On September 23, 2008 Supreme Court in Australian decided on a key matter relating to Cape Lambert Iron Ore project apparently paving the way for the finalization of the Marampa hematite project with African Minerals.

It could be recalled that the London-listed explorer African Minerals has agreed to develop its Marampa iron-ore project, in Sierra Leone, with Australian explorer Cape Lambert Iron Ore.

Under the agreement, African Minerals would acquire a 44-million shares in Cape Lambert , or about 10 per cent of the issued capital, while Cape Lambert would acquire a 30 per cent stake in Marampa Iron Ore Limited.

Western Australia ’s Cape Lambert Iron Ore has finalized its investment in African Minerals’ Sierra Leone hematite project.

African Minerals will gain a 9 per cent stake in Cape Lambert as part of the deal, with Cape Lambert to spend $US25m ($A31.4m) on a feasibility study in return for a 30 per cent stake in the project.

The Australian company, which recently sold its namesake iron- ore project to China Metallurgical Group Corporation for A$400- million, would fund a definite feasibility study of the Marampa project.

African Minerals said it had also granted Cape Lambert an exclusive option to invest further in the Marampa project by acquiring the outstanding shares in Marampa, eventually making it a wholly owned subsidiary.

“We look forward to having Cape Lambert as an investor in the Marampa project. They bring with them substantial experience and expertise in the iron-ore industry, as shown by the recent sale of their major iron-ore project to the China Metallurgical Group Corporation,” said executive chairperson Frank Timis .

Marampa is located near Lunsar, in Sierra Leone , and is defined by an exploration licence which covers an area of about 319 km 2 and completely encloses the former Delco open cut mining operation.

Delco indentified the prospectively of Marampa during the early 20 th century, and from 1933 exported iron-ore from Marampa until mine closure in 1975 due to depressed commodity prices.

Source: BBC Monitoring Africa

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