Auszug aus dem langen Interview mit dem CEO über die Lage im Kongo
Charles Needham: CEO, Metorex
By: Alec Hogg
Posted: '24-AUG-06 16:39' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2006
http://www.mineweb.net/radio/mineweb_radio/959548.htm
MINEWEB: Last night our investigations editor and regular visitor to trouble spots in Africa, Barry Sergeant, was bringing us up to date on the DRC situation. Barry, we had results today from Metorex. It is one of the more favoured shares on the JSE, not surprisingly, because their financial numbers are spectacular – profits up from R27m to R155m. That’s for the year to the end of June. We’ve got Charles Needham, the chief executive in the studio. But, Barry, these numbers are huge, they are a big turnaround. But risks are high – they are playing around in the DRC.
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MINEWEB: And has there been war and military action in that part of the Democratic Republic of Congo?
BARRY SERGEANT: Yes, in that part of the DRC, it’s more Militia groups known as Mai-Mai and one of the particular dangers of the Mai-Mai is that they in many senses control the border crossing. And this is a challenge for many companies, including possibly Metorex, because Metorex is building a concentrator at Ruashi which has considerable material, copper cobalt. And it’s going to be trucking that across the border ad that border, Kasumbalesa, for anyone who has been there, is absolutely notorious. If you want a version of hell on earth, go and study what goes on at that border crossing. And you will not also believe the number of trucks that are crossing out of DRC, most of them are headed for Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, with copper concentrate, cobalt and other interesting materials.
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BARRY SERGEANT: Alec, I don’t think it’s any secret that over the past roughly 10 years or so, that just the sheer presence and threats posed by militia groups such as the Mai-Mai have extracted – this has been independently verified by a number of groupings– many hundreds of millions of dollars in just call it straight bribes, otherwise you can’t get your trucks across the border. But that is changing. Big companies and companies with a vested interest, such as Metorex, are holding their own ground. I can’t speak for Metorex, but they are holding their ground and they’re saying this system is going to work in a formal way, otherwise it’s not going to work at all. But those are very sensitive type of discussions, and exactly what happens on the ground at the border crossing is something which at the moment is still changing day by day.
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MINEWEB: Barry, last night in our discussion on this, we had an expert telling us that he would be worried if he was invested in the DRC.
BARRY SERGEANT: Yes Alec, I think one of the points, as Charles is saying, it’s a huge country, the size of Western Europe. If you go back to when Mobutu took over in 1965 up to when he was forced out in 1997, his control was critical in the Katanga province. His control was critical over minerals. And going north of Katanga, you get Kasai province where you’ve got Mbuji-Mayi, and that’s diamonds. And then further to the East you’ve got the Kivus and right at the top you’ve got Ituri, as Charles mentioned, that’s where you’ve got really, really dangerous things going on. It's one of the Ugandan resistance movements that’s really bad news. But the bottom line is, the person who controls that spine through the DRC, Ituri, the Kivus, Kasai and Katanga is the person with the money. And in the DRC, politics is money is politics. You can’t separate the two. And that’s really what the fight is. The fight at the presidential level is about who controls that spine.
MINEWEB: And Charles, from your perspective, if you are continuing to invest there, what kind of guarantees do you have that some politician isn’t going to come and swoop on your plant?
CHARLES NEEDHAM: There’s nothing certain in life. But in terms of where we are now – and I say it again – with the World Bank and the world looking over the shoulder of whoever the government may be, I really don’t believe that they would revert to the situation that existed prior to Joseph Kabila coming into power. I really don’t think it would be sensible for the country and I think that they are all mindful of the fact.
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MINEWEB: Well, Barry Sergeant, Metorex is one of the favoured stocks. In fact last year Stephen Mildenhall, who is an admired asset manager, said it was his number one share on the JSE. It’s performed terribly well, it’s also produced strong profit returns. It’s the kind of share that the more adventurous investor, I guess, would be going for?
BARRY SERGEANT: Yes indeed. I think if you look today, even at the results coming out of Zambia, Chibuluma, the profit margin there was about 45%. You mentioned Gold Reef City earlier. Now Ruashi, the materials there are all above the ground, and goodness knows what those sort of margins are going to look like. Any stab at that, Charles?
CHARLES NEEDHAM: They are most exciting. I would think that they are probably, with the current copper price, in the order of plus 50%.
MINEWEB: So, it’s better than a Gold Reef City.