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- Feb 26, 2006
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AFRICAN Eagle Limited will seek an equity partner to finance an up to $450m (approx. 600bn/-) nickel project in Tanzania, and could sell some of its existing copper and gold projects to raise funds, the UK mineral exploration company said yesterday.
Managing Director Mark Parker said a bankable feasibility study and business plan for the Dutwa nickel project in Tanzania, the companys main undertaking in Africa, will be completed by mid-2011, before starting development.
Parker said the company, with interests in a number of copper, gold and nickel projects, has suspended a 20,000-tonne per year copper project in Zambia due to difficulties in raising funds.
We are looking at bringing in joint venture partners, or we will sell one of our other projects outright, principally to raise capital to take the Dutwa nickel project forward, Parker told Reuters in a telephone interview from London.
We will be looking at capital cost of around $350m to $450m, he added.
Parker said African Eagle could also raise funds through debt finance.
The nickel production per annum will be in the order of 20,000-30,000 tonnes of contained nickel. So we will be looking at processing two to three million tonnes per annum, at 1.1 or 1.2 per cent, he explained.
He said Dutwas current resource of around 30 million tonnes, at 1.1 per cent nickel, could reach 50 million tonnes after African Eagle signed an optional deal with Safina A.S of the Czech Republic for additional nickel deposits and further drilling.
Parker said initial assessments of the Miyabi gold project in Tanzania showed that it has a resource of 500,000 ounces.
We still have a lot of targets untested there, which we are keen to find a partner who will go ahead and test them for us, Parker said.
The bankable feasibility study would then follow, he added.
He said African Eagle and Australias CGA Mining Ltd., its partner in the Mkushi copper project in Zambia, have suspended development of that project for lack of funds.
CGA delivered a feasibility study last November, and at the time the copper price was in free fall. So we decided to suspend the project...but we will review that in the next few months, the African Eagles boss said.
He said it was difficult to find contractors with drilling rigs at a time when global metals prices and prices for analytical works in laboratories were high.
But now the contractors have dropped their prices and are ready to negotiate, he noted, adding:
The recession has brought some benefits to us; consultancy and contractor prices have come down from their peak. We are generally benefiting from the shortage of work.
Source: ThisDay - Sept 2, 2009
Managing Director Mark Parker said a bankable feasibility study and business plan for the Dutwa nickel project in Tanzania, the companys main undertaking in Africa, will be completed by mid-2011, before starting development.
Parker said the company, with interests in a number of copper, gold and nickel projects, has suspended a 20,000-tonne per year copper project in Zambia due to difficulties in raising funds.
We are looking at bringing in joint venture partners, or we will sell one of our other projects outright, principally to raise capital to take the Dutwa nickel project forward, Parker told Reuters in a telephone interview from London.
We will be looking at capital cost of around $350m to $450m, he added.
Parker said African Eagle could also raise funds through debt finance.
The nickel production per annum will be in the order of 20,000-30,000 tonnes of contained nickel. So we will be looking at processing two to three million tonnes per annum, at 1.1 or 1.2 per cent, he explained.
He said Dutwas current resource of around 30 million tonnes, at 1.1 per cent nickel, could reach 50 million tonnes after African Eagle signed an optional deal with Safina A.S of the Czech Republic for additional nickel deposits and further drilling.
Parker said initial assessments of the Miyabi gold project in Tanzania showed that it has a resource of 500,000 ounces.
We still have a lot of targets untested there, which we are keen to find a partner who will go ahead and test them for us, Parker said.
The bankable feasibility study would then follow, he added.
He said African Eagle and Australias CGA Mining Ltd., its partner in the Mkushi copper project in Zambia, have suspended development of that project for lack of funds.
CGA delivered a feasibility study last November, and at the time the copper price was in free fall. So we decided to suspend the project...but we will review that in the next few months, the African Eagles boss said.
He said it was difficult to find contractors with drilling rigs at a time when global metals prices and prices for analytical works in laboratories were high.
But now the contractors have dropped their prices and are ready to negotiate, he noted, adding:
The recession has brought some benefits to us; consultancy and contractor prices have come down from their peak. We are generally benefiting from the shortage of work.
Source: ThisDay - Sept 2, 2009
