Katanga fears CAMEC’s motive for special meeting (August 27, 2007)

Takeover target Katanga Mining (KAT-T, KATFF-O) says Central African Mining and Exploration Co. (CAMEC) (CEAMF-O, CFM-L) has demanded a special shareholders meeting in an effort to end its shareholder rights plan.

CAMEC told Katanga in early July that it was planning to make an offer on the company’s outstanding shares but no formal offer was forthcoming at presstime.

CAMEC said in July that it was considering bidding 15 CAMEC shares for each Katanga share, valuing the company at $1.6 billion. The companies, which both have copper and cobalt interests, operate in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In May, Katanga put together a shareholder rights plan to prevent a creeping takeover — when a company gains control through progressive ownership without making an offer to all shareholders.

CAMEC already owns 22% of Katanga and says it has lock-up agreements on 32% of Katanga’s shares. Katanga’s board has appointed an independent committee to review its options.

Katanga plans to start shipping from its Kamoto copper-cobalt mine complex by December and expects to ramp up to 150,000 tonnes refined copper and 8,000 tonnes refined cobalt per year by 2011.

CAMEC’s flagship operation in the DRC is the Luita copper-cobalt processing plant, which will produce 40,000 tonnes copper, 3,000 tonnes cobalt cathode and 3,000 tonnes cobalt concentrate per year by the end of March 2008, ramping up to 100,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 12,000 tonnes of cobalt cathode by the end of next year.

On Aug. 9, Katanga shares fell 4% or 89 to $20.76 in Toronto on a trading volume of 193,000 shares.