INTERVIEW WITH BRIAN REAR, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF COPPERCO LIMITED (CUO)

“CUO - Successful Conclusion of Offer for Mineral Securities”

http://www.brr.com.au/event/50848

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2008, 3:00 PM.

            BRR    Good afternoon and welcome to Boardroom Radio. Today we are talking to Brian Rear, Managing Director of CopperCo Limited. Good afternoon, Brian.

10                    Thanks for joining me today.

            CUO    Hi! Tom.

            BRR    Brian, today you’ve announced the closure of your offer for shares in Mineral Securities, can you give us some more details from this and what it means for

15                    CopperCo?

            CUO    Yes, we closed the offer yesterday. At that time, we had roughly 94.7% of the Mineral Securities shares had been tendered in to our offer. Being over 90%, we are able to proceed with compulsory redemption of the remaining shares on issue. That process will probably take around 8 weeks from start to finish.

20                    So, we get started with that as soon as we can. I think what is particularly pleasing for us is the widespread support for the offer from Mineral Securities shareholders. It is a very high number to end on and that is really good because we prefer to have no redemptions to do. So, that is a pretty good outcome all round. I think that the merger was entered in to really, Tom, to

25                    bring a number of benefits; increase scale both as a company and as a listed entity as well as the asset and commodity diversity that is merge-proof now, is able to operate in and be exposed to. In particular, I think, the outlook for key commodities of the new group is copper and platinum, and the fundamentals that underpin forward prices for those two metals particularly

30                    good at the moment. That is the regal driver, I think, for the merger. It is looking at the natural price cycles of commodities over time and looking for commodities that might support each other in terms of their business cycles.

            BRR    Okay and how easy will it be to integrate the two businesses?

35        CUO    That should be quite straightforward, Tom. The corporate offices for both companies reside on the same floor on the same building. Our corporate office is actually quite small. We only have a handful of people in Perth on both sides. There is virtually no overlap of functions and staff relative to the size of the merged group. So, I think the human side of integration will be

40                    quite straightforward and easy to do than in some systems but again, probably going to (inaudible) (0:02:21) quite nimble systems on to, in terms of intelligence and accounting and financials, fairly straightforward job as well. So, I think it is a short sharp process really.

45        BRR    Finally, in terms of outlook, what else can we expect to see from CopperCo in the near time?

            CUO    Well, while all of this has been going on, of course, we have been very busy up at Lady Annie, the core revenue generating business of the group and within a week or two of completing the expansion project that was started in January. And that expansion is aimed at lifting production for around 19,000 ton-per year copper cathode to 30,000 a year and the timetable for getting there is around mid 2009. I think, from the December quarter we should start to see a lift in production and that lift will carry on through the December

5                      quarter, the last quarter and the June quarter of next year. So, that is the plan we are on there. There is activity already underway at the Lady Annie ore body. That is the third ore body that we are actually bringing into mine production and that will be in operation next month as a source of all; and all the capital works will be completed in the course of September. From there,

10                    really it is a matter of, I think the merged group management looking at the asset base we have, targeting those commodities and assets that we value for the long term. And for those that do not fit that strategic view, turning those non-core assets into value and then reinvesting that value back into the things that we really want to focus on. That process is really starting to get

15                    under way now, in terms of the strategy and thinking and as we move along as fast as we can in that regard.

            BRR    Brian, thanks for speaking with me today. Listeners, that was Brian Rear, Managing Director of CopperCo Limited. If you have any questions for Brian

20                    or you would like more information about this broadcast, please e-mail brr@brr.com.au. I am Tom McKay. Thanks for listening to Boardroom Radio.

INTERVIEW CONCLUDED

Contact brr@brr.com.au for more information

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