Henderson Opportunities Share Discussion Threads

[holdontightuk] 26/3/2006 00:37

CL....thanks for that. Couple of things, how do I get a live updated chart in to the header? and I missed EUM.L off the holdings (now added), can you do a chart for this one as well?

Might also add that the PCL purchase is not yet confirmed....I'll know Monday. Quite a few changes on the week, though the core holdings remain unchanged. By 5th April, these will all be completed.

[call-logger] 25/3/2006 23:20

Didn't turn out too bad, could look quite nice if it was tidied up a bit

[call-logger] 25/3/2006 23:18

HOT, not sure how this is going to display but creating it did give me a better idea how you're doingHoldings as at March 2006StockSymbolPurchase PriceChartAvocet Mining AVM.L 39p Mercator Gold MCR.L 56p Thistle Mining TMG.L 16p Battle Mountain Gold Exploration BMGX 39cPiper Capital PCL.V 19cAberdeen International AAB.V 80cPlatinum Australia PLAA.L 19pPacific North West Capital PFN.TO 35cBeartooth Platinum BTP.V 16.5cAfrican Copper ACU.L86pEureka Mining EKA.L123pTaghmen Energy TAG.L 58pOriel Resources ORI.L31pMercator Minerals ML.V $1.67Yukon Zinc Exploration YZC.V59cYou've got the code wrong for Yukon - it's YZC

[holdontightuk] 22/3/2006 18:09

European Minerals' Varvarinskoye Could Be Becoming a Mega Project

By Stephen Clayson
29 Jan 2006 at 02:40 PM EST


LONDON (ResourceInvestor.com) -- A shadow has been cast recently over European Minerals? [AIM:EUM; TSX:EPM] Varvarinskoye copper-gold project due to the fact that the general contractor engaged in the project?s ongoing construction happens to be MDM Ferroman, the very same MDM Ferroman that is quite possibly moribund owing to difficulties with the repayment of its debt to erstwhile client Randgold Resources [AIM: RRS; Nasdaq:GOLD]. However, this shadow will pass, and should not detract from the perception of Varvarinskoye as quite possibly a very fine project indeed.

It looks rather doubtful that MDM Ferroman is going to survive as a going concern for much longer, which then raises the question of how European Minerals will take Varvarinskoye forward. On the face of it, the company has two options: to assume itself the management of the project, or to appoint a new general contactor. Randgold Resources has chosen to assume the management of the completion of its Loulo project in Mali from MDM Ferroman and not to bother with emplacing a substitute general contractor, but European Minerals may not be able to take this route, as significantly more pre-completion work remains to be done at Varvarinskoye than at Loulo.



It is not that European Minerals lacks internally the expertise required to complete Varvarinskoye, indeed the company?s Executive Chairman Tony Williams feels quite the contrary, but that substantial bank debt is being employed for the construction of the project, and it is likely that the lenders on the project, Nedbank, Standard Bank and the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa (ECIC) would insist in the event that MDM Ferroman falls by the wayside that a new general contractor is appointed in order, as they see it, to safeguard their loans, given that a significant stretch of construction remains Varvarinskoye, whereas Loulo is more or less done and dusted. Furthermore, Randgold Resources has a production pedigree that European Minerals lacks as yet.

All the preceding said, Williams imparts that European Minerals has made no decision on whether or not to retain MDM Ferroman, and of course the contractor may yet pull through its travails and preempt the question entirely. However, MDM Ferroman has been put on notice by European Minerals, which means that from next week, the contractor can be summarily dismissed and replaced if this is deemed necessary. The matter needs to be settled one way or the other by not much later than the end of February, as once spring gets underway in Kazakhstan construction of Varvarinskoye will have to recommence in earnest, and this will require an overseer to be in place.

However, looking past the completion of Varvarinskoye as a mine, then given the copper and gold price pictures of the moment, and their likely durability, expansion way past the base case scenario becomes feasible. The base case schematics of Varvarinskoye are based upon a gold price of $375/oz and a copper price of $1/lb, and would see 4.2 million tonnes per year of material being mined from a central pit. However, with copper and gold prices as they are or better, then a higher rate of mining could be supported, with the central pit being deepened significantly, nearby satellite pits mined, and even an underground operation contemplated.

According to Williams, expansion would be a two stage undertaking. Stage one has already been planned and would take the form of a plant expansion to bring throughput up to 5.5 million tonnes by the end of the mine?s second year, at a cost of around $10 million. This would leave early copper production almost unchanged, but would increase gold production to 190,000 ounces per year, up from 145,000 ounces. This stage has already been planned and assuming that nothing changes with respect to copper and gold prices, will go ahead once the mine has entered production.

