21 February 2008
NEWS
RELEASE
close of Xstrata
offer for jubilee mines
Xstrata Nickel
Australia Pty Limited (“XNA”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Xstrata
plc (LSE: XTA, ZSE: XTA.S) announces that its takeover offer for Jubilee Mines
NL (“Jubilee”) will close at 7:00pm (Sydney time) on 22 February
2008 and will not be extended.
As at the time of this
announcement, XNA has an interest in 96.85% of the total issued shares of
Jubilee. XNA has today commenced the compulsory acquisition procedure
under Part 6A.1 of the Corporations Act 2001 in respect of all outstanding
shares in Jubilee and intends to arrange for Jubilee to be removed from the
official list of the ASX at the conclusion of this process.
Ends
Xstrata contacts:
www.xstrata.com
About Xstrata Nickel
Xstrata Nickel,
headquartered in Toronto, Canada, is one of Xstrata Group’s global
commodity businesses, comprising five mines and processing facilities in Ontario and Quebec, Canada; a ferronickel mine and processing
facility in Bonao, Dominican
Republic; and a refinery in Kristiansand, Norway.
Xstrata Nickel has a significant
portfolio of growth projects, including Koniambo in New
Caledonia, Nickel Rim
South in Canada, Kabanga in Tanzania and Araguaia in Brazil. Xstrata Nickel is the world’s fourth largest nickel
producer, with annual managed production of more than 110,000 tonnes of refined
nickel.
About Xstrata plc
Xstrata is a global diversified mining
group, listed on the London and Swiss Stock
Exchanges, with its headquarters in Zug,
Switzerland.
Xstrata’s businesses maintain a meaningful position in seven major
international commodity markets: copper, coking coal, thermal coal,
ferrochrome, nickel, vanadium and zinc, with additional exposures to platinum
group metals, gold, cobalt, lead and silver, recycling facilities and a suite
of global technology products, many of which are industry leaders. The Group's
operations and projects span 18 countries: Argentina,
Australia, Brazil, Canada,
Chile, Colombia, the Dominican
Republic, Germany,
New Caledonia, Norway,
Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines,
South Africa, Spain, Tanzania,
the USA and the UK.
Xstrata employs approximately 50,000 people, including contractors.
Xstrata is a major, long-term investor in Australia and currently employs over 11,000
Australians at its coal, copper and zinc operations in New
South Wales, Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia. Since 2002 Xstrata
has invested over A$10.4 billion (US$7.3 billion) in Australia.
Further information on Xstrata and Jubilee was
provided to Jubilee shareholders in the Bidder’s Statement and
Target’s Statement dated November 9, 2007 and November 15, 2007,
respectively.
Legal
Notice
The release, publication or
distribution of this announcement in certain jurisdictions may be
restricted by law and
therefore persons in such jurisdictions into which this announcement is
released, published or distributed should inform themselves about and observe
such restrictions.