see below nick. this was in today's Australian...

see below nick. this was in today's Australian newspaper

HARBINGER Capital Partners, the US hedge fund operation run by billionaire Philip Falcone, plans to boost investment in African resources as companies compete for some of the world's biggest mineral deposits.
Harbinger has reduced its investment in several Australian iron ore miners.

The fund was rumoured to be behind the dumping of about 45 million Murchison Metals shares last month, days after it offloaded a block of 30 million shares in Andrew Forrest's Fortescue Metals Group, reducing its stake from 16.2 per cent to 4.2 per cent over the past year.

"Africa is the last untapped resource frontier left on earth," Harbinger managing director Lawrence Clark said. "Over time we're going to work towards making more investments, but we're only going to do so with great caution."

Companies from South America, Europe and Asia have been drawn to Africa by its mineral riches, including the world's biggest deposits of platinum, chrome and diamonds.

Capital flows into the continent rose 16 per cent in 2008 to a record $62 billion, even as foreign direct investment around the world fell 20 per cent, according to the World Economic Forum.

Harbinger, which has about $US10bn ($11.9bn) in assets under management, holds three investments in Africa, Mr Clark said.

The company owns a 22 per cent stake in Sable Mining Africa and 45 per cent of African Medical Investments, both run by Andrew Groves and Philippe Edmonds. It also has an interest in iron ore explorer African Minerals.

Investing in Africa is not without risk. Copper miner First Quantum Minerals said a licence for one of its mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo was reassigned to another party on May 25.

African Consolidated Resources has been in dispute with Zimbabwean authorities over the cancellation of its permit to mine gems in the Marange diamond fields, while Rio Tinto has been stripped of assets in Guinea.

Mr Clark said he had conducted due diligence in 15 African countries over the past nine months for prospective Harbinger ventures and would only commit funds to projects he had visited.

"The dollar value of our African investments, to date, has been very small as an overall percentage of our portfolio," Mr Clark said.