In a statement released this week, the ZCI board announced that after a year of searching for a buyer, it had failed to get a suitable offer for African Copper. The failure is due to adverse global market conditions facing junior mining companies and a general increased risk aversion among investors as a result of economic uncertainty and volatility."ZCI has received several proposals that we do not believe reflect the intrinsic value of African Copper and, accordingly, we have chosen not to proceed with these at this juncture," the company said in a statement.
ZCI said it was continuing to work towards realising the full value of its investment in the Botswana-focused junior copper producer, and was encouraged by the operational performance and turnaround strategy implemented over the last year."While recent production has exceeded our expectations, African Copper continues to evaluate options to enhance the output and life of its operations by increasing the confidence in its resource base and the economic extraction thereof," said ZCI CEO Tom Kamwendo. Last year, ZCI announced that it was weighing a possible disposal of its 84 percent controlling stake in African Copper, hardly three years after rescuing the company from the brink of collapse.
