The principal activity of the group during the year was that of a fully integrated exploration, mining and trading group focused on Central and Southern Africa.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

JOHANNESBURG - Sunday. 06. May. 2007
Author: Barry Sergeant

Copper/cobalt bull elephants square up in the DRC


An extraordinary drama unfolds in the multi billon dollar Katanga copper-cobalt fields as Camec gains control of 22 percent of Katanga Mining with an agreement to purchase another 7.7 percent.

In events that have confounded even some specialist investors, Central African Mining (Camec, LSE:CFM, 0.56 a share) announced on Friday that its has gained control of 17m shares in Katanga Mining (TSX:KAT, C$15.63), a stake of 22%, and has an agreement to buy another 7.7%. The cold transactions belie an extraordinary drama unfolding in the multi billon dollar Katanga copper-cobalt fields.

One important link is Billy Rautenbach, a Zimbabwean citizen who South African authorities want on South African soil. On Sunday, sources in Harare confirmed that Rautenbach would be leaving the city on Monday, for Lubumbashi, in the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is understood that Rautenbach may be leaving Harare for good, given the recent filing in Harare of extradition papers by South African authorities.

It is no secret that following a deal in February last year, Rautenbach holds around 17% of Camec's shares. The issue that's likely to burn some tender parts in investment circles is the presence of Georges Forrest, the "old King of the Congo", and a standing 22% shareholder in Katanga Mining. Of all the projects in the fabulously copper-cobalt rich Katanga province, some with dubious pedigrees, few have cleaner papers than Katanga Mining, Nikanor (LSE:NKR, 6.19) and TenkMining Corp (TSX: TNK, C$25.01), owned 57.75% by copper giant Freeport McMoRan (NY:FCX, $71.63).

However, of these three mega projects, there is no question that Katanga Mining will be first in production. Nikanor is battling with cost overruns and an intractable flooding problem, while the TenkFungurumproject may only come on stream early in 2009. At Katanga Mining, operational cost over the life of mining is likely to be around $0.45/lb, amongst the lowest in the world. First copper production is anticipated in December 2007.

While Camec is known not least for executives Phil Edmonds, who once played cricket for England, and Andrew Groves, a young wheeler dealer, Katanga Mining is characterised by a small army of professional mining executives, not least Robert Buchan and Arthur Ditto, who each own around 7.5% of the company.

The background to the past week's power outbreak in Katanga can be most conveniently traced back to February last year, when Camec bought Rautenbach's apparent rights to mining concessions 467, 469 (previously named C19 & C21) in Katanga province, and 50% of the cobalt-rich Mukondo concession. The other half of Mukondo was sold in June for around $60m by John Bredenkamp, also a Zimbabwean, to Dan Gertler, known as the "new King of the Congo". Gertler is a 14% shareholder in cash-strapped Nikanor, which last week announced that it was involved in negotiations over a possible change of control.

Gertler, the foreigner closest to the ear of DRC president Joseph Kabila, immediately ordered a halt to activities on Mukondo, and nobody appears to be clear about what happened next. Rautenbach's intractable attitude has played a part, along with his contract with Camec to run Mukondo.

Camec has fiercely denied any problems with ore supplies; on the contrary, on March 1, it stated that it's on target to produce 40,000 tonnes of copper cathode and 6,000 tonnes of cobalt cathode and concentrate for the 2007-8 financial year. Camec's DRC metallurgical facility, moreover, has targeted annual production template capacity of 100,000 tonnes a year of copper cathode, according to Camec, and 12,000 tonnes a year of cobalt cathode by 2008-9.

Rautenbach has had squabbles in and around the Katanga copper-cobalt belts for years. In November 1998, he was named the MD of state-owned copper-cobalt miner La Gale des Carries et des Mines (Gamines) during a visit to Harare by then-DRC president Laurent-DirKabila. Some of Gamines' best cobalt-producing areas were transferred to a joint venture between Rautenbach's Ridgepointe International and the Central Mining Group, a Congolese company controlled by Pierre-Victor Mpoyo, then DRC minister of state. Rautenbach, who had no mining experience, was also made MD of the joint venture. Rautenbach's business practices saw Kabila replace him with Forrest in March 2000.