Making the same assumption about copper and gold prices, planning for stage two will also begin as soon as Varvarinskoye is up and running. What stage two essentially entails is replicating the project?s first plant, currently being built at a cost of $56 million. Such a step would enable a throughput between the two plants of 8-10 million tonnes, equating perhaps to gold production of 350,000 ounces per year and a similarly impressive quantity of copper, hopefully sustainable for 12-15 years. Stage two could be in place 3-4 years down the line following start-up.

Whatever the course of its future expansion, some particularly nice aspects of Varvarinskoye stand out. There is the well publicised fact that European Minerals has sold forward at a price of $575/oz with 440,000 ounces of gold to be produced over the first eight years of Varvarinskoye?s life, essentially locking in the project?s profitability whilst leaving the bulk of its output available to reap the benefits of any upswings in the gold price. Varvarinskoye?s copper concentrate is to be sold at an LME linked price to Kazakhstan?s biggest copper player under an agreement valid for the life of the mine, thus lowering the marketing risk on the copper side of the operation.

There is also that Varvarinskoye?s copper production is planned to be weighted towards the earlier years of the project?s life, which has positive implications for initial cash flow and hence for capital payback. In addition, average cash costs are projected under the feasibility study to be, at base case, $158/oz over the life of the mine and $87/oz during the first six years, and should remain at least competitive as the operation expands.

Judging by the generally strong performance of European Minerals? share price of late and the very recent and very marked resurgence from the dip that was induced by news breaking of the difficulties of MDM Ferroman, the market recognises Varvarinskoye?s potential substance, and is largely unfazed by the MDM Ferroman issue, seeing it as resulting at worst in a short construction hiatus.

But, if the Varvarinskoye project lives up to the potential outlined herein, and given the cooperation of the gold and copper markets, then investors may stand to make significantly greater gains yet. European Minerals is also undoubtedly a potential takeover target, as well as conversely a potential acquirer of other companies or individual projects should its share price keep riding as high as or higher still than it is now, either of which could be avenues for the market to get still more excited about.

< Back Respond to this story >

[holdontightuk] 22/3/2006 18:07

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

IT'S a case of being in the right place at the right time for low-profile junior Gippsland. The collapse of Perth-based Sons of Gwalia has shattered the dreams of many investors and cast doubt over the future supply of tantalum, however, it has thrown the door wide open for Gippsland and its tantalum dreams. Report by Ben Sharples


Via its Abu Dabbab project in Egypt, Gippsland may soon hold the enviable position of being the world's second-largest producer of tantalum when the project comes online in the second half of 2007.

Lycopodium completed a bankable feasibility study on the project in November 2004, however, the collapse of SoG and concerns over tantalum supply prompted consumers to urge Gippsland to extend their bankable feasibility study to accommodate a doubled throughput of 2 million tonnes per annum.

As a result of the revised study, the funding requirement for Abu Dabbab has risen 23% to $US80.5 million ($A108.4 million). The project has a measured resource of 12Mt at 274 grams per tonne, an indicated resource of 2.1Mt at 260gpt and an inferred resource of 26Mt at 260gpt.

The project is expected to produce more than 650,000 pounds of tantalum and 1530t of tin per year over a 20-year mine life, with operating costs flagged at $US7.0/t milled. The BFS estimates net cash flows of $US127 million, with a net present value of $US70 million at a 5% discount rate.

A capital expenditure repayment period of four and a half years and an internal rate of return of 17.4% on an all-equity basis have been calculated in the BFS.

A report by analysts Hoodless Brennan and Partners in October said the undisclosed tantalum prices used in the BFS are based on heads of agreement signed to date.

"Tantalum spot prices, however, have been estimated by industry commentators to be $US40-50/lb ore vs a low of $US15 in 2002," the analysts said. "Increasing demand from microchip manufacturers implies a continuing positive backdrop for tantalum prices."

"The upside in these figures is that they only account for 65% of the mine's useful life and that the Feldspar has not been included in the economics.

"The Abu Dabbab project has the potential to produce approximately 1.5Mtpa of ceramic grade feldspar which would be used in the European ceramic industry. So far Italian ceramic manufacturers have been impressed with the samples they have analysed.

"Feldspar sales would mean that 80% of all material mined would be a marketable commodity. Therefore, as well as adding revenues in the region of $US28 million per annum, it may well reduce costs of waste storage too."

Whatever your musical persuasion, a tune which anyone could listen to, Gippsland executive chairman Jack Telford describes the by-product as the "absolute cream on the cake".

The Abu Dabbab history is lengthy: it has played host to a number of outfits over time, including the Russians and Italians. It has been public knowledge since the 1940s that tin and tungsten exist in the area, but the ground didn't see any serious work until 30 years later when a joint Soviet-Egyptian team conducted an exploration program.

