cape lambert eyes 800m asset floats

Article Date: Jul 21 2010

Former AIM counter Cape Lambert Resources envisages an ?800 million float this year for its key African iron and coal assets.

Tony Sage, entrepreneurial executive chaiman of Aussie-listed Cape Lambert, says Kukuna in Sierra Leone and Sandenia in Guinea, with claimed combined potential for 6.5 billion tonnes of iron ore, could combine with brown coal interests in Sierra Leone to form a marketable company, in which Cape Lambert would have a significant stake through its 26.2 per cent ownership and management role in project backer PInnacle.

Sage argues China's appetite for African raw materials makes Hong Kong an appropriate market for these ventures, though he has not finally ruled out London. He is also preparing Cape Lambert's Marampa iron ore project in Sierra Leone for a trade sale and hopes to increase estimated resources there from 600 million to a billion tonnes for a possible sale value of around ?400 million.

Cape Lambert has agreed to invest ?30 million for 33 per cent of Marampa Infrastructure, set up to establish crucial rail and port facilities to take its iron ore to market. The agreement is with fellow iron ore play, controversial tycoon Frank Timis's AIM-quoted African Minerals, which has a 20 per cent stake in Cape Lambert and, suggests Sage, the infrastucture venture could eventually yield as much as ?6 million a year for moving third parties' products.

He maintains China's wish to source as much iron ore as possible from outside the giant Rio Tinto-BHP cartel bodes well for independent projects such as these and for Cape Lambert's recently acquired DMC exploration projects in the same region. Sage, who has recently spent nearly ?1.5 million buying more shares in the company, also points to gold projects in Australia and Greece and uranium in Argentina.

Cape Lambert shares trade at the equivalent of 20p Down Under, while AIM has African Minerals at 412p. Though in speculative markets, both look well placed.