* Rio Tinto Rossing accepts CGNPC offer for Kalahari shares
* Rio says decision on Extract will be made “in due course”
LONDON/SYDNEY Jan 31 (Reuters) – Miner Rio Tinto
has accepted China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp’s
(CGNPC) bid for its shares in Kalahari Minerals, the
major shareholder in one of the world’s largest uranium
projects, it said on Tuesday.
CGNPC, which is bidding alongside the China-Africa
Development Fund in its effort to boost access to uranium
supplies, wants to buy Kalahari for its 42.7 percent interest in
Extract Resources, which owns the giant Husab uranium
project in Namibia.
CGNPC has said it would make a subsequent offer for Extract
if it won acceptances for at least 50 percent of Kalahari
shares. It is under no obligation to extend the offer if it does
not cross that threshold.
Rio had been expected to bow to the Chinese offer for
Kalahari, which values the Namibia-focused miner at around $990
million. Hopes of a counter-offer faded, particularly after Rio
made a bid for Canadian uranium prospector Hathor last
year.
But it is unclear whether Rio, which owns the Rossing mine
that neighbours Husab, will also tender its 14.2 percent stake
in Extract in the event of a Chinese bid for those shares. Rio
said in its statement that it would make a decision on whether
to accept any offer for Extract “in due course”.
Sources familiar with the matter said earlier that Rio was
expected to agree to the Extract offer, but it was also
considering folding some of its own maturing Namibian uranium
assets into a joint venture with the Chinese company.
Husab is potentially the second-largest uranium mine in the
world, and Rio Tinto has been in talks with Extract to combine
its neighbouring Rossing mine, the world’s longest-running open
pit uranium mine, with Husab.
The deal comes as potential new sources of uranium supply
are attracting interest, with the price of uranium miners
battered last year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Rio last year succeeded in a C$654 million takeover of Hathor
after Cameco withdrew a rival offer.
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