Rautenbach was stripped of all connections to Katanga, including the Kambove and Kakanda processing plants, and the large parcel of deposits known as the Kababancola Concessions, including Mukondo. These assets were officially transferred to Bredenkamp's Tremalt, which established a new joint venture, Kababancola Mining Company (KMC).

It was thus that Bredenkamp held rights to exploit six Gamines concessions containing at least 2.7m tonnes of copper and 325,000 tonnes of cobalt over 25 years, all for a piffling payment of just $400,000. Put another way, Bredenkamp continued where Rautenbach left off, but split the profits as to 34% for the DRC government, 34% for the Zimbabwe government, and 32% for Tremalt, after generous gratuity payments to senior political and military figures in the DRC and Zimbabwe.

Kabila was assassinated in January 2001, and replaced by his son Joseph and it was another year before Rautenbach's name cropped up again. This time he emerged as one of the largest exporters of heterogenite (cobalt ore) from the DRC, via Congo Cobalt Company, known as CoCoCo.

But then Rautenbach's name was also linked to another DRC entity, Boss Mining which, it was said, had acquired two lucrative mining concessions, C19 and C21, as well as 50% of Mukondo. These were, of course, part of the same portfolio of assets once stripped from Rautenbach and dealt to Bredenkamp.

Early last year, in an affidavit submitted to the British Virgin Islands High Court by a Rautenbach ex-partner, Geneva-based lawyer James Anthony Tidmarsh, Rautenbach was allegedly offered an opportunity as a "sleeping partner" in KMC, but refused and launched an international arbitration action to challenge his being stripped of the concessions.

In April 2002, Rautenbach withdrew the application following a settlement with the government of the DRC. KMC was apparently simply presented with an instruction from the DRC government to transfer its most valuable assets to Rautenbach's Boss Mining, or face losing the lot.

Camec has played the Mukondo issue right down. In its interim results notice on December 5 2006, shareholders were told that Camec's "joint venture partners at Mukondo were taken over and the new owners gave us formal notice to terminate operations until a new operational agreement was effected". In other words, Gertler wanted a fair deal.

Discussions were continuing, but, Camec added, as Camec's Luita processing plant comes on stream, Mukondo operations "become of less relevance". Concessions C19 and C21, Camec stated, "host numerous significant copper cobalt deposits, which are already being developed to feed Luita to maximum capacity".

The DRC recently appointed a Commission under the authority of the Minister of Mines to review various mining agreements entered into by the DRC government, or by state bodies such as Gamines, within a period prior to mid-July 2007. Some 60 mining agreements fell for review starting on May 15, with a decision expected after mid-July 2007.

Katanga Mining's Kamoto agreement was ratified by presidential decree on August 4 2005; Nikanor's titles were similarly ratified on October 13 2005, and the TenkFungurumagreements on October 27 2005. However, presidential decrees are not everything, and even these contracts may be scrutinized for fairness and equity. In Camec's case, by contrast, objections may be raised over more fundamental issues, not least how the contracts were first obtained during the DRC's 1997-2003 war, under the Zimbabwe military's Operation Sovereign Legitimacy (Osleg).

and I thought to be buying an investment to make a few bob not buying into more interesting times shares of which I seem to have enough already

Bloomberg News - 10 May 2007 - Antony Sguazzin & Franz Wild

Congo investigates CAMEC after arrest request


CONGO's government said it's probing the operations of Central African Mining & Exploration Co., a UK-based copper producer, after being approached by South Africa to help with the arrest of a company shareholder. South Africa's Justice Department asked Congo to assist with an arrest warrant for Billy Rautenbach, a Camec shareholder, on charges of fraud, corruption and theft, Victor Kasongo, Congo's vice minister of mines, said in an e-mailed statement dated yesterday. Rautenbach is in China and unavailable for comment, his father Wiesel Rautenbach said by telephone from Harare today. Calls to his son's Zimbabwean mobile phone didn't connect. "This company used business practices which are not in alignment with international corporate governance standards," Kasongo said in the statement from Kinshasa. "Operators like Camec who fail to meet international standards will be neither supported nor tolerated by the ministry."

