Thi story might bring a smile to holders of MON.
Cheers Ya''ll
May 29, 2007
Monarch Gold Plans To Court Investors In Dubai
By Our Man In Oz
London has been very good to Michael Kiernan. Dubai, he hopes, will be even better as he plots his return to mainstream mining as a full-fee member of the gold bugs club. Monarch Gold, with a series of Australian projects on its books, is Kiernan’s corporate vehicle. First production is just weeks away with the target being 500,000 ounces a year by the end of 2009. But, of equal interest to his ambitious mining aims, is a plan to grow Monarch’s shareholder base in the Middle East, rather than London, which was the way he did things when running Consolidated Minerals, the manganese, nickel and chromite miner which helped make his reputation.
Michael Kiernan
Listing Monarch on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFEX) is being closely examined by Kiernan who spent a couple of days in the city last week. He told Minesite while walking the hot streets of a place which likes to market itself as “the city of gold” that there was a large, unsatisfied, appetite for direct investment in gold in the entire Middle East region. His plan is to be one of the first Australian resource companies to offer itself directly to investors in Dubai, possibly by-passing London.
“I’m out to lunch on AIM,” was Kiernan’s colourful response to a question about a London listing for Monarch. “We were among the first to become involved with AIM back in the 90s, but I’d have to say that today it’s become a bit of a logjam. The problem is that there are really only about three dozen institutions which get involved with AIM, and there are just so many companies listed today. DIFEX is in its early days, but so was AIM when we joined, and I can clearly see an opportunity to grow with investors in this region. Our goal is to have about 15 per cent of Monarch’s shareholders based in the region.”
Kiernan said he was confident that interest in Monarch would grow along with its production profile, and a plan to become a dividend payer quickly. First mine on the company’s agenda is the re-development of the Davyhurst project, about 80 kilometres north of the historic Australian goldmining centre of Coolgardie. Milling ore is expected to start in mid-July, with the first gold pour towards the end of that month. Next mine is the rich Mt Ida project, which will provide blending ore to boost the head-grade at the Davyhurst mill. The third mine is the old Gindalbie operation at Minjar, with more to come via an aggressive exploration program and possible corporate activity.
For a man who once preferred base metals, Kiernan has become a loud advocate for gold, essentially because of the rising demand for the metal in China, both at an official level, and through private investment. “I’m reliably told that China has set a target of having 20 per cent of its foreign reserves in gold,” he told Minesite. “Getting to that figure will have a major affect on the gold market because the latest estimate is that gold represents just 1.2 per cent of the country’s foreign reserves.”
Investors are warming to Monarch and its focus on Dubai. In the week since Kiernan’s visit to DIFEX the stock has risen from around A27 cents to A33 cents. That 25 per cent increase is one of the better performances by an Australian miner not involved with uranium or iron ore, the two current favourites. With a market value of A$97 million it would not take too much buying interest from a rich Arab (or two) to propel the stock even higher, and with Kiernan singing the praises of the Middle East like a modern-day Lawrence of Arabia (with Oz accent) there is little doubt that the locals will learn to like the story, just as London embraced the old Consolidated Minerals story.
The big question, which Kiernan believes he knows the answer, is how long will it take for DIFEX to become a securities market with a serious following? Given the ability of the city and State to develop a tourist industry from nowhere, as well as be recognised as a financial hub, and there probably should not be much doubt about building interest in a stock market. If that happens then Monarch, and the handful of other western-world stocks making the pilgrimage to the Middle East, might have a “first mover” advantage.
“There’s obviously a lot of net worth in this region,” Kiernan said in one of his rare under-statements. “By listing in Dubai we’ll give some of those high net worth people a chance to get direct exposure to resources, and to a commodity which they thoroughly understand.” Does that mean Kiernan will completely by-pass London is the key question Minesite tosses to Kiernan – to which he uses his nifty turn of phrase about being “out to lunch” on AIM. “We’ve got some very good shareholders who’ve followed us from London, and I’ll always look after them. I’l take one hurdle at a time, and look very closely at DIFEX which might produce a better result for the company.”