Bezant Resources Share Discussion Threads

[paleje] 10/9/2014 16:22

Foreign businessmen press for 'competitive' mining tax rate
By: Chelsea Cruz, InterAksyon.com
September 10, 2014 8:42 PM

InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS

MANILA - Foreign business groups today pressed for a "competitive" tax rate to encourage more investments in the mining sector.

“Basically, if you want mining, you have to be competitive. Therefore, if you want mining, if you want revenues from mining, jobs from mining, then you will have to set the rate that the AETR will be lower than other countries or in the same range,” Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines president Julian Payne said during a press conference organized by the Joint Foreign Chambers.

The AETR refers to the average effective tax rate, which incorporates all the taxes that company have to pay during the life of a mine.

Payne said the Aquino administration's proposed bill imposing an AETR of 79 percent would tax the local mining industry out of business.

Under a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), the Philippines' AETR already stands at 60 percent, higher than the 58 percent for Canada or Australia, 50-55 percent for Peru or South Africa, 41 percent for Chile and 35 percent for Papua New Guinea.

The 79-percent tax rate is contained in a bill that the Mining Industry Coordination Council (MICC) is pushing in Congress.

MICC is the inter-agency body that President Benigno Aquino III created to propose reforms in the mining sector, including a revamp of the revenue-sharing scheme between the government and the private sector.

The MICC proposal calls for either a 10 percent levy on a mining company's gross revenue, or a 55-percent of adjusted net mining revenue plus a percentage of incremental profit, whichever is higher.

“Mining investors will go where they can earn money. With the proposed fiscal regime, many will not invest in the Philippines. They will go to Canada, Australia, Chile, South Africa, Papua New Guinea. The end result is less investments in mining and less revenues,” Payne said.

Ian Porter, president of the Australia New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Philippines, said the MICC proposal will turn away investors.

“If it is a question of looking at where companies will go, clearly at 79 percent, that will not happen,” he said.

Michael Raeuber, president of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, said the country has the opportunity to develop the mining industry given its estimated $1.4 trillion mining reserves, making it the fifth largest in the world.

“The Philippines is a country of enormous potential and we hope it doesn’t stay that way in terms of mining,” he said.

[buywell2] 26/8/2014 09:58

P'haps its time for another name change

[paleje] 26/8/2014 09:44

Apparently the Presidents Office will be considering the new mining tax ways forward on 01 Sept, there was media comment over the weekend that chance of the tax not being implemented is slim.



In April N+1 Singer had a conservative valuation on Mankayan of £19.8m less tax, they also had £2.9m on Eureka and the co had about £3m in cash. Assume the new mining tax is implemented fully and an acquirer negotiates the purchase price to 50% of N+1's valuation, the company's still worth 3x the current market cap worst case to my thinking.

[paleje] 11/8/2014 23:09

I wasn't here bw2 so not guilty but regardless, the current share price is too low IMO.

If N+1's valuation of 20m (discounted by 50%) on Mankayan is right, based on projected earnings which it must be, then if those earnings are hit with an extra tax charge, over and above current rate, it follows the valuation should fall by the same amount. That wouldn't kill jv's or purchases, just make the negotiating keener....or delay till things are clearer, which is presumably what's happening.

Not sure about a management buyout, more than half the shares are in steady hands and goldfields are the biggest single holder, would they part with them at this price?

Dunno, seems cheap although delays could make it cheaper....but the value's there imv. Timing as ever.

[bigdazzler] 11/8/2014 16:34

Shame on who??? A bit too general for me.

[buywell2] 11/8/2014 15:57

And the slagging off I got when I said this was dropping below 20p a couple of years ago

Shame on you guys

[thetoonarmy2] 11/8/2014 15:51

Bit of scaremongering from management maybe? They say someone has only proposed this change in the law it's not done yet, since when do they report every potential law change??
Could be a precursor to a management buyout!

[paleje] 11/8/2014 15:26

Well N+1 Singer has a 20m value on Mankayan (reduced from a higher value after Goldfields lapsed its option) and 3m on Eureka (which needs to be revised up in view of the copper content raise from 1% to 3%) plus they've got over £2m in cash and annual burn about a third of that.

And mkt cap today a bit over 5m.

As they're trying, with other miners, to get their voice heard by government regarding the damage any penal tax changes could cause, isn't it possible that they might just want their views reflected in official company statements?

Government isn't earning anything at all when projects lie idle so hopefully they'll decide the tax issue soon and not at the extreme suggested by MICC.

