Minmetals confident of Congo deal successSARAH-JANE TASKER2...

Minmetals confident of Congo deal success
SARAH-JANE TASKER

2 November 2011
Source:The Australian

TAKEOVERS: Minmetals Resources is confident its $C1.3 billion ($1.2bn) bid for Africa-focused copper miner Anvil Mining will proceed, despite objections from the Democratic Republic of Congo's state-owned mining company Gecamines.

Minmetals general manager of business development Mike Nossal said the company was pushing ahead with the deal and working to the satisfy all conditions of the offer, including Gecamines' approvals. ``We were expecting to have discussions (with the DRC) and they are now under way, and there are negotiations ongoing and we are working hard to satisfy all the conditions of the bid,'' he said.

Anvil announced on Monday that Gecamines had queried whether it had upheld its contract for the Mutoshi project, a joint-venture 30 per cent owned by Gecamines.

The junior takeover target told its shareholders Minmetals had advised Anvil it would not complete the previously announced offer, unless the prior consent of Gecamines was obtained on terms satisfactory to the Chinese-backed company.

Mr Nossal said there were several conditions being worked through, with ongoing detailed negotiations.

``I was there (in the DRC) last week and I will be returning, and it's just a process that needs to be worked through,'' he said.

``I can't really comment on the detail of the negotiations. In each of the meetings, it starts with the DRC saying it welcomes Minmetals to the country, so it is very much in a framework of we want the deal to go ahead.''

Mr Nossal said it was important the company, as a Chinese-backed entity, was welcome in the country. ``That is a refreshing thing to have all of the government people saying China is a big development partner of the DRC and we welcome you as a Chinese-backed company,'' he said.

Minmetals offer was posted to shareholders early last month and not due to close until November 24 but Mr Nossal said the discussions with the DRC meant time could be an issue.

``It's impossible to say (what the timeline will now be),'' he said. ``The option is there to extend the schedule if that is what needs to happen, which is not uncommon in a takeover.''

The DRC was not a foreign destination to Minmetals and it had been working towards acquiring new tenements when the opportunity to buy Anvil surfaced. ``The exploration game is so long, so when the opportunity came up with Anvil to actually buy into an existing mine that was just coming online, we regarded it as a good strategic opportunity for us to leapfrog into an operation,'' Mr Nossal said.