Afnat Resources, Rio Tinto Team Up For Mozambique Exploration

9th Jun 2010 07:18

LONDON (Dow Jones)--Africa-focused nickel, zinc and uranium miner Afnat Resources Ltd. (AFNR.LN) Wednesday said it agreed to enter a joint venture with mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU) to explore for metals in Mozambique. The two companies will form a new joint venture company to manage and develop Afnat's licenses in Mozambique's Manica province, where they intend to hunt for copper, cobalt, nickel, platinum, gold and other metals and minerals, Afnat said. Rio Tinto will provide both the capital and the management expertise to develop Afnat's Mozambique assets and hopefully bring them into production, said George Roach, chief executive officer of Afnat. Under the terms of the deal, Rio Tinto will hold 51% of the joint venture company and Afnat 49%. Rio will initially provide $5 million to fund the joint venture company's operations. It has the option to increase its stake to 75% by providing another $20 million, Afnat said. -By Jason Douglas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9272; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires June 09, 2010 02:18 ET (06:18 GMT)