Falconbridge board backing Noranda-Trelleborg offer

The directors previously recommended acceptance of an offer by Amax Inc. (NYSE) of New York at $36.125 per share for all of the outstanding shares of the company. The nickel producer says it has withdrawn its recommendation of the Amax offer but has not terminated the acquisition agreement it signed with Amax.

Amax has not said whether it plans to make a higher bid. The company set a Sept 1 deadline for its offer. The Noranda-Trelleborg offer expires Sep t 15.

Trelleborg is the parent company of a diversified Swedish-based group of companies which operate mainly in Scandinavia and western Europe. Its four main business areas are mining and metals, building and distribution, mineral processing systems, and rubber and plastics.

The parent company’s mining and metals activities are operated under the Boliden name and grouped into three areas: Swedish mines and smelters, international mining and trading operations, and metals processing.

In Canada, Trelleborg’s mining interests are represented by Boliden Canada, which operates out of a downtown Toronto office. President Roland Widmark, assisted by a secretary, is responsible for the company’s contacts throughout North America.

Boliden Canada has a 13% interest in a holding company, controlled by Clifford Frame, which has a 54% interest in Curragh Resources. (Giant Resources of Australia retains the other 46% interest in Curragh.) Curragh’s main asset is the zinc-lead Faro mine in the Yukon.

Through the same holding company, Boliden Canada has an interest in the Westray coal project in Nova Scotia. Boliden Canada also collects a 30% royalty interest from the project.

In the state of Maine in the United States, Boliden Canada is negotiating to purchase the Bold Mountain gold-copper deposit from Chevron. Widmark said the two companies have signed a preliminary agreement.

Boliden (the parent firm) is a former major shareholder in Great Lakes Nickel; it sold its 29% interest in Great Lakes in 1987. Great Lakes owns a copper-nickel deposit in Pardee Twp. in northwestern Ontario.

According to the Noranda-Trelleborg circular pertaining to the offer, Boliden (the parent) is the largest mining company in western Europe. The company concentrates copper, lead, zinc, silver, gold and pyrite from the production of 16 mines in Sweden and has base metal operations in Spain and Greenland.

Mines and metals operations, the circular states, accounted for 32% of Trelleborg’s sales in 1988.

Noranda, part of the Peter Bronfman corporate empire, is a diversified international natural resource company with operations in minerals, forest products, energy and manufacturing.

Amax is an international supplier of metals and energy products. Its principal businesses are aluminum, coal and gold; Amax also deals in tungsten, magnesium, silver and potash. Other business activities include oil and gas production.

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