It was close to another 30 years before Gippsland picked up its prize in 1999.

"We could see that it had a very large resource and it required very little exploration, having been explored in detail by the Russians in the 70s and also the Italians in the 90s," Telford told MiningNews.net. "So we were able to move straight into JORC-code resources."

"When the Russians did their work there wasn't much of a market for tantalum and in those days, the technology wasn't available to handle the fine mineralisation."

A further bonus for Gippsland is the regional upside of the project area. The real prize could be the Nuweibi project that is located around 17km south-southwest of Abu Dabbab and hosts an indicated and inferred resource of 98Mt at 143g/t – more than double that of Abu Dabbab.

"Estimates of production costs in the $US5/lb would place both projects, if working simultaneously, amongst the lowest-cost producers of tantalite-feldspar offering sizeable operating margins on fixed price contracts," analysts from Hoodless Brennan and Partners said.

The question on everyone's lips now is about financing. Gippsland is in discussions with an undisclosed "major international banking institution", which in September last year requested some further metallurgy work to confirm recovery rates.

"We're deep in discussions, we're a long way down the track and I'd hope to have financing wrapped up within the next few weeks," Telford said. "All that's left is to finalise the financing, complete the structural design and then start construction around mid-year."

There is a flip side to the whole tantalum issue, however. Although it is used in mobile phones and digital cameras, tantalum is one of those vague minerals that sounds like an exotic orchid, and for many investors, is as obscure.

Coupled with the project's location in the north of Africa, Gippsland has struggled for support and recognition among Australian investors (described as "average" by Telford), pushing the company to a secondary listing on London's Alternative Investment Market.

All that aside, Telford gives two thumbs up to operating in the north African country.

"Egypt is a great place to operate, we're certainly in a very nice location, and we're within 5km of a beautiful coastline, with resorts, coral reefs and scuba diving, so it's pretty pleasant."

Although there has been "average" investor support, the sun seems to be shining on Gippsland and its Abu Dabbab project. The project has support from tantalum producers, the operation is a relatively easy opencut project with low start-up costs, and the dynamics within the tantalum market are likely to have an upward impact on prices.

[holdontightuk] 22/3/2006 18:02

From ge/uk analyst sunday 19/3/06


Jubilee Platinum

Run by mining veteran Colin Bird with Malcolm Burne of Golden Prospect on board as chairman, AIM listed Jubilee Platinum has potentially company making prospects in two countries but it is Madagascar where the real excitement lies. Happily, and somewhat unusually in this sector, Jubilee has a strong balance sheet with net cash of 5 million pounds which can easily fund its two year drilling needs meaning that it can hold out for the best possible terms in any negotiations concerning farm out deals.

In South Africa the company has a 25% increase in the Tjate Platinum Group Metals (PGM) project which will increase to 35% if Jubilee spends a further 1.2 million pounds towards a feasibility study. That study should happen this year after yet another successful hole was announced on 2nd February. The company's (unstated) intention at Tjate must be to continue its drilling to a stage where it can either sell - or co-venture the property with the owners of the producing mines on the neighbouring farms, namely Impala and Anglo. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Tjate farm contains a structure which is both commercial in its own right but also an extension of the structures on those neighbouring farms. It is therefore very likely that a deal will be done but as each successful round of drilling is undertaken at Tjate the negotiating position of the Tjate consortium becomes stronger.

In Madagascar the newsflow is even more exciting. On the Island Jubilee has a number of permits where it has located gold (at Bebasy) but of more significant are its nickel, copper and PGM deposits notably at Londokomanana and at Ambodilafa. On 8th December 2005 Jubilee announced that the airborne survey conducted by BHP and paid for by BHP on Jubilee's Ambodilafa prospect had detected a 40 metre thick anomaly. Subsequent work on the ground verified this finding and drilling on this prospect should now take place soon. Jubilee is now in a very strong position to conclude an attractive farm-out deal on that acreage. BHP is not the only interested party and we expect news on that front imminently. We value this company at 216p per share and any farm out deal on Madagascar is likely to prompt a significant re-rating.

[seyp] 21/3/2006 16:58

HOT, grab yourself some IQE first thing in the morning, confirmed breakout this pm.

[holdontightuk] 21/3/2006 16:52

Odyssey's Copper and Silver Gilded Quest

By Gene Arensberg
23 Nov 2005 at 09:39 AM EST


HOUSTON (ResourceInvestor.com) -- Avrom Howard, a geologist with a masters degree in Geology from the University of Colorado and a certified gemologist with the Gemological Association of Great Britain, is the determined CEO of Odyssey Resources, [TSXv:ODX; OTC:ODYRF] a small Canadian exploration company based in Toronto. Almost a decade ago Howard began a quest to build a company by "making new discoveries in ancient lands." Up to now that quest has come tantalizingly close several times but missed as evidenced by a company that is so far off the investment radar screen it's in the next room from that screen.

