Camrose Resources

Last updated
Camrose Resources Limited
Defunct2012
FateAcquired by Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation
Key people
 Dan Gertler

Camrose Resources Limited (Camrose) was a company owned by Dan Gertler, an Israeli businessman, the founder and President of the DGI (Dan Gertler International) Group of Companies. Camrose's other assets included a "64% stake in Canada listed Africo Resources which held a 75% interest in the Kalukundi Mine's exploitation licence as well as a 56% indirect interest in Comide Sprl, which held the exploitation licence for Mashitu, Pangalume and Kii tenements." [1]

Contents

By August 2010, Camrose, acquired British Virgin Island-based Highwind Group. [2]

In 2012 Fasken Martineau, a prestigious international business law and litigation firm recovered an almost unprecedented US$1.25B in the "First Quantum Minerals v Highwinds and others", a case concerning the expropriation of First Quantum Minerals' mining licences in the Kolwezi tailings project (KMT) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As part of the settlement Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) who had gained control of the project through Camrose Resources Limited subsidiary Highwinds, purchased First Quantum's residual claims and assets in the DRC. [1]

Kolwezi tailings project KMT

First Quantum Minerals Ltd

Vancouver -based, First Quantum Minerals Ltd (FQM), is a TSX and LSE listed mining and metals company focused on Africa. First Quantum Minerals owned 65% of Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings SARL (KMT) the project company of the Kolwezi tailings project (International Finance Corp World Bank 2009)." [3]

The International Finance Corporation of the World Bank contributed "c. US$4.5 million in equity funding (for a 7.5% equity stake in KMT) during the first phase of this project which involved the preparation of a bankable feasibility study. Other shareholders of KMT were the DRC Government (5%), the state-owned Gécamines (12.5%), and the South African Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) (10%)." [3]

The Kolwezi tailings project, is a lucrative copper- and cobalt-extractions projects to process tailings ponds from mining operations in the 1950s, partly owned (65%) and operated by First Quantum Minerals, a Vancouver, British Columbia based mining and metals company, until its forced closure in September 2009 when the DRC government revoked its license and confiscated the holdings. [3] [4] [5] [6] First Quantum spent $750 million on acquiring and developing the property. First Quantum took out an action against the DRC government in the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration. [7]

Metalkol SARL: Gecamines and Highwinds

Early in 2010 DRC created a new joint venture Metalkol Sarl controlling the Kolwezi Tailings Project (KMT), with state-owned Gecamines (30%) and Dan Gertler's newly formed British Virgin Island-based company, Highwinds (70%). [1] [2]

Camrose's Highwinds, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation and Kolwezi Tailings Project (KMT)

Highwind Group, Metalkol SARL

Highwind Group had a 70% interest in the Metalkol Sarl, which in turn owned the exploitation licence for the Kolwezi tailings project site (Law Expert March 2, 2012)." [1]

By 2010 Gertler and the London-listed Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation ENRC were in joint control of Kolwezi Mine Tailings (KMT) a "multi-billion dollar copper and cobalt tailings reprocessing facility" [1] [2] In August 2010 Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation acquired 50.5% of Camrose Resources Limited and therefore the controversial Kolwezi tailings project. [8] In 2010 ENRC paid $175 million for its majority stake in Camrose. [4] On December 28, 2012, 99 percent of Eurasian Natural Resources Corp shareholders approved the US$550 million purchase of the remaining 49.5% per cent of Camrose Resources Limited still held by Dan Gertler's Gibraltar-registered company (Wild et al. 2013 page 68) [9] Fleurette Properties Ltd. [10]

ENRC's acquisition 50.5% of Kolwezi Mine Tailings (KWT) a "multi-billion dollar copper and cobalt tailings reprocessing facility" [1] that had been expropriated in 2009 by the DRC from Vancouver, Canada-based through Dan Gertler's newly formed British Virgin Island-based company, Highwinds, was the last of a series of ENRC of Congolese mining asset acquisitions in roughly an 11-month period. [11] First Quantum Minerals had completed 75 per cent of the construction and the lucrative facility was almost ready to be operational when it was seized by the government and handed to [1] This led to First Quantum Minerals v Highwinds and others, a case concerning the expropriation of mining licences in the Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC passed the concession to a new joint venture Metalkol Sarl, encompassing state-owned Gecamines (30%) and Dan Gertler's newly formed British Virgin Island-based company, Highwinds (70%). [1] [2]

