DJ Chile Mining Min: Option For Anglo's Sur Valued At $5B-Report

SANTIAGO, Jul 02, 2008 (Dow Jones Commodities News via Comtex) -- AAUKD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- The option Chilean state mining company Empresa Nacional de Mineria, or Enami, has for a 49% stake in Anglo American PLC's (AAUK) Sur mining complex is valued at around $5 billion, La Tercera newspaper reported Wednesday, citing Chile's mining minister.

The Mining Ministry is still studying whether to exercise the option in order to then turn it over to state copper giant Corporacion Nacional del Cobre, or Codelco, Mining Minister Santiago Gonzalez told the newspaper.

Anglo's Sur complex includes the Los Bronces and El Soldado mines and the Chagres smelter and borders Codelco's Andina division.

Los Bronces and Andina both mine copper-containing ore from the same giant vein, but from different sides of the mountain where the copper vein is located. Both Los Bronces and Andina also produce molybdenum.

Los Bronces "is practically next to Andina, so it would have an additional benefit," Gonzalez told the newspaper.

Anglo acquired the Sur complex, formerly known as La Disputada de Las Condes, in 2002 from then-owner Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM). Exxon had acquired the mine from Enami in 1978, and that 1978 transaction included the option that Enami has the right to exercise every three years.

When Exxon put the property up for sale in the early 2000s, Codelco was one of the leading contenders to buy it, as it would have increased the reserves at its Andina operations, but the Finance Ministry didn't authorize the $1.3 billion expenditure.

The mining minister recently said U.S. investment bank JP Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) had been hired to assist in the evaluation of the option.

Newspaper Web site: http://www.latercera.cl

-By Carolina Pica, Dow Jones Newswires; 56-2-820-4244; carolina.pica@dowjones.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

07-02-08 0909ET

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