However, by blending tenacity with opportunity, and a little luck, Odyssey just might become a blip on many more radar screens in the near future as the company gets serious with their exploration of over 600 square kilometers of "highly prospective" terrain Odyssey has acquired in the Anti Atlas region of Morocco.



Howard hopes, for himself and for Odyssey stakeholders, that the eight known copper-silver deposits scattered amongst "literally hundreds of mineral occurrences in a variety of deposit settings" inside those claims prove to be just the tip of a much larger mineralized iceberg.

With C$1.75 million in newly secured private placement funding from some familiar names in the high-risk Canadian exploration funding game, Howard and his team have been turning over some of those Moroccan rocks. The Tocqueville Gold Offshore Fund Ltd., Gabelli Gold Fund, Inc. and Dundee Corporation, some of the financiers in that financing, evidently saw enough promise in Odyssey's odds to take a chance. Rick Rule, through his Exploration Capital Partners fund, is also a participant in the financing.

Seeking to Add Value From New Discovery

Howard is an engaging sort and easy to talk to. He's also a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the areas of the globe he is interested in such as Turkey and Morocco. Ask him a question about, say the political condition in Morocco for example, and you are likely to get a 10-minute history lesson of the three states surrounding Morocco along with the requested topic. The thing is, he makes it interesting.

In a recent telephone interview the unwavering company head talked freely about the prospects for junior miners searching for the next Yanacocha while moving back into newly mining-friendly and nearly forgotten lands.

Asked how Odyssey plans to get from where it is now to where it wants to be, Howard gives a summary of various business models in the mining industry and concludes: "The hardest way is basically to do what we are doing which is to start from the ground and identify areas that have serious potential, then go in and do the exploration work to add significant value by way of new discovery. That gives you the greatest reward, but it's also the hardest to do."

The Road to Morocco

Howard says he first became interested in Morocco in April of 1997. "I looked at a bunch of stuff when I was on my first trip to Morocco and a couple of things stood out to me that were interesting and somewhat enigmatic. One of them being a deposit called Alous in the Anti Atlas region." Alous is a copper-silver deposit Occidental had worked in the 1960's and 70's which contains a "historic resource" of just under six and a half million tonnes grading about 0.87% copper and 9.8 grams per tonne silver.

"That was the basis for our doing an agreement with the Moroccan BRPM in 1998 and '99. We did a lot of detailed work (in the area) and I saw dozens of mineral occurrences scattered over a large area always with the same, what we call alteration features. I didn't quite understand them (at the time) but they told me this was a large system. There was something going on here in a very large scale."

The mining business is a tough master at times and Odyssey's first interest in Morocco came at one of those times. As interesting and prospective as it might have been, in the era post Bre-X many small exploration companies were unable to raise exploration capital. Odyssey was no exception. Forced into survival mode by harsh market conditions and low metals prices, Odyssey had to let its Moroccan claims go back to the government back then.

As the new millennium dawned and the market for metals started to improve, Howard looked for an opportunity to get back into Alous and the Anti-Atlas.

About two years ago as Odyssey was working some ex-Teck Cominco properties in Turkey the company went back into Morocco and reacquired the area around Alous with a big chunk of other "highly prospective terrain."

Target Rich Environment

Over countless eons pressure, heat and water leach minerals out of the rocks over vast areas. Some of the minerals stay in solution and migrate to a place where they cannot go any further. A kind of mineral trap. Over a very long period of time those minerals coalesce and accumulate, often in sedimentary lenses underground. Some of the world's largest mines were created in this way.

If they are being mined, that means that someone found them before the geologic setting changed again, before the deposit itself is leached into some other trap or into the ocean. The challenge for miners and explorers today is to find those accumulations of commercially minable minerals using all the geological tools available, including technology and human resources while negotiating the political minefield that humans put in their way.

Known copper/silver occurrences number in the dozens within the confines of the area that Odyssey has secured the rights to in Morocco and hundreds more across the belt as a whole. Odyssey's challenge is to develop a prospecting model which leads them to the ones that have large commercial potential before they run out of either time or money. Although he doesn't say so specifically, it is obvious Howard strongly suspects just such a deposit is lying somewhere in the vicinity of Alous.