Camrose, Kalukundi and Africo

According to an article in the Mail and Guardian (Wood et al. 2012) [12] Camrose acquired a controlling stake in Africo through a simultaneous, complex and clever set of transactions from 2007 to 2008. Located in the south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's copper belt, the lucrative Kalukundi concession owned by Congolese company Swanmines, which was part-owned by Canadian miner Africo Resources, had a potential of high copper and cobalt yields. In April 2007 Africo was preparing to purchase enough shares to become the majority shareholder of Kalukundi when a third party entered into litigation claiming prior ownership. Dan Getler offered to help through his connections with Democratic Republic of Congo's president, President Joseph Kabila. Gertler purchased the third-party company and resold it to Africo. In July 2008, the Getler company, Camrose Resources, purchased Africo shares worth about $100-million. Camrose then held 63% controlling stake in Africo. Camrose had paid for Africo through a loan from an offshore British Virgin Islands-registered company called Vipar, an affiliate of Africa Management Limited (Wood et al. 2012)." [12]

In 2007 Africa Management Limited was created as a joint venture between South African housing minister Tokyo Sexwale's "investment vehicle Mvelaphanda Holdings, its associate company Palladino Holdings, and Och-Ziff Capital Management, a $30-billion New York hedge fund (Wood et al. 2012)." [12] The hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management Gertler's Camrose $150-million via Africa Management and Vipar. In this way Sexwale and associates aided Gertler in selling Kalukundi, "grabbed" by a third party, back to its original owner (Wood et al. 2012)." [12]

Notes

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">First Quantum Minerals</span> Canada based mining company

    First Quantum Minerals is a Canadian-based mining and metals company whose principal activities include mineral exploration, development and mining. Its main product is copper, which accounts for 80% of revenues as of 2016.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Gécamines</span>

    La Générale des Carrières et des Mines (Gécamines) is a Congolese commodity trading and mining company headquartered in Lubumbashi, in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a state-controlled corporation founded in 1966 and a successor to the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga. Gecamines is engaged in the exploration, research, exploitation and production of mineral deposits including copper and cobalt.

    Adastra Minerals Inc, was a London-based mining company with notable operations in central Africa, particularly in copper, cobalt and zinc exploration. Adastra's properties and concessions were acquired in 2006 by First Quantum Minerals for $245m in cash and stock, outpacing a counter-offer by Mwana Africa plc. Founder Jean-Raymond Boulle and top UK insurer Prudential plc had owned 10% and 14% stakes in Adastra, respectively.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation</span>

    Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC (ENRC) was a public, Kazakhstan/Central African-focused, multinational leading diversified natural resources company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It had activities in integrated mining, processing, energy, logistics and marketing.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

    The mining industry of the Democratic Republic of the Congo produces copper, diamonds, tantalum, tin, gold, and more than 63% of global cobalt production. Minerals and petroleum are central to the DRC's economy, making up more than 95% of value of its exports.

    Katanga Mining Ltd was a mining company operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with its headquarters in Canada. Katanga Mining operated a major mine complex in the Congo's Katanga Province, producing refined copper and cobalt. It claimed to have the "potential of becoming Africa's largest copper producer and the world's largest cobalt producer."

    Copper mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo mainly takes place in the Copper Belt of the southern Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Musonoi Mine</span> Mine near Kolwezi, DRC

    The Musonoi mine is a set of open-cut pits near Kolwezi from which copper and other metals have been extracted since the 1940s. The mining complex is located in the Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kolwezi is about 320 kilometres (200 mi) northwest from Lubumbashi, the provincial capital.

