Stories you might have missed. Print Robin Bromby | June 29,...

Stories you might have missed.

Print Robin Bromby | June 29, 2009
Article from: The Australian.

SO many announcements, so little media space and attention.

Each week, hundreds of news items slip through the cracks in the media. There are simply not enough hours in the day or journalistic hands on deck to make sure that more than a fragment of this information flow gets proper attention. Occasionally, here at The Dirt, we like to clear out the in-box.

So here are some items that might have escaped your attention in the past few days.

1 . Manganese momentum

This metal is out of favour at the moment due to the global downturn in steel production. But there is no substitute in that process for manganese, and steel mills have been using increasing amounts of manganese per tonne of steel to lift the quality of the finished product. So manganese will have its day in the sun at some stage. So watch Spitfire Resources which this morning reported that, of 51 holes drilled at its Tally-Ho deposit, 40 had intercepted near-surface mineralisation with grades up to 27.9 per cent manganese. A few days ago, meanwhile, Hartleys filed a broker note on Shaw River Resources with a “speculative buy” tag. It notes that SRR tested four areas at its Baramine project, identifying wide zones of manganese in each. Hartleys said this will require a good deal of follow-up drilling, but it saw good potential for SRR to identify significant manganese mineralisation over time.

2. Copper tip

There has been a good deal of excitement recently about the Cloncurry copper explorer Exco Resources. BGF Equities has looked into its crystal ball and sees the prospect of a deal with Xstrata that could make EXS a cash cow. This would depend on the junior getting a deal to process its ore through Xstrata’s Ernest Henry plant, which is greatly underutilised at present. Such a deal would shave $250 million of Exco’s project development cost. BGF can see EXS shares doubling in price from present levels if such a deal was done.

3. Bauxite is go

It is only two years ago that Bauxite Resources launched an IPO for a very modest $7.5m to get itself into the bauxite and alumina industries. It seemed a giant leap at the time. But earlier this year the junior pulled in Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources as a 15 per cent shareholder, meaning a cash injection of $9.87m. Now BAU is looking at establishing an alumina processing plant in Western Australia, having signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Yankuang Group, another Shandong province outfit with interests in coal mining, electricity generation and aluminium smelting. Watch this space!

4. Coal in the works

One company we have been keeping an eye on for a while is Coalworks because of its large (760 million tonnes) thermal coal deposit at Oaklands in southern NSW and, importantly, the decision by the Victorian government to convert its rail line that runs near the deposit to standard gauge, thus ensuring that CWK has the option of railing coal to port at Geelong. (Even though it’s in NSW, for historical reasons connected with inter-colonial rivalry in the 19th century, several Victorian broad gauge lines were built into the Riverina - and CWK is lucky they did. There is also a disused NSW line running north from Oaklands, but there would be no show of Sydney coming up with the inclination or the money to rebuild it.) It was a busy week for the company. First they reported that the latest seismic confirms the coal seam at Oaklands are continuous. Then, in another piece of news, the company was selected by the NSW government for an exploration licence for ground in the Gunnedah Basin which is prospective for semi-soft coking and thermal coals.

The writer implies no investment recommendation and this report contains material that is speculative in nature. Investors should seek professional investment advice.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25706088-15023,00.html