Maravi

African Eagle to re-prioritise projects

African Eagle to re-prioritise projects
Written by Nchima Nchito
Wednesday, January 14, 2009 10:09:23 AM

AFRICAN Eagle Resources (AER) Plc has announced a re-prioritisation of its projects in view of the current economic crisis.

In a press release, AER, which owns the Mkushi Copper Mines project, announced this decision as a measure to cope with deteriorating market conditions, restricting active operations largely to the Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania.

“Our Dutwa Nickel discovery in 2008 demonstrates the validity and the strength of our past strategy of remaining diversified and capitalising on opportunities as they arise,” stated AER chairman, John Park.

The company announced these decisions after completing a thorough review of its strategy for 2009 in view of the current unprecedented global market conditions and commodity prices.

“Now, however, we are operating in very challenging times, and our first and foremost duty to our shareholders is to remain in business so that we can realise the benefits of Dutwa and other advanced assets when markets improve,” he stated.

Park confirmed that African Eagle would delay the development of its proposed Mkushi Copper Mine in Zambia and would, instead, focus on assessing the viability of its Dutwa Nickel project in Tanzania.

“We recognise the need to conserve these funds. This will mean reviewing and renegotiating all services contracts and cutting our operating costs and overheads sharply to see out this difficult period, while advancing the Dutwa project to economic evaluation,” Park stated. “We are fortunate among our peers in having £2.5m cash still in the bank from our 2007 Johannesburg listing and financing.”

Park stated that his company intended to place most of its other advanced projects on care and maintenance while it continued to look for partners to help fund them, adding that it would relinquish many of its earliest stage projects.

Labels: AFRICAN EAGLE RESOURCES, MINING, MKUSHI COPPER MINES

posted by MrK @ 10:11 AM