    The Kolwezi tailings project also known as the Roan Tailings Reclamation (RTR) is a major project in the Kolwezi mining area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to recover copper from the tailings, or processed ore, from mining in the region since the 1950s. The project was developed by the Canadian mining companies Adastra Minerals and then First Quantum Minerals between 2004 and 2009, when the DRC government revoked First Quantum's license. The project is currently majority owned by the Eurasian Resources Group.

    Tilwezembe is an open-pit copper and cobalt mine in Lualaba Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo owned by Katanga Mining, a subsidiary of Glencore. Officially, Glencore has shuttered the mine, but the site is still being used by artisinal miners.

    Mutoshi Mine is a copper mine in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2011 it was 70% owned by Anvil Mining and 30% by the state-owned Gécamines. The mine was placed on care and maintenance in late 2008.

    Kalukundi Mine is a copper and cobalt mine being developed in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by Africo Resources, a Canadian company. In September 2008 the company estimated the value of the resource as $1.47 billion.

    Africo Resources was a Canadian mining company whose main property is the copper and cobalt Kalukundi Mine in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. A majority of the company was acquired by Camrose Resources Limited in 2016.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Central African Mining and Exploration Company</span>

    The Central African Mining and Exploration Company plc (CAMEC) was a mining company active in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in other parts of Africa. It was acquired by Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation in 2009.

    Dan Gertler is an Israeli billionaire businessman in natural resources and the founder and president of the DGI group of companies. He has diamond and copper mining interests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and has invested in iron ore, gold, cobalt, oil, agriculture, and banking. He may also hold citizenship of that country. As of 2022 his fortune was estimated at $1.2 billion by Forbes.

    Nikanor plc was a publicly quoted holding company for Global Enterprises Corporate (GEC) with assets in the rich Copperbelt region in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

    The Kananga Mine is an open pit copper mine near Kolwezi in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is currently officially inactive.

    Georges Minsay Booka is a politician in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was Minister of Justice in the first and second cabinets of the Gizenga government, from February to November 2007.

    The Mutanda Mine is an open-pit copper mine in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The largest cobalt mine in the world, Mutanda has been closed since November 2019. The owner of the mine, Glencore, has announced it plans to resume production in early 2022.

    Mukondo Mine is a copper and cobalt mine in Katanga Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. As of 2011 it was operated by the Central African Mining and Exploration Company (CAMEC). It may be the richest cobalt reserve in the world.

    References

    1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Fasken Martineau advises First Quantum Minerals on US$1.25B deal". Law Expert Blog. March 2, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
    2. 1 2 3 4 Frik Els (August 22, 2012). "Meet the Israeli middleman said to have 'stripped and flipped' First Quantum's DRC mine". Mining: Your Source of Global Mining News. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
    3. 1 2 3 "Kingamyambo Musonoi Tailings SARL". International Finance Corp. April 24, 2009. Retrieved November 4, 2011.
    4. 1 2 Loni Prinsloo (9 September 2010). "ENRC defends DRC acquisition, hits back at First Quantum" . Retrieved 2011-11-08.
    5. ↑ Tim Webb (6 September 2010). "Mining companies clash over Congo copper mine". The Guardian. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
    6. ↑ "First Quantum Minerals suspends Kolwezi Tailings Copper Mine Development". Proactive Investors. 18 Sep 2009. Retrieved 2011-11-07.
    7. ↑ Chanel de Bruyn (30 August 2010). "DRC withdraws permit for First Quantum's Frontier mine". Mining Weekly. Retrieved 2011-11-07.[ permanent dead link ]
    8. ↑ "ENRC history". Enrc.com. Archived from the original on 28 May 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
    9. ↑ Michael J. Kavanagh; Franz Wild; Jonathan Ferziger (January 2013). "Gertler Earns Billion". Bloomberg Markets. pp. 66–76.
    10. ↑ "ENRC shareholders approve Gertler deal". Mining Journal. December 28, 2012. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
    11. ↑ DRC Report (Report). Congo Leaks. November 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2013.
    12. 1 2 3 4 James Wood; Craig McKune; Steffaans, Brummer (17 August 2012). "Tokyo Sexwale and the DRC's Mr Grab". Mail and Guardian: Africa's Best Read.

    See also

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