re: Ann: MXR: First Non-Core Asset Sale - Can... wow gtsman -...

re: Ann: MXR: First Non-Core Asset Sale - Can... wow gtsman - that is some news and worth thinking about

May 28, 2008

The sloping expanse of verdant hillside known as El Mutun doesn't stand out amid the lush semi-jungle straddling the remote Bolivian-Brazilian frontier.

But the rust-colored stones strewn about provide a hint of hidden treasure: This is a mountain of iron ore.

Forty billion tons of it.

El Mutun is, in fact, the world's largest concentration of iron ore at a single site, said Pritam Singh Rana, Bolivian managing director for Jindal Steel & Power, a New Delhi-based conglomerate.

"It's very unusual," a cheerful Rana said from his office in nearby Puerto Suarez, a sleepy river town that is a hub of borderlands commerce, both the legal and illicit varieties.

South America's commodity boom is poised to jolt El Mutun and the remote expanse of swamp, savanna and forest known as the Pantanal -- one of the world's largest and most biologically diverse fresh-water wetlands, sprawling between Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay.

Bolivia's government has granted Jindal a 40-year concession to mine ore at El Mutun, a site extending over some 23 square miles. In the next eight years, the company says, Jindal plans to invest $2.1 billion -- perhaps India's largest venture ever in Latin America.

China has gotten a head start on the continent, purchasing vast quantities of metals from Chile and Peru and soybeans from Brazil and Argentina. From Jindal's perspective, India is a natural player in the region.

"We in India have a lot of trained know-how, a lot of technical expertise," said Rana, a veteran of India's steel sector. "And Bolivia and South America have a lot of land, a lot of resources. . . . I think there's a very good marriage."

An aura of myth, intrigue and possibilities envelops El Mutun. Residents whisper about supposed deposits of uranium and other metals. The rusting hulks of trucks and machinery attest to failed mining ventures.

People have known about the riches at El Mutun since at least 1845, when Francis de Castelnau, a French count and naturalist, scouted the region. But its isolation, and fluctuating ore prices, thwarted development.

Today, however, emerging economies such as India, China and Russia crave iron ore, the key ingredient used in blast furnaces to produce steel. Prices are expected to continue to climb, analysts say. El Mutun's time appears to have arrived. But the checkered history of past ventures and broken government promises have left local officials wary.
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if anyone is interested, then suggest do a internet search on

El Mutun

that is some deposit

to wss - but watso tries to be objective. also suggest that you have a look at some mxr reports (it COULD be (but maybe not) in the annual report of mxr - but "CONCEPTUAL is conceptual. drilling could prove differently