Glencore snaffles tenements near Avima deposit

Hi All.
Just come across this item from April 2nd 2012.

They say Glencore boss Ivan Glasenberg set straight out to meet the people who mattered most to the takeover immediately after his company's proposed merger with Xstrata became public: none of them were city investors.

It's believed Glasenberg headed straight for Africa to meet heads of state and mining ministers to discuss the consequences of the deal with those with the most direct influence on the company's future growth prospects.

And it seems Glencore is continuing to build a presence in the potentially lucrative African iron ore space, following on from its investment in the unlisted Core Mining.

It's understood Glencore purchased tenements just to the West of the Avima deposit it bought into (along with marketing rights) with Core, but the smaller company wasn't doing the selling.

Interest is sure to keep heating up as Core, run by London based Melbourne Socrates Vasiliades, heads towards a listing. The company is sitting on a 670 million tonne direct shipping ore deposit, with an average iron content of about 60 per cent, 7 per cent silica, 3 per cent alumina and phosphorous edging up towards 0.1 per cent. Core is expected to put out a resource upgrade this week confirming even more potential from the region, where Sundance Resources also planning a similar-sized 35 million tonne a year first stage project. The two companies have signed up to co-invest in the rail corridor that Sundance has pitched through Cameroon.

While it is understood Core is impressed with the work that Sundance has done engineering the line through swampy Cameroon, it is also happy for the miners to use an alternative route through **on as leverage in negotiations with the Cameroon government to secure mining conventions that it need to satisfy bid conditions from China's Hanlong Mining by April 27.

Sources close to the London-based Core say there is no doubt that (only One Rail and Port development will be built in the end), and that line will also be used to transport ore from the currently Chinese controlled Belinga deposit in **on.

Cameroon may be watching closely as **onese President Ali Bongo meets with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and a bunch of miners over lunch in Perth on Tuesday, with two countries vying for the infrastructure investment opportunity of a lifetime.

Regards
Westcott.