PMA - Precious Metals Australia

[missyh1]

This stock has been moving south the last few days & I recently saw a increase in substantial holdings of a large fund. The stock had a fantastic start increasing from 32c to $2.50 and has now retreated to $1.73 approx.

Does anyone know anything interesting about the stock?

 

[disarray]

probably a fund taking a long position on the price of vanadium

came to this thread after reading this SMH article and was curious about PMA as well.

Windimurra, near Mt Magnet, was closed and dismantled in 2004. It had been built in 1998 with contributions of about $30 million from state taxpayers. Xstrata was suspected of closing the mine to push up the languishing price of vanadium, a charge it denied. Critics of Xstrata pointed to the expansion of one of its South African vanadium mines at the same time as it mothballed Windimurra, and its refusal to reopen the mine as vanadium prices doubled, then doubled again.

It would not sell the mine as a going concern, preferring, instead, to take it to pieces. Xstrata said the mine was unviable and irreparably flawed.

No one is really sure what to think about Windimurra now (except, perhaps, that it might be cursed) because it became something of an exhibit during the state's Corruption and Crime Commission hearings.

It emerged that a minority shareholder in Windimurra, Precious Metals Australia, had engaged Brian Burke to secretly lobby for changes to a government report on the mine closure. The tabled report attacked Xstrata and was used by PMA to obtain a $17.5 million settlement from the Swiss miner.

When the report was tabled, the Labor MLA John Bowler, who was on the report committee, attacked the "sinister" actions of Xstrata, and accused the company of closing the mine to manipulate the world price of vanadium. Bowler quit Parliament this year after his close ties to Burke were uncovered by the commission. PMA, having won full ownership of the mine, now plans to rebuild Windimurra, and denies the corrupted report aided PMA in obtaining its settlement from Xstrata. Xstrata has threatened to sue.

according to their website the project should be up and running by end 2008.

 

[bigdog]

PMA Change Effective: 21/12/2007

http://www.wabusinessnews.com.au/en-story.php?/1/76718/Bowler-involved-in-misconduct-CCC/dba

Bowler involved in misconduct: CCC
16-November-09 by AAP

Western Australia's corruption watchdog has found former government minister John Bowler was involved in serious misconduct in his handling of an application by a mining company that was a client of Brian Burke.

The Corruption and Crime Commission said Mr Bowler, the current MP for Kalgoorlie and former WA Resources Minister, engaged in serious misconduct by trying to disadvantage BHP Billiton in dealing with an application by Precious Metals Australia (PMA) to obtain mining tenements held by BHP.

PMA was a client of Mr Burke, the disgraced former premier, and his business partner and former cabinet colleague Julian Grill.

The CCC tabled a report into the matter which centred on BHP's Yeelirrie uranium deposit, about 500km north of Kalgoorlie.

Commissioner Len Roberts-Smith said Mr Bowler's actions were designed to disadvantage BHP Billiton and included an agreement to defer a decision to terminate PMA's application allowing them time to extract money or tenements from the mining giant in 2006.

The CCC said Mr Bowler would not be charged with corruption because the evidence admissible in a criminal prosecution would be unlikely to prove the allegation beyond reasonable doubt.

Mr Bowler was suspended by the parliament for seven sitting weeks and dumped from the Labor party for other dealings with Burke and Grill.

He is now an independent MP and helped the Liberal Party form a majority government with the Nationals after last year's election resulted in a hung parliament.

Mr Roberts-Smith said there was no practical recommendation the commission could make for disciplinary action because Mr Bowler was no longer a minister.

Last week the parliamentary investigator investigated how the draft report into the matter was leaked to News Ltd in May.

It failed to find the source of the leak but said there was no evidence to support the materials were deliberately leaked by the CCC or that its integrity had been otherwise compromised.

An article published after the leak said the CCC has recommended criminal charges.

Mr Roberts-Smith said the CCC allowed people it investigated a reasonable opportunity to make representations about the matter, usually by giving them extracts from the draft report to allow them to respond.

"These responses are taken into consideration by the commission when framing the final report," he said.

"These extracts of the draft reports have no standing and may well not be the same as the final report which is what occurred in this case."

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