THE sale of Monterrico will yield a bumper payout to directors of the copper company.
Chris Eager, chief executive, and Ray Angus, chief operating officer, own almost 13 per cent between them, a stake worth £11 million.
Frederic Haller, the former Morgan Grenfell director and founder of the Emerging Markets Traders Association, is a non-executive director and controls 4.1 per cent. James Mancuso, chairman, owns just under 3 per cent.
The share register also includes several prominent institutions. Isis Asset Management speaks for 13 per cent and Framlington Investment Management owns 10.7 per cent. Invesco Asset Management controls 3.3 per cent, while New Star Asset Management has 2 per cent.
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Monterrico acquired the rights to the Rio Blanco copper mine project in Peru two years ago, when Phelps Dodge, the US miner, yielded the exploration licence.
Last November Monterrico raised £10.2 million to fund a feasibility study for Rio Blanco. The study, to be completed early next year, will examine the economic viability of mining at a rate of 20 million tonnes a year, which should produce 200,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate for each of the first five to ten years.
The project’s development costs are estimated at up to $400 million (£220 million).
Much of the Rio Blanco prospect lies under a hill, keeping down extraction costs in the early years of production.
The company has given an early estimate that the copper would cost about 42 cents a pound to extract. On the London Metal Exchange, copper is trading at about $1.28 a pound.