Brisbane, 10 August 2008
Xstrata Queensland Limited (ABN 69 009 814 019) ("Xstrata") a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata plc (LSE: XTA.L, ZSE: XTA.S), refers to its takeover bid for Indophil Resources NL (ASX: IRN.AU) (“Indophil”), one of Xstrata's minority partners in the Tampakan Project.
Indophil's recently released Target's Statement asserts that there is potential for Indophil to control its "share" of copper concentrate produced from the Tampakan Project. Indophil's Target Statement also states that such a proposal has not been discussed in any detail with Xstrata.
Xstrata has raised concerns about these statements with Indophil. In light of certain press commentary which referred to the erroneous statements in the Indophil Target Statement as if they were factual, Xstrata considers that it is necessary to issue this corrective release.
Marketing rights
The rights of Xstrata and Indophil with respect to the Tampakan Project, are set out in a series of agreements between the parties. Those agreements do not confer any right on Indophil to market concentrate produced from the Tampakan Project.
The marketing rights for the Tampakan Project reside in the joint venture company, Sagittarius Mines Inc. Decisions of Sagittarius regarding the marketing of product are controlled by Xstrata. Accordingly, Indophil does not have the right to separately market its "share" of concentrate production without Xstrata's consent. Xstrata has clearly communicated to Indophil on numerous occasions that it does not intend to provide such consent to Indophil or any other Sagittarius shareholder.
Ends
For further information, please contact:
Xstrata Copper
Sue Sara
Telephone: +61 7 3295 7535
Mobile: +61 7 411 206 090
Email:
Xstrata Group
Investors and analysts
Hanré Rossouw
Telephone: +44 20 7968 2820
Mobile: +44 7879 455 885
Email:
Xstrata Group
Claire Divver
Telephone: +44 20 7968 2871
Mobile: +44 7785 964 340
Email:
Deutsche Bank
Alex Cartel
Managing Director
Co-Head Natural Resources Group
Telephone: +61 3 9270 4475
Mobile: +61 407 434 220
Email:
About the Tampakan copper project
The Tampakan copper project is located on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, approximately 65 kilometres north of General Santos City. The current project is situated on the boundary of three Provinces – South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Davao Del Sur. The Tampakan copper gold deposit is located in the province of South Cotabato, municipality of Tampakan.
The Tampakan mineral resource is the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposit in South East Asia. The latest mineral resource estimate confirmed 2.2 billion tonnes containing 12.8 million tonnes of copper and 15.2 million ounces of gold at a 0.3% copper cut-off grade.
On 30 March 2007, Xstrata Copper acquired 62.5% of the controlling interest in the Tampakan copper project and assumed management control through its Philippines based affiliate Sagittarius Mines, Inc. www.smi.com.ph
About Xstrata Copper
Headquartered in Brisbane, Xstrata Copper is one of the commodity business units within the major global diversified mining group Xstrata plc. Its operations and projects span eight countries: Australia, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Canada, the USA, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea. Its operations are administered by five separate divisions, based close to the mining operations, namely the North Queensland, Minera Alumbrera, North Chile, Southern Peru and Canada divisions. It also has a recycling business (Xstrata Recycling) with plants in the United States and offices in Canada and Asia.
Xstrata Copper is the fourth largest global copper producer with annual attributable production capacity of over one million tonnes.
About Xstrata plc
Xstrata is a global diversified mining group, listed on the London and Swiss Stock Exchanges, with its headquarters in Zug, Switzerland. Xstrata’s businesses maintain a meaningful position in seven major international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal, ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc, with a growing platinum group metals business, additional exposures to gold, cobalt, lead and silver, recycling facilities and a suite of global technology products, many of which are industry leaders. The Group's operations and projects span 18 countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Germany, New Caledonia, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, the USA and the UK. Xstrata employs approximately 56,000 people, including contractors.