To gain a better understanding of the area, Howard contacted a leading geology consultant from England, a top field geologist who consults to most of the large resource producing firms and spends 200 to 300 days a year in the field, spent some time on the Odyssey claims and advised Odyssey that he was seeing there in Morocco the same geologic setting and the same kind of mineralization as Mantos Blancos in Chile, a giant copper deposit being mined by Anglo American PLC.

Mantos Blancos started out as a minor deposit of around 10 million tonnes, but after someone got in and understood the geology it turned out to be over 400 million tonnes of roughly 4% copper and averages 50 grams per tonne silver.

When a world renowned consultant suggests that an area one is looking at is similar to commercial systems elsewhere, people tend to listen, and then raise the money to get out in the field and try to find something.

With some seed funding in hand, Odyssey is in the process of doing just that. On Monday, November 21, Odyssey announced that preparations are underway for reverse circulation drilling at Alous, the largest of the known copper-silver deposits in the Anti Atlas property. Drilling is expected to get underway in January.

Meanwhile, it's safe to speculate that the company is developing an exploration model to attempt to skip over the many small mineral occurrences in the region and try to locate any copper-silver "elephants" that might have escaped detection back in the 1960's.

Odyssey's past is dotted with promising leads that had considerable smoke, but eventually no fire and the stock price today reflects an exploration company forgotten. It is a castaway from the crowded field of junior explorers listed on the Canadian stock exchanges which closed Monday at six and a half Canadian cents a copy. The recent financing units were priced at a Canuck dime with warrants at C$0.15.

With the price of silver and copper on the rise, drills about to start turning in January, and names like Tocqueville, Gabelli, Dundee and Rick Rule on board for the hunt, it might just be worth a little "poker money" sized high-risk investment for the gamblers among us to see if Howard's tenacity and the Moroccan opportunity turn up more than just smoke this time.

Satellite Photo of Anti Atlas Region

[holdontightuk] 20/3/2006 08:03

RNS Number:0005A
Avocet Mining PLC
20 March 2006

Avocet Mining Plc

20 March 2006

ZGC RESOURCES INCREASE SUBSTANTIALLY AT JILAU PIT

Avocet Mining PLC ("Avocet" or "the Company") is pleased to announce an increase
in the gold resources at ZGC's Jilau operations in Tajikistan of 802,000 ounces
to over 2.7 million ounces of contained gold. This represents a 40% increase in
the resource base net of depletion. ZGC now has total resources of 5.6 million
ounces of contained gold that meet the guidelines of the JORC code. These are
contained in the Jilau, Khirskhona, Taror and Chore deposits. The 3,000km2 joint
venture area controlled by ZGC contains an additional 11.3 million ounces of
resources categorised by Soviet standards (C+P), but not to JORC compliant
standards.

In November 2004, Avocet increased its equity interest in ZGC from 49% to 75%
(the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan holds the remaining 25%). The
Company then commenced an expansion and refurbishment of operations with the
main objectives of increasing gold production and lowering unit costs. Part of
that expansion plan was infill and definition drilling in and around the main
Jilau open pit, known as Jilau Main. Drilling and ongoing waste stripping in the
pit has now merged the Jilau Main and Jilau North open pits into the one Jilau
Pit.

Exploration results increased the resource base for the Jilau Pit by 389,000
ounces using a 0.5 g/t Au cut off grade and net of depletion. However, with the
successful commencement of low-cost dump leach operations adjacent to the Jilau
Pit and our ability to treat low-grade ore, the cut-off grade has now been
lowered to 0.3 g/t Au. This has contributed to an overall resource increase for
the Jilau Pit of 645,000 ounces to a total of 2,317,100 ounces gold. Additional
drilling at the smaller Khirskhona open pit to the north has increased resources
by 157,000 ounces to 421,700 ounces above a 0.3 g/t Au cut-off. All deposits
remain open at depth and along strike. The Company is confident of future
significant increases in the resource base for Jilau's operations.

The table below lists the revised resources in the Jilau district using
a 0.3 g/t cut-off:

Measured + Indicated Inferred Total
tonnes grade tonnes grade tonnes grade
ounces ounces ounces

Jilau Main 38,670,100 1.05 28,215,900 0.79 66,886,000 0.94
1,304,500 716,200 2,020,700

Jilau North 4,145,000 0.90 5,158,400 1.06 9,303,800 0.99
120,300 176,100 296,400

Khirskhona 9,449,000 0.73 6,835,000 0.91 16,284,000 0.81
222,400 199,300 421,700

Total Jilau 52,264,500 0.98 40,209,300 0.84 92,473,800 0.92
Pits 1,647,200 1,091,600 2,738,800

ZGC will complete a new mine production schedule based on the expanded resources
by May 2006. Given Jilau's resource potential, the Company is looking at options
to increase substantially gold production above the 85,000 ounces per year
currently planned.

