A quarterlies lucky dip. Robin Bromby | July 31, 2009 Article...

A quarterlies lucky dip.

Robin Bromby | July 31, 2009
Article from: The Australian.

DON'T get this writer started on the absurdity of the quarterlies - the flood of information, most of it packed into the last few days of the last week of each three-monthly period, and most of it going unread other than by the dedicated shareholders and the more diligent analysts.

Moreover, the quarterlies swamp day-to-day news coming out of the exploration sector. Tonight, of course, those with less than appealing results to unveil will wait to the last minute on the last day – and hope no one notices.

In Pure Speculation in next Monday’s The Australian (a snip at $1.50 at the newsstand), we’ll be reporting on some of stories that we feel have been ignored and/or missed by the mainstream media. But – given the finite size of a newspaper page – that will cover only a tiny amount of said news.

Here is a random selection of items that you may have missed – and may want to follow up.

Northern Energy Corp is about to start drilling its Elimatta coal project in Queensland’s Maryborough Basin. The company has delineated a marketable reserve of 106 million tonnes hard coking coal. This drilling will provide large core samples for metallurgical and washing tests, verify historical information and provide more coal quality information. A mining lease application is also under way.

Gold and Fiji have not always been a successful mix – think the former Emperor Mines and (the also former) Burdekin Pacific – but Geopacific Resources strikes a confident note in its latest quarterly. Recent drilling at the Faddy’s prospect in the Fiji Islands has increased gold grades by an average 76 per cent, compared to drilling done by the previous owner. The current resource figure – 355,000 tonnes at 2.18 grams/tonne gold – is based only a small portion of the mineralisation area at Faddy’s, the company said.

GBM Resources thinks it is on to a 4km-long system at the Malmsbury gold project in Victoria. There are two areas within the project zone, Belltopper Hill which has 104,000oz of gold, and the adjoining Drummond Hill which yielded about 90,000oz of gold from hard rock in the 1880s. GBZ plans to drill a 1km-deep hole to test the potential for a large, deep deposit.

After a while, choosing which quarterlies one reads gets down to something equivalent to (figuratively) wearing a blindfold and throwing a dart at a wall of names. One such throw hit a company we had never noticed before: Ausmon Resources , possibly because more than 60 per cent is held by Chinese interests. This company is on the track of copper and gold at Cumnock project, northwest of Orange, NSW, right in the middle of the Lachlan Fold belt. It has also drilled 435 holes at its Cobar properties.

So, there you have today’s quarterly lucky dip: our flea-bite of an effort to break through the ASX’s three-monthly information overload.

Once again, we ask plaintively, can’t they come up with a better system? How can you have meaningful continuous disclosure if the punters can’t digest all the information pumped out in a few hectic days?

If you feel the same, email me at [email protected].

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