Congo is seeking to improve its reputation among foreign investors after two civil wars between 1996 and 2003 left 4 million people dead. The central African nation, which held its first democratic elections in four decades last year, began a review on March 7 of all mining contracts with the aim of amending those deemed unfair to the state. "We arrived in the office this morning to find this on our desks,'' Philippe Edmonds, Camec's chairman and a former England cricket player, said in a telephone interview from London. "We're totally astonished.'' He declined to comment further other than to confirm Rautenbach is a Camec shareholder.



Extradition Request

Panyaza Lesufi, a spokesman for South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority, said while he can't confirm that the department has spoken to the Congolese authorities, it has been in contact "with a number of countries" over Rautenbach. South Africa has asked Zimbabwe to extradite Rautenbach, who is a Zimbabwean citizen, he said. Rautenbach ran Gecamines, Congo's state mining company, at a time when Zimbabwe's government was giving military assistance to Congo during the civil war. He is wanted in South Africa on more than 300 charges from money laundering and fraud to extortion, Lesufi said. Central African said on May 4 it plans to raise its stake in Toronto-based Katanga Mining Ltd., which operates in the Congo, to 29.7%. Katanga on May 8 filed with the Ontario Securities Commission to prohibit Camec's share purchases, citing contravention of takeover laws in the Canadian state. "We are happy to learn that Katanga Mining has filed with Canadian securities regulators to prohibit the Camec share purchase,'' Kasongo said. Kasongo confirmed sending the statement today. He described Rautenbach as Camec's operating manager in the Congo.

Congo has a 10th of the world's copper reserves and a third of its cobalt. Increased stability in the central African nation has attracted companies such as BHP Billiton Ltd., the world's biggest miner, and Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, the world's largest publicly traded copper producer, to the country.

10 May 2007 - Barry Sergeant

Katanga Mining takes blood. Katanga Mining goes ballistic, deploying several strategies to repel beleaguered Camec.


Katanga Mining on Thursday announced a special shareholder rights plan to ward off an apparent attempt at a creeping takeover by Camec (LSE: CFM, 0,51), which fell 8% in London on the news. Camec, overshadowed by the form of minority shareholder Billy Rautenbach, a fugitive in South Africa, last week announced that it had gained control of 17m shares in Katanga Mining, a stake of 22%, and had an agreement to buy another 7,7%. According to sources in Harare, Rautenbach, a Zimbabwean, is now facing an extradition application from South African authorities and in new developments this week, he has apparently been declared a persona non grata in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In February last year, Rautenbach sold certain copper-cobalt assets in the DRCs Katanga province to Camec, mainly in return for shares.

The drama around Katanga Mining this week largely unfolded under the roof of the Michelangelo Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, where a number of key figures hooked into the saga were present. The information that has become available suggests that RAB Capital, a London-based hedge fund, has been promoting a hedge strategy to protect its investment in Camec. New York hedge fund Northsound has also been mentioned as a player, along with a number of well-known institutions. Among the bundle of assets Rautenbach sold to Camec was 50% of Katanga provinces Mukondo, said to be the richest cobalt mine in the world. The real drama started when John Bredenkamp, a Zimbabwean, sold the other half of Mukondo in June 2006 for around $60m to Dan Gertler, a highly connected player Katanga province assets. In reaction to Rautenbachs business practices, Gertler immediately ordered a halt to activities on Mukondo. The shareholders betting on a hedge against Camecs woes have picked out Katanga Mining for good reasons. Of all the projects in the fabulously copper-cobalt rich Katanga province, many with dubious pedigrees, few have cleaner papers than Katanga Mining, Nikanor and TenkMining Corp, owned 57,75% by copper giant Freeport McMoRan. However, of these three mega projects, there is no question that Katanga Mining will be first in production. Nikanor is battling with cost overruns and an intractable flooding problem, while the TenkFungurumproject may only come on stream early in 2009. At Katanga Mining, operational cost over the life of mining is likely to be around $0,45/lb, amongst the lowest in the world. First copper production is anticipated in December 2007.

