Trafigura’s Maltese subsidiary acquires stake in Rio Tinto mining firm

Commodities giant Trafigura Beheer has announced that its Maltese subsidiary, Urion Holdings Malta, has acquired 202 million shares in EMED Mining Public Ltd.

The shares were purchased for a value of GBP 0.09 each.

Trafigura now exercises control or direction over an aggregate of 228,173,516 ordinary shares, representing approximately 18.18% of the outstanding capital

Trafigura has acquired the shareholding for investment purposes and has no role in the management of EMED and has not appointed any nominees to EMED board of directors.

Trafigura has three other subsidiaries in Malta, apart from Urion: Trafigura Holdings, Trafigura Nat Gas, and Trafigura Maritime Ventures.

The directors Urion, wholly owned by Trafigura Beheer, are former ambassador Salvino Busuttil and Walter Cutajar, managing director of Avanzia Taxand; Trafigura’s head of mining activities markets and acquisitions Jesus Fernando Lopez, Trafigura director Mark Irwin, and Robert Maas.

EMED Mining is an exploration and development company in copper and gold properties in Europe. Founded in 2005, EMED Mining’s goal is to restart the Rio Tinto Copper Mine near Seville, Spain.

The open-pit mine has ore reserves totalling 606,000 tonnes of contained copper and a large processing facility that has been on care and maintenance since 2001.

The company’s second principal asset is the Biely Vrch gold project in Slovakia, where a preliminary study indicates substantial economic viability for development.

Trafigura, the world’s third-biggest trader in raw materials, is considered a rival investor in Spanish mining, and was recently involved in a dispute over the rights the Rio Tinto mine, after EMED risked not securing development permits.