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Some good price action following the latest announcement and resulting media interest. No question that the Mt Elliot copper prospect is pretty good but those spectacular moly grades at the Merlin prospect have this one filed under H for hold...
MINING billionaire Robert Friedland's Ivanhoe Australia is fast becoming a company to watch.
It has significant copper drilling results thought to rival Australia's massive diversified mines.
The company's stock jumped 11 per cent to 40c yesterday after chief executive Peter Reeve released drilling results from the Swan zone at its Mount Elliott project in northwest Queensland.
He said one of the drill holes had intersected 342m at 1.53 per cent copper.
"This is an outstanding result and is well above expectations," Mr Reeve said.
UBS analyst Jo Battershill said 1.53 per cent copper equalled the best sections in OZ Minerals' flagship Prominent Hill copper-gold mine in South Australia.
"These are very encouraging results and some of the best drill results we have seen in Australia in the last couple of years," Mr Battershill said.
"Ivanhoe have historically done well to identify potential sources of very large deposits, which they aim to drill out to discover how big it is, instead of jumping into early mine development."
Mr Battershill said that now was a terrible time to be announcing good news because of the difficult market.
But he said that Ivanhoe's previous big discovery, last December, also had the potential to be a significant find.
Ivanhoe revealed what it called a "company-changing" molybdenum and rhenium discovery in Queensland in December.
At the time it said recent drilling at its Mount Dore project at its Cloncurry tenements in northwestern Queensland had discovered and confirmed a significant zone of high-grade molybdenum and rhenium mineralisation.
It is understood that the drill results on the project indicate that the resource could have at least 13 million tonnes of molybdenum, and could be worth more than $US5 billion ($7.4 billion).
The unexpected discovery, which the company is calling the Merlin project, has become its top priority. Mt Elliott was originally the cornerstone project.
Ivanhoe has tenements covering 2250sqkm in the Mount Isa-Cloncurry mineral district in Queensland.
"I don't think people often understand the molybdenum market well but these were exceptionally high-grade results on any world standard," Mr Battershill said.
"Ivanhoe is well-positioned for any positive turn in the market.
"They can push to the stages of pre-feasibility studies on potentially significantly sized projects."
Mr Reeve said he was pleased the company was not in production yet because the tight credit conditions and falling commodity prices had sent some miners to the wall.
"It is a terrible time for some with the metal prices down and input costs still high," he said.
"Input costs will eventually fall, though, and we are cashed up with $70 million in the bank.
"We have development plans in place and are working towards building up our resources."
Canada-based Ivanhoe Mines owns 80 per cent of Ivanhoe Australia.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24913762-5005200,00.html
London, 06 March 2009 - Ivanhoe Australia Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Mines Ltd of Canada, has applied to join the MMTA (Minor Metals Trade Association), the MMTA said on Friday.
The company has a molybdenum and rhenium development project in Queensland, Australia. It expects rhenium production to commence within two years.
The MMTA is a UK-based industry body, comprised of traders, producers and consumers of minor metals. Its membership comprises over 120 companies from 30 countries, accounting for $10-15 billion a year in minor metals trade.
London, 04 March 2009 - The global molybdenum market is expected to register a surplus of 10 million pounds this year, although this could be wiped out if Chinese production growth is less than expected, Douglas Horn, analyst at consultants CPM Group said on Wednesday.
In a broad annual market of 460 million pounds, this is a manageable surplus, which suggests an average price of between $10.50/11.00 for molybdenum oxide (MO3) this year, rising to $16 next year and over $20 in 2011, he said at at a conference organised by the LME and Metal-Pages.
MO3 is currently languishing around $8.50/9.00 a pound, close to its lowest since June 2004, having collapsed from early-September 2008 levels of some $32 a pound.
China accounted for 38 percent of world production in 2008, but its output growth has been slowing, due to many high cost and low-grade mines having to cut back. This trend will continue, although production is still seen growing by six percent this year.
"But if production growth is flat in China, that surplus will disappear, which is encouraging," he said.
The near-75 percent price drop, which was a result of the steep cutbacks in steel production -- molybdenum's key end-use -- has already seen some 30 million pounds of capacity being cut back, and more are possible, Horn said.
"The sharp correction in both molybdenum and copper prices may continue to spur significant slashes in output at existing producers."
"Project financing will remain an uphill battle for practically all of the potential new primary producers and expected copper by-product producers. Extended delays in financing may result in the cancelation of equipment orders and defaults on obligations," he added.
