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'King of mining mergers' to join Tantalus Rare Earths

Published: 15:13 12 Oct 2012 BST

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Ian Hannam, one of the best known corporate dealmakers in the City, is to join the board of Tantalus Rare Earths (XETRA:TRE), it was reported today.

Hannam, who left JP Morgan Cazenove earlier this year, will also invest a substantial sum into the Frankfurt Neuermarkt–listed group, according to Sky News.

Tantalus’ flagship property in Madagascar is one of the largest clay-hosted rare earth resources outside of China, with 20% of the rare earths found in the most valuable "heavy" category.

Today’s report said that the appointment of Hannam is part of a plan to step up development of the project and will be followed by other board appointments in the coming weeks.

South Korea's strategic metals reserve fund may also take a stake in Tantalus, the report suggested.

Hannam has been called the king of mining mergers due to his involvement in some the City’s biggest deals, including the Xstrata and Glencore merger and the listing of many overseas resource companies on the London market. 

He left JP Morgan in April after receiving a £450,000 fine for market abuse from the Financial Services Authority for disclosing inside information about Heritage Oil to a potential bidder. 

City observers said the decision was harsh and Hannam has appealed against the fine.

Sources close to the financier said his involvement in Tantalus stemmed from a desire to learn more about rare earths as he weighs up his next projects. 

Earlier this year, Tantalus signed a letter of intent with Rhodia for the two companies to work together on how to extract “heavy” rare earths metals at the Madagscar site, ahead of a full technical co-operation agreement.

Rhodia also agreed to take 15,000 tonnes of rare earths concentrate per year in an offtake deal.

Rare earths are a group of 17 metals used in high tech products such as electric car batteries, smartphones and wind turbines.

China currently accounts for more than 90% of the world's rare earth supplies, but has just 23% of global reserves and has restricted exports recently after claiming depletion of its reserves has accelerated after fifty years of “excessive exploitation”.

 


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