Milton Ward, chairman of Cyprus Amax Minerals (CYM-N), views the company’s recent foray into Zambia as the start of a long-term relationship with Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM).
The company signed an agreement with the state-owned mining company to acquire an interest in the Kansanshi copper mine (see separate story above).
“This is the magnet that brought us here,” Ward says. “But frankly, we go to places like Zambia not for only one opportunity; we are investigating others, as well.”
The Kansanshi project contains a small deposit, currently being mined on a small scale, with a resource of 24 million tonnes grading 3% copper. Ward believes the accompanying 7,487-ha land position has excellent exploration potential.
On the corporate front, Cyprus released its 1996 earnings with a profit of US$151 million (or US$1.42 per share) before special items. Revenue amounted to US$2.8 billion. The figures are down from the 1995 earnings of US$462 million before writedowns (or US$4.50 per share) on revenue of US$3.2 billion.
Earnings for the fourth quarter of 1996 were US$22 million (19 cents per share) on revenue of US$754 million, compared to earnings of US$96 million (93 cents per share) on revenue of US$739 million during the last quarter of 1995.
The lower totals were attributed to lower copper, molybdenum and coal price realizations. However, highlights of the year included commercial production at El Abra, a Chilean copper mine, and expansion of the Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru.
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