Current operations at Jilau are concentrated on waste removal at the Jilau Pit
where the Company expects to reach consistent high grade ore by the summer of
2006. This should allow the operation to return to break even cash flow with a
substantial pick up in gold production from the current level of approximately
3,000 ounces per month.

All references to resources and exploration results have been approved for
release by Mr. Peter Flindell, BSc (Hons) MAusIMM, Chief Geologist for Avocet,
who has more than 20 years experience in the field of activity concerned and is
a Competent Person as defined by the JORC Code (2004). He has consented to the
inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears.

Avocet is a mining company listed on the AIM market of the London Stock
Exchange. The Company's principal activities are gold mining and exploration in
Malaysia (as 100% owner of the Penjom mine, the country's largest gold
producer), Tajikistan (as 75% owner and operator of the ZGC, Tajikistan's
principal gold mine), and Indonesia (as 80% owner of the North Lanut gold mine
in North Sulawesi). The Company has a number of advanced mining and exploration
projects in Asia and owns 29% of Dynasty Gold Corporation, a Canadian listed
exploration company active in Western China.

For further information please contact:

Avocet Mining PLC
John Catchpole (Chief Executive)
Jonathan Henry (Finance Director)
020 7907 9000




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
MSCILFLEVLIDLIR

[Abuse team] 19/3/2006 21:06

Post removed by ADVFN

[holdontightuk] 19/3/2006 20:59

Feb 2006 Investor Brochure for Sydney Resource

[holdontightuk] 19/3/2006 20:43

Fen 2006 Investor Brochure for New Guinea Gold....

[holdontightuk] 19/3/2006 00:44

Recent Minesite article on PFN.......

Date: December 22, 2005

Pacific North West Capital Will Kick off 2006 With A New Resource Estimate At River Valley Plus Some Project Acquisitions

By Our Canadian Correspondent

Despite the fact that palladium prices have moved above the US$250/ounce and platinum sits at a robust US$966 / ounce, 2005 saw Canadian investors ignoring Pacific North West Capital and its River Valley project in Ontario. Trading at a near 52-week low of C$0.27, shares of Pacific North West have fallen along way from the C$4 they fetched in 2000 following news of the initial palladium-platinum discovery. But with a new resource calculation expected in January 2006, the Harry Barr led junior is hoping that the downward slide, like 2005, is a thing of the past.

Over the past four years, work at River Valley has focused on locating and defining platinum group metals mineralization along the northern brecciated contact of an intrusion under a joint venture with Anglo Platinum. So far, Anglo has spent C$18 million on the project and can earn a 65 per cent interest by funding the exploration program through to production. The favourable contact zone that hosts the mineralization now extends for some 15 kilometres and as of July, 2004 the measured and indicated resource tallied 25.4 million tones grading 0.98 gram palladium, 0.34 gram platinum and 0.06 gram gold per tonne.

True the grades are a touch light but with current platinum-palladium prices, a new 3,000 metre drill program aimed at testing new targets on the property and a new resource calculation based on drill results from the 2005 drill program underway, news in 2006 could well spark activity back into the stock.

There is also a 40 tonne bulk sample collected from the Dana North and South zones, which occupy the western side of the River Valley property, sitting in South Africa for metallurgical testing at Anglo¡¦s facilities. So Anglo is obviously looking long and hard at a potential large scale, low cost operation scenario for River Valley. In this regard, the current drill program is targeting the inside of the River Valley intrusion away form the contact zone in an effort to develop more tonnage.

Pacific North West Capital also has other things on the go like three other projects in Ontario, including an option/joint venture with Falconbridge on the Timmins West nickel project where a 3,000 metre drill program has started. Sources close to the company also say that it is negotiating a number of deals which will widen its portfolio of projects into other provinces such as Quebec and base metals could become a more important target.

Yes, the year of 2005 has not been kind to shareholders but with a market capitalization of less than C$10 million and nearly C$4.5 million in working capital, I would not want to count Harry Barr or the company out in 2006. Time will tell and we will be watching.

@:

[holdontightuk] 18/3/2006 12:55

I am not much into all this techno stuff! What I do hope to be able to do is have a portfolio that changes less, where I can post price movements over a decent period of time. I am nearly there, atually....just a couple more sales and purchases by end of this tax year, to crystalise some losses and reduce risk a little. If you could leave me a note on how to do the chart thin, incl international stocks, that would be appreciated.

[call-logger] 17/3/2006 22:23

It still isn't overly clear how you're doing HOT

How about including a small chart beside each of your selections?

