BIG SHOT

Kevin Andrusiak

The Australian, 15 July 2006

 

RANGE Resources, meet one of Africa's most respected miners and a former Time magazine top-25 business leader: Sir Sam Jonah. Sir Sam, shake hands with mining minnow Range Resources.

 

Now, can you both put your heads together and sort out just what on earth is going on in Puntland?

 

Yesterday's announcement that Sir Jonah would join Range Resources -- as chairman, no less -- would have to be one of the biggest coups this year for a miner with a market cap below $50 million.

 

And what makes it even more interesting is the big job Sir Jonah now has in front of him. Range's last update on its Puntland (love the name) project in the semi-autonomous state of the same name in Somalia revealed that the Melbourne-based company walked away from some exploration land.

 

Somalia does not top the list of favourite holiday destinations, and one would think that looking for big resources there is not the easiest way to earn a quid.

 

In a deal with the Puntland Government, the land is being returned to "assist in expediting the social and economic development of Puntland".

 

Range does have a four-year exclusivity deal with the Puntland powers-that-be.

 

It said that after six months of hard work, it was not in a position to define areas of exploration interest.

 

The control of Mogadishu by Islamic groups, Range added, was a good thing that would provide order in the warlord-dominated area.

 

So it looks like after months of worry, Range could be in a position to provide something substantial to the punters who sometimes speculate on Range's fortunes so furiously that it becomes the most traded share on the bourse.

 

And now Sir Jonah has stepped up to the plate. Best remembered in the mining world for overseeing the merger between Goldfields and AngloGold to create the world's second-biggest gold miner, Sir Jonah is a key figure in the world of mining and all things African. He became chief executive of Ghana's biggest mining corporation Ashanti Goldfields at the tender age of 36. In a huge achievement, he secured a listing for Ashanti on the NYSE, making it the first predominantly African-owned firm to list on Wall Street.

 

Some in the mining game will remember him for taking Ashanti to the brink of collapse in 2000, when it owed its bankers nearly $US1 billion after losing a gamble with its hedge book.

 

Sir Jonah will join a four-man Range board as non-executive chairman, but it is his experience as adviser to President Mohamud Muse Hersi of Puntland that could earn the most kudos. Range got a 49.9 per cent stake in the contract for exploration and development of Puntland's minerals and hydrocarbons.

 

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