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Australia’s Intrepid Mining (ASX,TSX:IAU) has suffered a second day of losses after announcing that attempts to engage with the new owners of its joint venture partner in an Indonesian copper and gold project failed.
Intrepid Mining gave up 7.4% in Toronto on Tuesday and the counter has now lost 59% of its value after news broke that a local business groups orchestrated the ouster of ASX and TSX-listed company from the Tujuh Bukit project on the south coast of east Java late last week.
Matters reached a dramatic climax on Thursday, when 667 workers, including seven expatriates, received an out-of-the-blue visit at the Tujuh Bukit deposit by representatives of private Indonesian company PT IMN traveling on helicopter, who ordered the workers to leave the site immediately.
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest exporters of thermal copper and tin, and the Tujuh Bukit deposit is believed to hold 15 billion pounds of copper and 25 million ounces of gold.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, expenditure on the US$95 million project has been funded solely by Intrepid, of which A$50 million was provided to IMN shareholders to help it meet its financing commitments.
IMN underwent a mysterious change in ownership several weeks ago following the purchase of an 80% equity stake in the company by new shareholders.
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Press Release:
Intrepid Mines Limited: Update Regarding New PT IMN Shareholders
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA–(Marketwire – July 24, 2012) – Intrepid Mines Limited (“Intrepid”, the “Company”) (TSX:IAU)(ASX:IAU)provides an update following on the advice to the market on 28 June 2012 regarding the change in shareholding of its Indonesian joint venture partner, PT Indo Multi Niaga (“IMN”).
The Company has sought to engage the original shareholders of IMN on the identity of the new shareholders, without success. Enquiries made at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights revealed that the following additional individuals and entities were listed as shareholders of IMN as at 12 June 2012:
PT Cinta Kasih Abadi PT Selaras Karya Indonesia Andreas Tjahjadi Rahmad Deswandy. The Company is not able to give any assurance as to the accuracy of this information, as the publicly available information is sourced from filings which are the legal responsibility of the Directors of IMN, and there is no assurance that these filings are correct or current.
The new shareholders listed above collectively hold 80% of the expanded issued capital in IMN, which holds the Tujuh Bukit mining licences. Under the terms of the Alliance Agreement between the parties, Intrepid holds an 80% economic interest in the Tujuh Bukit project, with IMN holding the remaining 20%.
Intrepid continues to attempt to establish discussions with both the new and original IMN shareholders.
