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iii iiiiiiiiiiiii iii <br />6YPRUS from iB <br />"If you get rid of 50-odd percent <br />of your company, what's going to <br />happen to your market cap? It's <br />going down, and that says to me <br />takeover target," Worthington <br />said. <br />Cyprus last yeaz sold off its <br />Amax Gold subsidiary, its lithium <br />properties and its eastern coal <br />holdings. When it sells its remain- <br />ing coal, the company will have <br />only copper and molybdenum, in- <br />cluding the Henderson Mine near <br />Empire, the mothballed Climax <br />Mine near Leadville and another <br />molybdenum ore body in western <br />Colorado. <br />If Cyprus were to move its <br />headquarters, the loss of 100 cor-. <br />porate jobs would not have a major <br />economic impact on Colorado, <br />since the Henderson Mine would <br />continue producing the steel-al- <br />loying metal molybdenum, said <br />Stuazt Sanderson, president of the <br />Colorado Mining Association. <br />"Cyprus was once the Colorado <br />industry's flagship. company, and <br />there's a psychological factor <br />there," said Sanderson. "It might <br />take some of the luster off Den- <br />ver's claim to be the center of <br />~dOnltitSL-iY~irfmg~ uUr uIUSC~Of the <br />mining companies headquartered <br />in Colorado have had to undergo <br />some restructuring." <br />In an effort to cut costs, Cyprus- <br />Amax has eliminated its investor <br />relations department, a move that <br />indicates .how deeply depressed <br />metal price"shave become. <br />' A major company getting rid of <br />its investor relations department? <br />That's essential," Worthington <br />said. "What if there's a major acci- <br />dentsomewhere?" <br />A sale of Cyprus' remaining coal <br />mines could generate $800 mil- <br />lion, money that would be used to <br />finance [he copper operations, <br />Malys said. The coal property auo <br />tion is being handled by the in- <br />vestment banker Solomon Smith <br />Bazney ]nc. <br />The company last month de- <br />clared adividend of 20 cents per <br />share, but Ward warned that "in <br />1999, our boazd of directors will <br />assess current mazket conditions, <br />operating cash flow and other fac- <br />tors in determining dividend pay- <br />ments." <br />Malys said fourth-quarter earn- <br />ings will be lower because of a fire <br />that shut dawn its Willow Creek <br />coal mine in Utah on Nov. 25. <br />