[bigdazzler] 11/8/2014 15:22

Funny enough foxx that was my plan expecting a trade with an I/C led bounce which of course could still happen but the risks are just too high for me so it's one I will skip.

[foxx999] 11/8/2014 14:52

Unfortunately I agree with you bigdaz. Was looking to buy for another IC led bounce, but wont be now. Its low grade, high cost project afterall. Not sure where the company goes from here. Hopefully they can pull something off for holders, but I won't be one.

[bigdazzler] 11/8/2014 14:16

I was looking at the price drop today and seeing if there was any trade here based on the technicals and the fact that it has now dropped to a support point. However I read the RNS issued today and straight away it put me off any long trade. The comment that caused me concern was the following part of the RNS

'The proposed revised tax structure for the Philippines mining sector is already having a negative impact on our ongoing discussions with interested parties regarding the potential sale or JV of our flagship Mankayan Project.'

Now of course this is solely my own interpretation and opinion of the above comment but for me that is a red flag. It is saying to me that there is no deal coming and not likely to be one at anytime in the foreseeable future. If positive discussions were happening or meaningful discussions were expected to commence then this paragraph would not have been included.

I would expect that a drop to the all time lows of 4.5p were more likely without any positive factors out there to push up price. It doesn't seem a lot but that would be almost another 30% drop!

[buywell2] 11/8/2014 13:28

I never have rated this


buywell2 31 May'13 - 08:22 - 4563 of 4572 0 0 edit

This company has no staff , not much cash , and not much future

All it has is exploration licences in dodgy Argentina

Dead man walking

dyor

[paleje] 11/8/2014 11:34

Tax rate is already high and talk of change has been ongoing for some time, they say negs on Mankayan asset are currently being affected by it but they would say that wouldn't they. You wouldn't think the government would want to shoot themselves in the foot by putting up a sign 'not open for international investment' which is what they'd be doing to some extent.

Even if the tax proposals went through, would the higher rate justify the reduction in asset value which the current share price suggests? It doesn't seem proportionate.

[david77] 11/8/2014 09:59

Philippines tax rates may rise.

Why do I do it? I lost a bomb on Toledo Mining - difficulty getting permission to mine in the Philippines - sold to a local - permission granted in weeks.

[mart12345] 29/7/2014 16:07

Old piece, but shows true value here at this low price.

hxxp://bezantresources.com/sites/bezantresources.com/files/Edison%20Investment%20Research%2020%20December%202010.pdf

[buywell2] 18/7/2014 13:49

It's been a POS for over 2 years

No change

China property bubble set to go pop now

[paleje] 09/7/2014 18:16

No denying the share price slide bw2, but it's under the radar and against logic, that's the market esp in summer mode, and that's why when it turns it will catch people on the hop.

[buywell2] 09/7/2014 16:13

Meantime the chart slides further down the slippery slope

[paleje] 09/7/2014 15:25

Time to buy the big miners again according to Moneyweek and copper is one of the base metals looking particularly interesting again. Gold too seems to be slowly improving.

Our asset value is improving while our share price slips, that will change and when it does the move up could be quite sharp imo, might even be an offer as some of the big players, leaner and fitter and bulging with cash, are looking for bargains to tuck away.

[paleje] 23/6/2014 10:33

Extract from IC 08 April 2014, at that time copper grade was estimated at 1% so today's RNS is good news:-

"It's not as if Eureka is worthless, either, as the copper-gold project encompasses 11 copper and gold tenements across an area of 5,500 hectares. Based on a non-JORC compliant resource estimate and using previous exploration activity carried out by mining groups Minera Penoles, Codelco and Mantos Blancos, the Eureka project has around 52,000 ounces of gold and around 62m tonnes of copper with a grade of 1 per cent. N+1 Singer values Eureka at £2.9m. Add to that a £3m cash pile and an intrinsic valuation of Bezant of over £25m, or around 30p a share, is not unreasonable."

[buywell2] 23/6/2014 10:25

How much cash have these got left ?

[currypasty] 23/6/2014 10:22

Highlights:

-- Positive results received from laboratory testing of acid leach recovery process for copper

o Eight samples selected for testing from the pre-existing trenching work

o Average grade of 3.85% total copper with 3.72% acid soluble copper

o >96% of total copper in samples occurred as acid soluble minerals

o >95% copper dissolution achieved in 10 days from 12mm crushed samples

o Acid consumption low: >70% of acid added for leaching was consumed by copper dissolution

o Clay type minerals low at 7% - well within heap leaching limits

[buywell2] 09/5/2014 17:51

Set up for another leg down anyone ?

[russman] 07/5/2014 17:25

Is this Stephen Diggle talking?