[img src='http://www.advfn.com/p.php?pid=staticchart&s=L^AVM&p=5&t=1&dm=0&vol=0&cb=']

would give this



if you changed the square brackets to less/greater than symbols

[Abuse team] 17/3/2006 21:53

Post removed by ADVFN

[holdontightuk] 17/3/2006 21:52

Buy Oriel Resources at 30p
Says Rob Cullum of Trendwatch.co.uk
This past week, the financial press has been full of news about the pull-back in energy and natural resource stocks from record levels. Some attribute this to profit taking, some to rising global interest rates, prompting fears of a slowdown in economic activity.

But nothing, not even energy and natural resource prices, goes up in a straight line. There are bound to be setbacks along the way. As I never tire of reminding TrendWatch readers, pullback or no pullback, we're in the middle of a raging bull market in energy and natural resource stocks. We expect it to go on for the foreseeable future.

The value of investments can go down as well as up. Investing in equities can lose you part or all of your capital. Smaller company shares can be relatively illiquid and thus hard to trade. And that makes such investments more of a high risk than larger company shares.
UK-Analyst.com is owned by t1ps.com Ltd which is authorised and regulated by the FSA and can be contacted at 49 Rivington St, London EC2A 3QB or on 0207 033 9389

The reason: look no further than China and India. For example, China alone currently consumes:

· 26% of the world's output of steel

· 23% of the world's output of aluminium

· 22% of the world's output of copper

· 16% of the world's output of nickel

China has just overtaken Britain to become the world's fourth largest economy. It should continue to grow at around 9% a year, about three times faster than the US. And China's industrialisation and urbanisation is only just getting into its stride.

China and India are chasing each other around the world signing up for the output of new mines so as to satisfy their insatiable demand for raw materials. To them, any slight pullback in prices is simply a buying opportunity.

For all of these reasons, we've always got our beady eyes open for shares that are likely to perform strongly in these sectors. We're very picky - we reject the vast majority, bull market or no bull market. But when one comes along that we like. we pounce.

Which is what we've done with Oriel Resources. To look at it's chart, you might think that it's some bombed-out exploration outfit that has failed to find whatever it was that it was looking for. Certainly it's not producing anything right now. Difficult to believe, then, that within 18 months, Oriel should be generating annual revenue of $80m or more a year from just one of its projects.

Oriel actually has two major projects: the Voskhod chrome project (Oriel's lead project) and the Shevchenko nickel project, both of them in northern Kazakhstan. Let's look at each in turn.

Oriel bought Voskhod just over a year ago for the equivalent of US$15m cash plus shares. It was just 3km from the world's biggest chromium mine. Oriel then set about drilling the area to see whether the Soviet-era data was trustworthy. Independent consultants confirmed that the deposit contained 18.7m tonnes of ore containing over 46% Cr2O3, which compares favourably with similar deposits worldwide.

In fact, the data was so robust that Oriel decided to fast track the project, starting mine construction this year even before completion of the definitive feasibility study. The mine can be built for just $40m - at full production, it will generate $42m of revenue, assuming production of 0.7m tonnes of ore a year at $80 per tonne of ore, a price substantially below the current price. The mine's life is over 25 years, giving an internal rate of return of over 40%.

The Shevchenko nickel deposit, about 250km north-east of Voskhod, was discovered back in 1952 and extensively explored through to 1967. Oriel bought a 51% stake in 2004, with an option to increase this to 90%, which it has now done.

The ore concentration and ore thickness is somewhat variable, but the project has the great advantage of the mineralization mainly being within 10m of the surface, which means that it can be got at using relatively inexpensive opencast methods. The life of the mine should be 25 years-plus, with variable and fixed costs of $1.53 per pound of nickel.

Both projects will be among the lowest cost mining operations in the world. They will provide quick payback and high margin, long-term cash flow. And, with $50m cash on its balance sheet, it reckons it won't have to ask shareholders to stump up more.

You may worry about the risks of doing business in Kazakhstan. In fact, the country has a much better business environment then many in the former Soviet Union. The deposits are close to excellent infrastructure, in a mining-friendly area, strategically located between the main steel markets of China and Europe. Energy costs are relatively low and a skilled mining workforce is available in the area.

RAB Capital, the superbly successful natural resources hedge fund, has a 17.7% stake. That's a recommendation in itself, since RAB has normally got its finger in all the decent pies long before its target companies are even listed. You need to get in early too. As Oriel gets closer to production, so we expect the shares to at least double from here. BUY.

Key Data

EPIC: ORI
NMS: 15,000
Spread: 29 - 31p
Market Cap: 62.5 million pounds

TrendWatch is unique. It is the only publication that gives you complete listings of shares in uptrend and downtrend - vital information for investors and traders alike. Based on this, we make three fully researched share recommendations per fortnight. For a 3-issue free trial, contact us at

[holdontightuk] 17/3/2006 21:50

Excellent article on Mercator Gold.....

