Ivanhoe Australia CEO: Expects Funding For Projects In Place By Mid-Year

Ivanhoe Australia Ltd. (IVA.AU) expects to have in place by the middle of the year funding for the development of a basket of base-metals projects in northwestern Queensland, Chief Executive Officer Peter Reeve said Thursday.

The company in January engaged UBS Investment Bank to help it evaluate proposals from potential strategic partners for its Cloncurry portfolio. Offers are now at the indicative stage, Reeve said in a telephone interview. Final bids are due May, he added.

Ivanhoe Australia spoke with unnamed parties before it appointed UBS to seek a partner that could add technical and balance-sheet support through a minority investment in the projects.

Reeve said the company is seeking to sell stakes of between 15% and 25% in one or all of the projects in the Cloncurry portfolio.

Ivanhoe Australia is 59% owned by Ivanhoe Mines, which in turn is 51% owned by Rio.

Reeve added the company has recently had "good conversations" with Ivanhoe Mines' board and believes Rio appreciates Ivanhoe Australia's strategy.

"We've always said that Ivanhoe Mines is big enough to look after itself. We have to assiduously look after the minorities," Reeve said.

Andrew Harding, the head of Rio's copper division, earlier this week told Dow Jones Newswires the Anglo-Australian company plans to keep hold of the prized Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold project in Mongolia, but has no interest in other assets of Ivanhoe Mines.

Reeve said that if Rio pushes for Ivanhoe Mines to sell out of its Australian arm then that may dovetail with the process currently underway by UBS.

Ivanhoe Australia earlier Thursday said independent director Ian Plimer has been appointed interim chairman following the resignation of Robert Friedland, who in additional to being chairman of Ivanhoe Australia was CEO of Ivanhoe Mines, a company he founded.

Kay Priestly, the newly appointed interim CEO of Ivanhoe Mines and chief financial officer of Rio's copper division, in a statement said: "We will continue to work constructively with the board and management of Ivanhoe Australia in order to maximize value for all shareholders."

Ivanhoe Australia's Cloncurry portfolio includes the Osborne copper and gold project bought from Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) in 2010, the Merlin molybdenum-rhenium project, Mount Dore cathode copper project and Mount Elliott copper-gold project.

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]