For the meantime, Katanga Minings shareholder rights plan may have dealt Camec a knockout blow. While the plans design is to prevent a creeping takeover of Katanga Mining, without an offer to all shareholders, the plan will not prevent an offer made to all shareholders for all of their shares. On that score, just three individuals control more than 33% of the shares in Katanga Mining, and are unlikely to ever submit to Camec. Georges Forrest, for decades a force in Katanga province mining, holds 22% of Katanga Mining, while company executives Robert Buchan and Arthur Ditto each own a stake of around 7,5%. Unlike Katanga Mining, characterised by a small army of professional mining executives, Camec is known for executives Phil Edmonds, who once played cricket for England, and Andrew Groves, a young wheeler-dealer. Meanwhile, Katanga Mining, concerned that Camecs conduct has contravened Ontarios take-over bid provisions, has applied to Ontario Securities Commission for an order that would prohibit Camec from purchasing Katanga Mining shares as previously announced, and also any additional shares.

10th May 2007

Central African Mining & Exploration Company Plc ('CAMEC' or 'the Company')


Statement Re Democratic Republic of the Congo



Central African Mining and Exploration Company Plc, the AIM quoted fully
integrated exploration, mining, trading and investment company would like to
clarify a number of matters in response to a statement allegedly made on 9 May
2007 by Victor Kasongo of the Ministry of Mines in the Democratic Republic of
Congo.


The Company has made a significant contribution to the DRC following its US$150
million investment in the Luita copper cobalt metallurgical facility in the
Katanga Province of the country. The facility and all associated activities,
which now employ in excess of 3,000 people, is 20% owned by Gecamines ('the
DRC's state mining company') and the Company has a very strong relationship with
its partners. In recent meetings with Gecamines and the Minister of Mines, the
Company was praised for its investment and the creation of facilities that
directly benefit the people of the DRC.


The Luita facility is currently producing copper cathode and cobalt concentrate
which is generating significant taxable revenue for the DRC. The Company has
always adhered to best practise in alignment with international corporate
governance standards and believes that the allegations made are totally without
foundation. CAMEC has instructed its lawyers to contact Mr Kasongo asking for
clarification of his comments.


The Company believes that the allegations have originated from commercial
disputes concerning CAMEC's 50% owned Mukondo concession area and its
acquisition of shares in Canadian publicly listed company Katanga Mining Corp.


With regard to Mukondo, CAMEC has been prevented from mining on the property by
the joint owner of the concession. CAMEC has been exerting considerable pressure
to resolve the situation and recommence mining as it develops its activities in
Katanga Province and expands on its already substantial investment and
development programme. The Company constructed the 50,000 sq m Luita producing
facility within 12 months from conception and has demonstrated a huge commitment
to the DRC.


With regard to the purchase of shares in Canadian listed Katanga Mining Corp ('
Katanga'), again CAMEC also believes that there is a deliberate effort to
disrupt the purchase of the Katanga shares, by those themselves wishing to gain
an interest in Katanga. The Company believes that the several share purchases
made by the Company are all in compliance with the relevant trading rules and is
not aware of any requirement to obtain consent from Gecamines for the purchase
of shares in a publicly listed company such as Katanga. The Company has built
up an investment position in what it believes to be a well run copper cobalt
play in the DRC. This is part of the Company's strategy of gaining exposure to a
world class copper cobalt district and identifying opportunities where CAMEC can
create value for its shareholders.