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Zimbabwe changes bring Afcon cheer
A ruling in Zimbabwe’s High Court restoring to AIM-quoted African Consolidated Resources its rights to the country’s Marenge diamond field has sharply rekindled interest in the company’s range of prospects, from phosphate to platinum, in what has been for so long central Africa’s pariah state. Andrew Cranswick, the company’s Zimbabwean-born chief executive officer, says Japanese and Chinese companies have also approached ‘Afcon’ about other holdings and is particularly bullish about its Chishanya phosphate deposit.
He says the eastern groups are talking about potential deals for the company’s Snakeshead project in the north of the country. This could potentially contain as much as 50 million tonnes of low-grade platinum group metals.
Cranswick, who has tapped London for £13 million over five years, argues that these developments are signs that Zimbabwe’s coalition government and recent economic reform package are beginning to bear fruit. The country’s new mining code is notably liberal, on paper at least, and international companies are cautiously taking notice.
Afcon is not naive. ‘Enforcing the High Court’s ruling on the government is another matter,’ Cranswick comments. ‘We shall have to negotiate.’
But Marenge is not central to Afcon’s strategy. And, before Snakeshead can become productive, the company hopes for action on its gold deposits, having established an official resource of 800,000 oz, with more on the way.
The company expresses most enthusiasm about Chishanya. Cranswick argues that the world faces a looming shortage of phosphate, vital for fertilisers and food production.
Floated at 12p in 2006, Afcon shares have unsurprisingly fared badly. They have now recovered from 4.5p to 14.5p and, though obviously exposed to high political risk, could one day motor if Zimbabwe does come right.
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