NIA - Niagara Mining

Right.

At 5.56pm EST, NIA release a price sensitive announcement, re a drilling update for the Windarra Nickel Project. No doubt one of the reasons for the massive surge today.

At 7.18pm EST, NIA respond to a speeding ticket from the ASX.

Q:"Is the company aware of any information which could be an explanation etc etc", A: "The company is not aware of any such information".

Q: "Is there any other explanation for the price change etc etc" A: "Other than recent announcements regarding changes in significant holdings and conversion of options, etc etc, the company has no other explanation for the price change and the increase in volume"

Anyone care to explain how they can respond to a speeding ticket with a "I know nothing" after they have released a price sensitive announcement?

The speeding ticket refers to NIA hitting a high of $1.79, which didnt occur until close to 3pm EST. Therefore, we could reasonably expect that NIA were responding or considering their response at about the same time that they were releasing the price sensitive announcement.

I understand that leaks occur, but a total denial of reality is taking things a bit too far. Just my opinion.

A 58% change at it's peak , closing at almost 31% above previous, sure does look like the drilling report was leaked and people taking profits towards the end of day trading.

Sure is an interesting boat ride.

Hi Ex Geo
Can you please give some more explanation of your points on NIA for Non (Never) Geos like me ?


Regards

Miner
14 May 07

SMH have picked up on the NIA surge on Monday, and their denial of reality in their response to the speeding ticket. May see another query from the ASX.

Niagara flurry mystifies market

TIMING could be everything when it comes to Niagara Mining's mysterious 59 per cent share price spike just hours before the company released positive drilling results from the historic Poseidon nickel project on Monday evening.

It is believed the Andrew Forrest-backed explorer could be forced to respond to a query from the Australian Securities Exchange as early as today regarding when the directors received the drilling results. The query is standard procedure in such cases.

Niagara shares rose from Friday's close of $1.13 to a peak of $1.795 during trading on Monday, seemingly on no new news. But there were rumours that good drilling results were about to be released circulating on online message board HotCopper.

At 5.56pm Niagara released positive drilling results from its Windarra project in Western Australia, which was discovered by Poseidon in the 1960s. The announcement was marked "price sensitive".

At 7.18pm, Niagara finally responded to an ASX share price query. It is understood the stock exchange had sent the query hours earlier, before the release of the drilling results.

In response to the query, Niagara made no mention of the price-sensitive drilling results.

The only possible explanations it gave for the increase in its share price and trading volumes were changes in significant holdings - presumably including long-time backers of Mr Forrest buying the stock - and RAB Capital recently injecting $8.65 million of funding by converting options.

Niagara managing director Chris Daws yesterday refused to provide any insight into the time-line or the share price spike.

"I am not prepared to talk to The Sydney Morning Herald," he said. "You better do more digging. You certainly won't get it from me."

Mr Daws was for years subject to a permanent ban on being a securities dealer or investment adviser. The ban was lifted last year after he successfully argued it was hindering him from becoming a company director.

Mr Forrest, the multi-billionaire behind iron ore developer Fortescue Metals, is set to become Niagara's chairman and to receive 115 million options following a shareholder vote. Mr Forrest has said he would replace Mr Daws with a new managing director.

Since Mr Forrest announced plans to join Niagara, which he hopes to rename Poseidon Mines, the company's share price has risen from 24.5c to close at $1.39 yesterday, 9.5c lower than Monday's close. At yesterday's closing price, his options package would already be more than $270 million in the money.

At least 30 per cent of Niagara shares are believed to be held by supporters of Mr Forrest, including HMC Investors, RAB Capital and Mr Daws and his father, Niagara's executive chairman, Doug Daws.

hmm nia announced a trading halt as of 10am this morning...can any one shed any light on this? could it be to do with the apparent leaking of their previous announcement or something new?

miiine said:

hmm nia announced a trading halt as of 10am this morning...can any one shed any light on this? could it be to do with the apparent leaking of their previous announcement or something new?

Click to expand...

No idea at this stage. If it was a further query from the ASX, im not sure why they would need a trading halt, they will just deny all knowledge anyway. Unless the ASX have requested that - im not totally familiar with their rules.

Perhaps it is a positive announcement, seeing as how the leak on Monday allowed all their mates to make a significant quid, no point pushing things even further and trying it again today.

Announcement out - have signed an exclusive Nickel Marketing Agreeement with Fortescue.

Big surprise there! Lets see what it does for both companies, and i wonder who will be the major beneficiary of any agreement?

isn't andrew forrest on both nia and fmg? maybe not such a big surprise now i think about it... probably would help nia more than fmg, but i'm no expert here.

miiine said:

isn't andrew forrest on both nia and fmg? maybe not such a big surprise now i think about it... probably would help nia more than fmg, but i'm no expert here.

Click to expand...

He sure is! FMG and NIA keep rising, he will be close to the richest person in Australia - on paper anyway. Im very cautious on the way he operates, but the market dont seem to mind - my loss i guess!

You are right, a bigger boost for NIA, but FMG are up well after the announcement too.

This NIA and FMG deal sucks for shareholders who have not been able to be informed thru the usual lines of communication. Why the f.. did they have to open trading in the middle of the trading day - why not wait for the next day
How was it that FMG sp has been going up and up for no reason for the past so many days. so definitely there was a leak
i do nto hold any of these shares but i am in general pissed off at the way these companies release their information to the market. Same issues were raised with PMN and SUN merger. The market seems to tell us that all is open and info provided on time. SURE

SUCKS

ekman i think nia wanted to be seen doing the 'right' thing. seeing as how the previous announcement must have been leaked (explaining the jump from $1.10 to $1.79 in the same day), then the announcement coming after the day's close, the asx would have been watching them closely.

i think nia just wanted to do the bare minimum in the rules to save their own collectives.

miine - yes too right. do you think all this big of town dealings and wheelings suck for mum & dad investors. i think therefore many analysts recommend these mum dad people to invest in well managed companies
anyways - that is whinge for toady !