[holdontightuk] 13/3/2006 11:57

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 6 March 2006



MERCATOR GOLD PLC ("Mercator Gold" or the "Company")


SIGNIFICANT SHAREHOLDING



The Company were informed on 2 March 2006 that at the close of business on 20
February 2006, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and associated entities, acting
through its business group and legal entities detailed below, had an interest in
3,700,000 ordinary shares of Mercator Gold, representing 9.44 per cent. of the
issued share capital of the Company.



+----------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------+
| |Number of shares |% held |
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------+
|Colonial First State Investment Limited |3,100,000 |7.91 |
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------+
|First State Investment Management (UK) Limited|600,000 |1.53 |
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------+
| | | |
| | | |
|TOTAL CBA BANK GROUP HOLDING: |3,700,000 |9.44 |
+----------------------------------------------+----------------------+----------+




This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END
HOLUNUURNVRORAR

[arpy_is_back] 12/3/2006 15:46

maybe not at this price but look at Bespak plc

[holdontightuk] 12/3/2006 14:36

Minews Story Date: March 07, 2006

Mercator Now Has To Make Money Out Of Its Gold Assets And Production Facilities At Meekatharra

By Jack Hammer

AIM listed Mercator Gold's chief executive Patrick Harford can succinctly summarize why this year there's a buzz around about Mercator that was distinctly absent last year: "Last year the company was an exploration play; this year we're a pre-production play". Mercator certainly is a different proposition since it acquired St Barbara Mines, its neighbour and joint venture partner on several projects in Australia's historic gold-production Meekatharra area. St Barbara is the patron saint of miners, and according to Mr Harford she was certainly smiling on Mercator when the deal was done: "We believe this is the best gold deal in the world", he says, "and I don't care what anyone says about that".

Before the St Barbara deal came along Mercator had been making heavy weather convincing a market that has grown fat on ten bagger new discoveries that patient re-evaluation of old data on decades old mining districts really could pay off. The company's proprietary Spadis Technology wowed the technophiles but not the punters who saw quicker bucks on offer elsewhere. Mercator shares lost 40 per cent of their value over the past calendar year, allowing for a recent share consolidation. Since the St Barbara deal was done, however, they've turned around.

Mercator paid A$5million in cash and A$13million in shares to put together a company that holds a 467,000 ounce combined resource at Surprise and Bluebird on what was formerly known as the "Annean joint venture"; a 3million tonne per year mill and gold processing facility, that would likely cost more than A$20million in the market new, together with plant, mine camp and tailings dams; 439 granted and pending tenements over 1,970 square metres; as well as a joint venture interest in the Polelle project with local operator Elara also in the Meekathara district; land and other property assets in the Meekathara area; a database and archive of historical information so large that Mr Harford is hiring a full time librarian just to manage the data. To facilitate this transformation Mercator raised just over £9million through a placing, consolidated its share structure, and went to work on Meekathara.

Mr Harford is currently in Perth, putting together the final details of a 16,000 metre drill programme designed to expand the 326,000 resource at Bluebird over the next 60 days and to test the metallurgy of the 1.6million ounces indicated and inferred at Paddy's Flat. Mr Harford's short term goals are clear enough. Firstly to expand Mercator's resource base to 5million ounces. Secondly to expand the mineable reserve to 600,000 ounces. Thirdly to make sure that enough work gets done on the data base and asset base to keep on generating projects. "We've got to make sure that the big mills aren't running ahead of the resource", he says. Contractor Drill Corp-Western Deephole's RC rigs have been on the ground and at work since February 22nd, so the die is cast.

"We've got a paid -for plant in a safe place", says Mr Harford, and most London analysts agree that that's a boon. Prices in Western Australia are set, modelling tucking and other costs is simple. The key now is to get a really decent sized resource and to manage the varied and different orebodies contained under the company's licenses. That's why new operations director Denis Geldard has been hired – "his job is to check the metallurgical and engineering issues and to rationalise the mill feed", says Mr Harford.

"It seems a shrewd strategy says Sacha Borthwick at Hargreave Hale. "They've got hold of a mill themselves and a decent resource. It looks cheap on potential cash flow numbers." Mercator doesn't get much detailed analyst coverage in the UK, although Mr Harford is hoping to address this over 2006. If his company hits its 170,000 ounce per year production target any time soon that will certainly change.

[holdontightuk] 12/3/2006 14:35

IMA Exploration June 05 AGM Presentation.....

[holdontightuk] 12/3/2006 14:35

Encouraging for Platinum Group Metals Ltd: