.02bT of 33.9% Fe (1.72 bT Ind + 2.3 bT Inf res. as per SRK's recent report on ZIOC's website)

http://zanagairon.com/wp-content/uploads/Zanaga-Presentation-Announcement-of-Xstrata-Option-Exercise.pdf

2) Last year (Aug 2010) Xstrata acq. an ASX listed mob, Sphere Minerals for A$428m (or A$2.50/sh). Sphere's Askaf Magnetite deposit is in Mauritania & reqd US$220m + US$320m capex.

http://purplecom.com.au/_content/documents/1640.pdf

With Hanlong making a bid for 50c or $1.44b, it wouldn't hurt someone with deeper pockets & intent on building a portfolio across West Africa to visit the dataroom for a looksy.

Anyways thats my 50c's bit, who knows if the rumour has legs or is it just another one of those investigative journalism statement.

All the best chaps.