A VISIT IN FOUR AFRICAN COUNTRIES AT THE END OF JUNE Frank Timiş: "Business will continue in spite of the threat of the Ebola virus"

The business of Frank Timiş in Africa will take place normally, in spite of the threat of the Ebola Virus, according to his own statements made at the end of June, during a tour in four African countries.

Whereas other companies have announced withdrawing their employees in the areas affected by Ebola, Frank Timiş visited the four African countries he has businesses in to encourage his employees. The businessman has made a stop precisely in Sierra Leone, where Ebola is making the most victims, and has reassured his employees, by announcing that the operation of the company is proceeding normally and that all the necessary precautions against the virus have been taken/, in order to protect the employees and the population in the area. Its companies employ over 20,000 employees across the whole Western African region.

African Minerals, which belongs to Frank Timiş, has investments in Sierra Leone worth 3 billion dollars.

In an interview granted exclusively to NewstimeAfrica, Frank Timiş said, referring to Ebola, that as "ship captain", he will be the last to jump overboard.

Frank Timiş owns Timis Corporation, he is the controlling shareholder of African Minerals - the third largest exporter of iron ore in the world and the largest in Western Africa, African Petroleum - the largest owner of oil licenses in Western Africa and Pan-African Minerals - which controls the largest deposit of uranium, manganese, and iron in Western Africa. Frank Timiş has invested 4 billion dollars in mining and the oil industry in sub-Saharan area of Africa.

Pan African Minerals will develop the largest manganese mine in the world, in Tambao, in the North-East of Burkina Faso. The company has plans to invest one billion dollars and expects to output approximately three million tons of manganese a year.

Starting this year, the businessman's company will begin the construction of 300 km of railroad, to transport the manganese to the Abidjan port in the Ivory Coast.

Frank Timiş also owns African Minerals, in Sierra Leone, which extracts iron from the deposit of Tonkolili, as well as African Petroleum, which extracts oil out the coasts of Liberia. Also, branches that he controls operate in Senegal, Gambia and Niger, and the Ivory Coast.

This year, Frank Timiş signed an agreement to exploit four other mining perimeters in Niger - Ouricha 1 and 2, as well as Tegmert 1 and 2 in the Agadez area. This agreement will ensure the creation of jobs, as well as the training of state civil servants. The company has made a commitment to invest at least 20 million dollars.

Frank Timiş also does business with Chinese companies. His companies received over 400 million dollars in investments from CRM (China Railway Materials), and 1.5 billion dollars from Shandong, another major Chinese company.

One year ago, Frank Timiş sold over 17% of a project in Sierra Leone, according to information in the international press. Chinese company Tianjin Materials and Equipment Group Corporation (Tewoo) signed a memorandum with African Minerals, owned by Frank Timiş, to join the shareholder structure of the Tonkolili mining project, of Sierra Leone. Thus, the Chinese company specializing in international metals trading, will invest approximately 900 million dollars in the iron mine of Sierra Leone. Following the signing of the contract, the shares of African Minerals Ltd. (AMI) rose about 57%, the biggest increase in the last four years, according to Bloomberg.

The name of Frank Timiş is tied to the beginning of some controversial businesses in Romania, such as the gold mining project of Roşia Montană, the shale gas in Bârlad or the silver-gold exploitation of Certej.