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Phil Edmonds’ Central African Mining & Exploration Company (CAMEC) has pitched its all-share bid for Katanga Mining below earlier expectations.

AIM-quoted CAMEC, which has announced an interim turnaround into £8 million pre-tax profits on a six-fold, acquisition-fuelled turnover leap to £69.5 million, says the proposed takeover would create one of the largest copper producers in the mineral-rich Congo and one of the biggest cobalt producers in the world. That might not impress recent Katanga investor RP Capital, which wants to join it to another Congo player, AIM-quoted Nikanor, backed by the powerful Israeli Gertler clan and down 2.75p today to 4786.25p, but CAMEC claims a strong hand.

Chaired by the entrepreneurial Edmonds, CAMEC already owns 22 per cent of Toronto-quoted Katanga, whose Kamato project in the Congo’s Katanga region might generate annual cash flow of £200 million, and suggests shareholders speaking for another 32 per cent have also agreed to accept. This is despite the fact that the CAMEC offer, which values Katanga at around £707 million or 835p a share, is significantly less than the £900 million-plus the market had been expecting in June — and appreciably below Katanga’s current price.

Katanga shares have risen from the equivalent of 850p to £10.10p since Growth Company Investor highlighted the possibility in June. The position of other shareholders, such as influential Congo player George Forrest, will be watched with interest.

Art Ditto, Katanga’s boss, and his team are reviewing the company's alternatives in the light of CAMEC's bid. But they sound decidedly cool about the price, the value of CAMEC's assets and the suggested industrial logic of the proposed deal.

CAMEC shares, which soared from nowhere in 2004 to 97p last year, have retreated to 47.75p, down 4.25p today despite its impressive results. A Katanga victory could restore cheer, but, as yet, that does not look in the bag on present terms.