Ferrets Stock to Watch: TORRENS ENERGY LTD 09:14, Thursday, 19 April 2007
ENERGY COMPANY MAKES HEADLINES; STILL TO PROVE ITSELF
Sydney - Thursday - April 19: (RWE Aust Business News) ******************************************************
OVERVIEW ********
Torrens Energy Ltd (ASX:TEY) has been listed for less than a month but it has achieved fame, while for investors the fortune is still to come.
The media and television has pursued the company in the last couple of weeks because it heralds a new breed of energy producer by way of "hot rocks" and clean power.
There are already a number of public companies in the same line of exploration and they appear to be succeeding in harnessing the incredible heat flow that comes out from rocks deep down in the earth.
It is clean power that is exciting governments and business.
Torrens has even had a please explain from the ASX after the 20c shares reached 35c in 16 days after listing and then climbed to 44c in the same day, attracting the watchful eye of the Exchange.
But since then the shares have have taken a breather while the free options - on a 1-for-2 basis - are 21c.
What a winner.
However, Torrens replied to the ASX saying it was not aware of any information that could explain the recent trading in its shares.
The company has, however, recently secured an additional geothermal exploration licence (GEL) at the Torrens project area, located north of Port Augusta in South Australia.
Torrens directors did tell the ASX that the geothermal sector has received substantial press in weekend newspapers and also on the ABC 4 Corners program of April 16.
This coverage, in the directors opinion, does increase interest in the sector.
On Tuesday, Torrens Energy announced the acquisition of geothermal exploration licence 278 for the Torrens project area.
Major features include:
* Additional geothermal exploration licence acquired at the Torrens project area bringing total to 15 licence areas for 7,200 square kilometres;
* New GEL located close to infrastructure and markets, on a major road and the national power grid;
* Highly prospective area known for high heat flow and coincident insulating sedimentary cover;
* GEL is strategically located close to Port Augusta power plant supplied by dwindling coal reserves from Leigh Creek.
Torrens Energy's 100 per cent-owned land holdings gives it the second largest geothermal holding in Australia.
The new GEL is contiguous to and forms a part of the existing Torrens project.
The GEL is located in an area known for high heat flow and coincident with an overlying layer of insulating sedimentary cover.
The coal-fired Port Augusta power station currently supplies around 500MW of electricity to energy-hungry South Australia.
Accentuating the energy shortfalls faced by SA, the power station is supplied by the Leigh Creek coal field which is expected to be exhausted of its reserves within the next 10 to 15 years.
This underscores the strategic importance of the Torrens project area which begins just 30kms from Port Augusta in the south and 60km from Leigh Creek in the north.
SHARE PRICE MOVEMENTS *********************
Shares of Torrens Energy yesterday slipped 0.5c to 41c. Highest share price so far is 47c and low 33.5c. The free options rose from 14.5c to 21c yesterday. The company has 34.8 million shares on offer with a market cap of $14.2 million and 16.6 million options worth $3.5 million.
BACKGROUND **********
Torrens Energy joined the ASX on March 30.
The company aims to become a dominant player in the sustainable alternative energy market through the development of hot rock geothermal resources for commercial power generation.
High geothermal prospectivity has been independently verified across 14 GELs held by Torrens.
Exploration drill program begins in the September.
The IPO - comprising 30 million shares at 20c each with one free attaching listing option for every two shares - attracted strong interest from a range of Australian and international institutional and retail investors.
Torrens will use the funds raised to identify hot rock geothermal targets within a portfolio of highly prospective GELs near Adelaide where geological conditions, infrastructure and large energy markets coincide to create an exceptional opportunity for the company to generate sustainable, renewable, emissions-free geothermal energy.
"The unusually hot rocks known to occur in South Australia represent a vast, untapped reservoir of energy and we have been the first to recognise this in areas close to Adelaide, securing 14 GELs and confirming their prospectivity," said CEO Chris Matthews.