Just might be the next Australian Mining House in the making????....... (FMG-NIA-MOL).. Just a random thought...

ekman said:

miine - yes too right. do you think all this big of town dealings and wheelings suck for mum & dad investors. i think therefore many analysts recommend these mum dad people to invest in well managed companies
anyways - that is whinge for toady !

Click to expand...

i think you've hit it on the head ekman. at the end of the day the boards of most of these companies (i guess some do try to do the right thing) will look after their mates, then their shareholders. it does suck. i think a lot of us have seen not just nia, but quite a few other companies release announcements late, giving their mates an opportunity to sell out or buy in.

the rest of us who aren't in the know get shafted. even tho i've made some money on nia in the past few days, i still find the way they've released their announcement disgraceful.

there's my whinge too lol.

that all said, it does look pretty good with nia, i'm guessing that andrew forrest had quite a bit to do with this...

-> nia board to be re-organised

->strategic alliance between fmg and nia - both companies to leverage off each other's experience. this mainly looks like in nia's favour for now.

i'm trying to see what's in it here for FMG. possible takeover? would be interesting to see how the nia board is re-organised.

This part of the announcement strikes me:

The Strategic Alliance currently being formulated by the parties is an opportunity for
Niagara Mining Limited to leverage off the large industrial strength and capabilities
that Fortescue Metals Group Ltd has built over the past few years in developing the
“New Force in Iron Ore” and assist in creating a formidable world class nickel
exploration, mining and production Company.

Possibly FMG looking to strengthen its nickel capacity? If they're gonna market it for NIA, is it possible that they're thinking about buying it out if it proves worthwhile?

Nine knew about Niagara drill results
Jamie Freed
May 18, 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/busin...a-drill-results/2007/05/17/1178995324348.html

POTENTIAL Poseidon nickel resurrector Niagara Mining has revealed that at least nine people knew about its positive drilling results for more than a month before releasing them to the market on Monday evening.

But it has not yet made public details of its negotiations on a nickel-marketing agreement with Fortescue Metals, announced on Wednesday, that may also shed light on Niagara's mysterious 59 per cent share price spike on Monday.

On Monday evening, Niagara told the Australian Stock Exchange it was unable to provide an explanation for the spike beyond the attention it had attracted since Fortescue chief executive Andrew Forrest announced plans last month to join its board. It also mentioned that prominent investors ”” at least one of whom also holds shares in Fortescue ”” had recently purchased Niagara shares.

Niagara received the query about the drilling results from the ASX on Tuesday, a day before the announcement of the Fortescue marketing deal. But the response was not made public until yesterday.

Niagara said it had known about "certain parts" of the drilling results since around April 10, but did not release them due to the "incomplete nature of this information and the various sampling, data compilation and internal reporting processes". It provided a list of eight people, plus an assay laboratory, who were aware of the results prior to the announcement.

It is not known if the ASX sent a second query after the Fortescue announcement.

Has anyone else seen the proposed resolutions for the next AGM? And what are your thoughts?

Name change to Poseidon Nickel - really just to cash in on the name of "Poseidon". Corporate expense not required at this stage, better spent on mine development.

Mr.Forrest and Ventnor are to be issued shares, which would have a dilution effect on existing Shareholders of approximately 3.6% (page 18, 10.3 (j)).

My biggest concern is the issue of all the options to Mr.Forrest (115 M) and Ventnor (2.5 M).

From Independent Expert's Report:
"There is no initial direct cost to Shareholders as a result of issuing the options. The cost to Shareholders will only arise if and when the options are exercised which can only happen if certain conditions are met. However, the cureent value of a Nigara share is such that the options could be exercised immediately".

So what is the cost to the Shareholders if they were exercised? They don't seem to go into that.

But here is one example:
"Loss of control
There is the potential that Shareholders of Niagara will lise control if Mr Forrest exercises all of his options. Following the issue of the 5 million shares to Mr Forrest, he will hold an interest of approximately 2% in the shares of Niagara. If all of the options in Niagara are to be exercised then Mr Forrest would hold an interest of approximately 41% in Niagara (approximately 43% assuming no other options are converted). this means that Mr Forrest will be capable of blocking any vote requiring 75% shareholder approval."

I think it is a good thing Mr Forrest joining the board, as also shown by the share price increase when announced, but it seems like a lot of control is being handed over to him for no effort. The condition on the options should have been on an increase in share price after him coming on the board, not on share prices that are already exceeded.

I'm sure all the resolutions will get through, so will be interesting to see how the market takes it.

I bought these at $1.34 any chance of going up. Look like people have lost interest in NIA alot of selling today.

My view only,but I think the price at the moment is a wonderful buy in point.Look what forrest has achieved with fortescue.Once he becomes the ceo of viagara this share could take off like the shuttle atlantis.This guy has muscle,when he says jump they say how faror high.I have no qualms about saying yes on the forms,as a matter of fact I jumped across the room to get the pen.Keep the faith strong.over and out.

For a company with good cap before this last few months there price is around 20 cent with is pretty low. So hopefully NIA can make a jump to the top

Short term I don't see this going up. It's sitting on a support of $1.20 and depending on tomorrow, the next support is probably around $1.10