BUYERS THERE FOR GOOD ASSETSPredators circle for Australian...

BUYERS THERE FOR GOOD ASSETS
Predators circle for Australian copper miners' assets
Potential buyers are looking at purchasing assets of Matrix Metals and CopperCo, both of which have been forced into administration through low metals prices.
Posted: Monday , 29 Dec 2008
SYDNEY (REUTERS) -
More than 30 buyers are combing over the copper mining and cathode-making assets of Australia's Matrix Metals Ltd (MRX.AX), which was forced into administration by low metals prices, receiver Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu said on Monday.

Possible suitors for the assets of Matrix, one of two copper miners in Australia's Queensland state driven toward bankruptcy as copper prices spiralled downward in the second half of 2009, include international metals producers as well as local businesses, according to Deloitte receiver Gary Doran.
Commodities trader Glencore, an unsecured creditor and exclusive buyer of Matrix's copper, appointed accounting firm Deloitte to sort out Matrix's finances after it filed for voluntary administration on Nov. 11, a move similar to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the United States.
Doran told Reuters the company's two open pit mines remained idle, though its Mt Cuthbert cathode-making operation was running by drawing on stockpiled feed material.
Doran said Matrix was attracting "strong interest" from parties wishing to acquire all or some assets or participate in a reorganisation.
"The interest demonstrates that there are buyers out there for good assets, and that if you are cashed up, there are certainly some good buying opportunities in the current market," Doran said.
Potential buyers could not be disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, according to Doran, adding the closing date for offers was Jan. 12, 2009.
The company shipped 4,794 tonnes of copper cathode in the last business year to June 30 and was targeting output of 9,000 tonnes in the current year before entering administration, though Doran said the current production rate was not that high.
COPPERCO INTEREST
Another miner, CopperCo Ltd (CUO.AX), which entered voluntary administration on Nov. 27, was also attracting potential buyers, which sources said could include another Queensland mining company, Ivanhoe Mines Australia Ltd (IVA.AX), 83 percent-owned by U.S. mining magnate Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Mines Ltd IVO.TO. Ivanhoe was not immediately available for comment.
Receivers Ferrier Hodgson expect to start the sales process for CopperCo assets early in 2009.
Both companies suffered losses by selling copper at the prevailing London Metal Exchange cash settlement price, paid up front as the copper left the mine. But under what's called provisional pricing, the actual price was adjusted weeks later when the product was delivered, by which point copper prices had tanked, reducing sales revenue.
Copper prices zoomed as high as $4.00 a pound in April, but have since slumped to about $1.30 as demand for industrial materials plummeted in the wake of the global credit crisis.
Copper fell by 13 percent in September and 36 percent in October at the height of Matrix's difficulties.
Prices were not likely to rise above $2.00 a pound over the next two years, according to Australia & New Zealand Bank chief commodities strategist Mark Pervan. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
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