Demand has also been hit by the recession, and steel production cuts will continue to depress molybdenum sales until demand picks up significantly.
"Stimulus packages in China, the US, and other countries will help mitigate the cyclical downturn but will not replace private sector demand," Horn said.
MinorMetals.com
No wonder the likes of KMN have been smashed. Can we assume prices are going to really steady and continue up? I am sure that the BRIC story is just taking a short term hit in the early stages of a long term bull. Metals will be in demand once again. How long? 2-6 years? If companies like this can stay solvent in the immediate future they may represent a significant growth opportunity once the dust settles. Maybe.MO3 is currently languishing around $8.50/9.00 a pound, close to its lowest since June 2004, having collapsed from early-September 2008 levels of some $32 a pound.
No wonder the likes of KMN have been smashed. Can we assume prices are going to really steady and continue up? I am sure that the BRIC story is just taking a short term hit in the early stages of a long term bull. Metals will be in demand once again. How long? 2-6 years? If companies like this can stay solvent in the immediate future they may represent a significant growth opportunity once the dust settles. Maybe.
– Examples are Ernest Henry, Olympic Dam and Prominent Hill
♦ Global Resources total 3.1 Mt copper and 5.1 Mozs gold
♦ Principal IAL 100% projects have significant resources:
– Mount Elliott; 2.3 Mt copper, 4.3 Mozs gold
– Mount Dore; 480,000 tonnes copper
– Starra Line; 274,000 tonnes copper, 809,000 ozs gold
♦ All the key projects are on granted mining licences
He said results at the Merlin Project indicated it was the highest grade source of rhenium and molybdenum anywhere in the world. "These results are outstanding. This is one of the best discoveries in Australia in a long time," he said.
Focus seems to have shifted short term to the Mo/Re find. Sounds pretty spectacular. Requires Mo price to lift a bit to gain more interest I think. Blows KMN's Kalman deposit out of the water.Which is interesting. We were looking for Cu/Au only. Though just up the road, one of the largest Ag nuggets ever was found from memory. The area (especially around Kuridalla / Mt Elliott) is steeped in mining history.
Focus seems to have shifted short term to the Mo/Re find. Sounds pretty spectacular. Requires Mo price to lift a bit to gain more interest I think. Blows KMN's Kalman deposit out of the water.
Thanks for putting in perspective JBN.Tons of interest today. Got in to this after choking on my cornies at the top of this thread - my best trade of the year. The grades are money making territory in any market. To put it in terms of more common commodities - moly grades of 1.4% are roughly equivalent to 7% copper at $8.8/lb and $1.8/lb respectively, and rhenium at 20 g/t is equivalent to around 7 g/t of gold. Very rich grades in anyones language...
Simply stunning. Up another 25% this morning. Incredible. Gobsmacked. One of those outliers you just dream of. Well done JBN!
Nice move JBN! Just about the top. Lots of profit taking moving in, as you would expect. Nothing just goes verticle for ever. Problem now is, where is technical support on the way back down? Maybe a little around $1.00 from last Sep, but then it's back at 50c. Must stop and consolidate at some point, the Mo find is too good. I've been patiently waiting for an opportunity, it may be close. First resource estimate for Merlin is due in April which might provide further interest.I'll probably kick myself but I took my profits on Friday. Fancied I saw drop in volume signalling the run was coming to an end. Mustn't grumble though - its been a nice ride...
Yes, excellent point! I have looked at the cross sections on the cartoons that they've produced and it all looks pretty thin, but open. Really hard to tell the tonnage from what they have produced. The good grades are around the 200m mark which is ok. I mean, I could dig down to that! The trick with this deposit is that it's the highest grade Mo/Re deposit on the planet, by what we know. Just what that is worth as far as current market cap is a good question. In it's present stage, is it cheap, or expensive? What's the sentiment?The grades here sound great my one question is how much at this grade..
Not sure about the Vanadium up there, but they are claiming some big Cu and Au numbers as mentioned previously. Low grade by the look, except for that one gigantic 150m + 1.5% Cu equiv intersection mentioned a little back.It depends how far off they are till production..
200m is reasonably deep isnt it the one I'm looking at is roughly 5-9m and 9-15m although has more Vanadium then Molybdenum just trying to compare as 200mil cap seems large if there not near production well in the current climate that is back in the bull i would of thought it was super cheap..
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