Barclays

Barclays PLC/ Barclays Bank/ BARCLAYS CAPITAL/ Barclays Wealth/ Barcap PCIA (Principal Commodities Investment Area)/ Barclays Global Investors:

• is a Ring Trader on the London Metal Exchange (LME) [MJ Special September 2005]

• is largest direct shareholder (5.51%) of the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton PLC [Hemscott 16 August 2009]

• holds 3.65%, as the third biggest shareholder in Xstrata PLC [Hemscott 16 August 2009]

• owns 3.35% of Rio Tinto PLC [Hemscott 16 August 2009]

• has 4.30% of GCM Resources (see Polo Resources Ltd) [Hemscott 10 June 2008]

• holds 5.06% of Central China Goldfields PLC [Hemscott 11 February 2008]

• helped provide finance for Eureka Mining PLC’s Chelyabinsk copper-gold project in the Urals of Central Russia in 2006 [MJ 8 July 2006]

• issued convertible bonds in 2004-5 for six mining companies: Ocean Gold, Perseverance Corp, Sino Gold, Lion Ore (now owned by Norilsk Nickel), Apex Silver and Bema Gold [MJ 22 December 2005]

• provided in May 2007 (along with the European Investment Bank a US$60 million finance package for Albidon’s Zambian nickel play. However, following the collapse in nickel prices, Albidon arranged for China’s Jinchuan Group to buy up Barclays’debt and the bank withdrew from involvement with the mining company [Hemscott 6 June 2009].

• as of August 2008, through Barclays Wealth, held held nearly 7% of African Eagle Resources PLC {Hemscott 3 August 2009]; also

• holds 2.39% of POSCO (see Alliance Bernstein and Berkshire Hathaway)

• owns 5.05% of Toledo Mining Corporation PLC, active in the Philippines [Hemscott 14 February 2008];

• via Barclays Global Investors holds 0.60% of Vedanta Resources PLC

• has 6.30% of Uranium Resources plc (see BNY) [Hemscott 14 February 2008]

• is the fourth biggest shareholder (4.72%) in Ariana Resources PLC [Hemscott 18 May 2008]

• holds 5.08% of Maghreb Mines (see Bear Stearns) [Hemscott 14 February 2009]

• has a small stake (3.01%) in Aquarius Platinum [Hemscott 5 August 2009]

Barclays PLC, in mid-June 2007, held 6.84% of Cambridge Mineral Resources plc (see also: CS Client Nominees (UK)) on behalf of Gerard Investment Management Ltd [Cambridge annual report 2006, 14 June 2007].

Barclays PLC is also the fifth largest investor in BlackRock World Mining Trust PLC (qv).

The bank withdrew its notifiable investment in African Copper plc in May 2009 [Hemscott, 27 May 2009].

In January 2009, Barclays Global Investors sold 357,871 Newcrest Mining shares, reducing its holding in the United States’ leading gold miner from 5.05% to 4.97%.

In February 2009, Barclays Investors held 4.10% of Angus & Ross PLC whose prime asset is a lead-zinc mine (currently closed) in western Greenland [Hemscott 12 February 2009].

Barclays Nominees Ltd, on behalf of clients, holds 9.52% of the shares of Minco PLC, which operates in Mexico [Hemscott 14 February 2009].

Barcap PCIA has also invested in Bisichi Mining in South Africa.

In 2010 Barclays Wealth Management acquired a 3.59% shareholding in AIM-listed Sirius Minerals [see also UBS AG].

In November 2010, Barclays Capital joined RBS, Citi (Citigroup),CS, Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Asset Management, Morgan Stanley and Standard Chartered,in guarenteeing a total of US$6 billion (£3.8 billion) to Vedanta Resources. The money is destined for the UK mining company's planned acquistion of Cairn India, a subsidiary of the Scotland-based oil company which has a major stake in Rajasthan's oil fields [Evening Standard 19 November 2010].

In September 2011, ABSA Bank Ltd - a Barclay's subsidiary - granted a seven-year loan, worth US$35 million, to Continental Coal Ltd, an ASX-listed coal company, shortly before its listing on AIM, in order to fund development of its Penumbra mine in South Africa [MJ 16 September 2011].

On the eve of the 2011 climate change conference (Conference of Parties) held in Durban, South Africa,four organisations (urgewald of Germany, BankTrack, and South Africa groups Earthlife Africa and groundWork)identified Barclays as the fifth heaviest financier of coal fired electricity and coal mining in the period 2005-2011. According to their report, the bank had released 11, 477 million euros of such funding [Bankrolling Climate Change, urgewald et al, 2011].

At the end of 2011, Barclays - along with Credit Suisse (CS) and Standard Bank Plc - received credit approval to provide a US139 million loan to Finders Resources Ltd, which is planning a major copper mine on Wetar Island in Indonesia [MJ 30 December 2011 - 6 January 2012].