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Friedland takes swipe at BHP Posted: Mon, 08 Aug 2005 [miningmx.com] -- Mining entrepreneur extraordinaire Robert Friedland was at his eloquent best during his presentation at this year’s Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum where he extolled, yet again, the virtues of Ivanhoe Mines’ huge copper/gold and coal discoveries in Mongolia. Asked how would he fund development of the Oyo Tolgoi copper/gold mine, which he estimates will cost around $1,2bn, Friedland said Ivanhoe could easily raise the money itself. Friedland said Ivanhoe recently raised $100m “… before breakfast and without having to submit to the indignity of doing a roadshow.” Should he decide to go the joint venture route and bring in a partner, then he had the “Princess Leah” and “Darth Vader” options, he said. The “Princess Leah” option involves linking up with what Friedland calls one of the better-looking copper end-users, for example, a group like Mitsui. Going the “Darth Vader” route means bringing in as a partner one of the major mining groups which Friedland describes as: “… those companies that use letters for their names and want to control the world’s supply.”YOU don’t see too many CEO’s flying in steerage. in fact, I have not seen any on my various wanderings except for Nkwe Platinum CEO, Craig Oliver. The preferred habitat for CEOs while in the air is up the front end of the plane in business or first. Oliver sat just in front of me on SA 280 last week heading for Perth and the Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum now under way in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. Oliver clearly walks his talk because I met him under similar circumstances last year when he told me that flying economy was part of his commitment to shareholders to hold down administration costs. Nkwe listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in September 2003 after raising A$10m through an initial public offering. Since then Oliver has established Nkwe in five platinum projects on South Africa’s Bushveld Complex. The company’s first breakthrough came in July when it was awarded a new order prospecting right over the Rooderand project near Rustenburg. Nkwe is awaiting the grant of new order prospecting rights on three of its other projects which include mineral rights that were previously State-owned. Oliver is philosophical over the delays on the granting of these applications which have led to widespread criticism of the Department of Minerals and Energy. It’s understandable there will be delays linked to a major transformation of the system has as just taken place in South Africa, he said. There are comparisons with Australia where projects are being delayed for years because of “Native Title” issues surrounding developments on ground where Aboriginal Tribes claim ownership, he said. Oliver makes about 30 round trips annually between Australia and South Africa and then sometimes onto the UK and the US. Most of those are on SAA – an airline he rates highly – and for which he holds a platinum frequent flyer card. That clearly bemuses the SAA airline staff who obviously have yet to see a platinum card holder venturing outside the curtains which delineate business class. I have to say they looked after Oliver very well on the flight. CONSPICUOUS by their absence at this year’s Diggers and Dealers are Harmony Gold and Kumba Resources, both of who have run a booth at the last few Diggers’ conferences while Harmony has been a regular presenter at them. In Kumba’s case that’s understandable because the group no longer has an exposure to Australia following its loss of the Hope Downs iron ore project to Rio Tinto. But Harmony still has a considerable presence in Australia which will also be the base for the development of its three new projects in Papua New Guinea. All the other major gold groups which operate in Australia - Placer Dome, Newmont, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields – have their usual booths at the conference and are also giving presentations. Harmony executive director Ted Grobicki – who used to run the group’s Australian operations but moved back to South Africa at the end of last year – is attending as a delegate. He’s unable to shed any light on the subject saying it was a decision taken earlier in the year.
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