African Minerals Ltd, whose interests are in metals and diamonds in West Africa, recently announced the reaching of an agreement on the sale of a 12.5 percent stake in the company to China Railway Materials Commercial Corporation for the price of 168 million pounds sterling. With this capital, African Minerals will be able to continue with its Tonkolili iron ore project in Sierra Leone, Africa.
In addition, African Minerals also agreed to supply a total volume of 10 million mt of iron ore from the Tonkolili mine to China Railway Materials Commercial Corporation over the next twenty years.
As African Minerals chairman Frank Timis stated, the company will sell 33.6 million shares at 500 pence per share. The transaction is subject to the approval of the Chinese regulatory authorities. As regards the Tonkolili program, African Minerals plans to produce 8 million mt of iron ore per year from 2011.