ACCRA, Ghana – Africa businessman Sam Jonah welcomes making public his best private-equity ideas.
Jonah run Jonah Capital from South Africa. The Ghana gold pioneer is best known for his many years running Ghana’s Ashanti Goldfields and its century-long monstrous mine at Obuasi, then preparing it for sale to AngloGold. The merged company is now AngloGold Ashanti (NYSE: AU, Stock Forum).
The British trained Jonah, now in his early 60s, worked for Ashanti for 35 years. In 2003, when I interviewed him at his colonial style Ashanti Goldfields home and headquarters at Obuasi (see original interview), the gold miner was the world's ninth largest with 22 million ounces of reserves and about 1.6 million ounces of yearly output.
“We have created a successful brand called Ashanti,” he told me at the time. “Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, the Congo all want to see a strong Ashanti presence in their countries."
To his credit, the combined company seven or so years later is still known as AngloGold Ashanti in many jurisdictions. I have to note, though, that outside Africa, say in Colombia and across South America, most folks refer to the company these days as AngloGold.
Still, Sir Sam, now that he is an honorary English knight, is regarded as a Ghana stalwart in the African democracy, which used to be known as the Gold Coast. Jonah steered Ashanti to become the first Africa company listed on the NYSE in New York. (See photo of Sam Jonah – Thom Calandra photo)
Sam Jonah is now an active private equity banker, sometimes taking stakes in small metals companies, coal miners in Botswana, tomato paste factories and iron-ore processing technologies (Iron Mineral Beneficiation Services, or IMBS). He is raising money in London for $150 million Jonah Capital as he and the firm seek what he called “low hanging fruit” across Africa.
A large share of the firm’s capital comes from Jonah family money, with support and equity ownership from Standard Bank. A couple of family members serve on the board as well, in keeping with Sam Jonah’s family traditions. At our interview last week, several family members who were in the neighborhood of the Accra hotel where we met stopped by to kiss and hug Sir Sam.
Sam Jonah is not so much into gold mining these days as he is mining services and technologies. IMBS, for instance, processes super-fine iron ore into “iron units without agglomeration.”
His investment firm also has stakes in iron-ore tailings in Liberia and rare earth and other metals, including tantalum and tungsten, in Rwanda and the Congo (DRC).
“He is pretty spry,” geologist and mining executive Quinton Hennigh said after the interview. I brought Dr. Hennigh (geology) to the interview to meet Sir Sam. Dr. Hennigh of Colorado is associated with several North America and European exploration companies, including Evolving Gold (TSX: T.EVG, Stock Forum), Gold Canyon Resources (TSX: V.GCU, Stock Forum) and EurOmax Resources (TSX: V.EOX, Stock Forum).
“He started way down the ladder and worked his way up,” said Dr. Hennigh, a 44-year-old up-and-comer in the area of aggressive gold exploration. (Photo above: Dr. Hennigh, second from left, with members of prospector Xtra-Gold Resources at its Muoso Concession in the Kibi Gold Belt, Ghana. Line-up: Xtra-Gold geologist Michael Dwumfuor, far left, Dr. Hennigh, James Longshore, Yves Clement, Thom Calandra and asset manager Luca Bechis – Photo Thom Calandra)
Sam Jonah knows his Africa. One Jonah Capital holding, Gulf Industrials, is an Australia-traded agricultural company. Gulf mines vermiculite in Uganda. It’s used in potting soils. “We bought the property from Rio Tinto (RTZ),” he said. “We raised $25 million to drill below the vermiculite to get at the copper and the magnetite.”
In the meantime, Gulf develops additives, such as limestone, vermiculite and phosphates, for growers of crops.
Sir Sam also is investing in residential condos in Accra, Ghana’s capital. He has a shopping mall in the works for the bustling city. He has at least six exploration or mine concessions in Liberia. Russian company OAO Severstal has a piece of the iron-ore processing company. Sam Jonah is looking at Sudan, Liberia and other areas for possible investments. He welcomes investments in the Congo (DRC).
We discussed several of the Ghana exploration companies whose projects I support in my own Stockhouse research and my personal stock ownership. Sir Sam took notes, mental and actual.
“Africa is the place that Europe colonized. But now it has a life of its own,” he said, sipping a local brew. “Most of the low-hanging fruit for investment purposes is gone in the leading countries here (Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania). But for other countries on the continent, it is still there.”
NOTES: I am just back from West Africa (Mali currently after a visit to a Sierra Leone diamond project and then several Ghana and Mali gold companies). (See articles.) I am traveling with a well-known geologist and a global asset manager. Of companies cited in this article, I own Gold Canyon Resources and I own shares of Xtra-Gold Resources (TSX: T.XTG, Stock Forum and XTGR). I represent none of these companies in my relationship with Torrey Hills Capital (see next section). Torrey Hills, however, represents EurOmax for investor outreach services, and I am scheduled to visit the company’s Baltic properties sometime soon.
In addition, I am on record as saying I might purchase shares of PMI Gold (TSX: V.PMV, Stock Forum) and Pelangio Explorations (TSX: V.PX, Stock Forum), both Ghana operators. That is after my research conducted in this West Africa trip.
Thom Branches Out: I am adding professional outreach for natural resources companies to my log. I will continue to write free articles like this one for Stockhouseand its nearly one million users. Here is the press release about my new partner: Thom & Torrey Hills Capital.
VANCOUVER: IWILL BE SPEAKING AT Joe Martin’s Cambridge House shownext weekend. My talk is on Monday June 6 at 8:30 a.m.
Want to find undervalued stocks first? Subscribe to Ticker Trax™.
More on Thom Calandra
Ticker Trax™ is published by Stockhouse Publishing Ltd. Ticker Trax is an information service for subscribers and neither Stockhouse nor any Ticker Trax contributors are brokers or an investment advisors. None of the information contained therein constitutes a recommendation by Stockhouse or any Ticker Trax contributors or that any particular security, portfolio of securities, transaction, or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. Ticker Trax does not purport to tell or suggest the investment securities subscribers or readers should buy or sell for themselves. Subscribers and readers of Ticker Trax should conduct their own research and due diligence and obtain professional advice before making any investment decisions. Ticker Trax will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader’s reliance on information obtained in the reports. Subscribers and readers are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Opinions expressed in Ticker Trax are based on sources believed to be reliable and are written in good faith, but no representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made as to their accuracy or completeness. All information contained in Ticker Trax should be independently verified. The editor and publisher are not responsible for errors or omissions or responsible for keeping information up to date or for correcting any past information. Ticker Trax and any Ticker Trax contributors do not receive from any companies that may be mentioned in Ticker Trax. Some of those companies are advertisers or clients of Stockhouse, the publisher. The mentioned companies may have been at one time a preferred client of Stockhouse for investment relations, marketing and other commercial but not editorial services, which are never guaranteed. Any opinions expressed are subject to change without notice. Owners, employees and writers may hold positions in the securities that are discussed in Ticker Trax. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL SEEKING PERSONALIZED INVESTMENT ADVICE. Copyright 2011 all rights reserved.