Denver — Faced with a heavy debt load,
In September, a Federal District Court in Arizona upheld a record of decision in favour of the Carlota open-pit copper project, and the appeal process has now lapsed.
The company has spent seven years and more than US$50 million developing the project, which is only one of several gold and base metal assets it may sell in order to pay off debt.
At the end of the third quarter, Cambior had US$181 million in long-term debt, plus current liabilities of US$67 million (including a US$33-million provision to restructure its hedging portfolio). Cash and equivalents amounted to only US$21 million.
The company, continuing work with financial advisor Bunting Warburg Dillon Reed, has been given an extension to Dec. 10 on its standstill agreement with hedging counterparties.
Carlota has reserves of 95.9 million tonnes grading 0.44% copper. The operation could produce 35,000 tonnes of copper cathode annually over a mine life of 12 years. Copper oxides and chalcocite would be processed by heap leaching and solvent extraction-electrowinning. Average mining costs are pegged at US51 per lb.
Cambior is also considering selling its half-interest in the Niobec niobium mine, 11 km north of Chicoutimi (T.N.M., Dec. 6-12/99), as well as two copper properties: La Granja in Peru and El Pachon in Argentina. A Reuters report states that Chile’s Luksic Group is interested in purchasing Cambior’s half-interest in El Pachon, which is across the border from Luksic’s Los Pelambres copper mine.
Another potential candidate for sale if the producing Langlois zinc mine in northwestern Quebec. Cambior could also sell its interests in several advanced joint ventures, including 60% of the Cerro San Pedro gold-silver project in Mexico and half of the Gross Rosebel gold project in Suriname.
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