Hello guys. Got yer hand over the panic button? Me too. Anywho, here is some interesting reading from SH.
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Date : October 4, 2002
Bema Gold Can Give SouthernEra A Few Lessons On How Best To Promote And Use An AIM Listing.
As anticipated by Minews some weeks ago the Canadian company Bema Gold Corporation is going to list on AIM by the end of
this month and with an estimated market capitalisation of £240 million it will be the biggest mining company listed on London’s
second market. It is listing via an introduction and is raising no money, but unlike its compatriot SouthernEra Resources which
crept on silently in the summer, it is keeping UK investors fully abreast of its plans and progress. To start with it has a director,
Jerry Korpan, domiciled in London to foster its relationships. He was a broker in the corporate finance department of Yorkton when
Bema first became a client so knows the company through and through. And to make sure its message gets around the place Bema
has also engaged IR and PR advisers over here.
Its brokers and nominated advisers are Canaccord Capital which has offices in London and Canada. The latter did a lot of work on
the prospectus as Canaccord is one of the few Canadian firms accredited to do this work by the London Stock Exchange.
SouthernEra, on the other hand wanted to minimise expenditure so used a Scottish broker and had no PR or IR advisers. As a
result hardly any UK investors knew that it had listed . To be fair SouthernEra has a representative over here who certainly knows
what he is talking about - John Barker who used to be with RBC Dominion Securities. Sadly Patrick Evans, the CEO, will not
divulge Barker’s contact numbers for reasons best known to himself. All questions have to be directed to a female doctor of IR in
Canada. Maybe Mr Evans does not appreciate that there is a time gap and that copy deadlines wait for no man… or woman.
This is hardly the best way to court crusty journos and the suspicion is that SouthernEra, unlike Bema, has not bothered to find
out about the way things operate here, and cares less. The fact that Mr Evans claims that 6 per cent of his equity is now in UK
hands says it all. Many overseas companies who make regular visits to London to build relationships have higher UK holdings
without making any attempt to list on AIM. Troy Resources , the Australian mining company is just one that comes to mind. It has
a representative over here, Henry Clive, and 35 per cent of its shares are owned by Poms.
Back to Bema. It is already listed on Toronto and the American Stock Exchange and it describes itself as engaged in the mining and
production of gold and silver and the acquisition, exploration and development of precious metal properties principally in the
Russian Federation, Chile and Canada. Over the last decade the company has proved that it can take projects from exploration to
production, having already built up three separate mines. Its growth strategy is to increase production through the advancement
of existing development projects and to acquire other exploration and development opportunities globally.
The listing on AIM is part of its European development strategy. The listing should enhance Bema’s international profile, widen its
shareholder base and provide access to additional sources of capital for its projects. As Jerry Korpan points out, the company will
get itself known over here so that there should be a positive response later on if the right deal comes along and funds are required..
The listing will also complement the Company’s move into the Russian market via its Julietta Mine in Russia. The Julietta Mine is
projected to be one of the lowest cost gold mines in the world. Gold and silver production at the Company’s 79 per cent owned
Julietta Mine commenced in September 2001, two months ahead of schedule.
Bema is successfully implementing its strategy of becoming a low cost gold producer with the development of the Julietta Mine,
while maintaining the large reserve and resource base that offers extraordinary leverage to higher gold prices. It has two other
projects in Chile, Refugio and Cerro Casale, which could be brought swiftly into production if the price of gold approaches
US$350/oz. Furthermore, Bema will continue to increase the Company’s low cost gold production by focusing acquisition efforts
on high-grade projects, such as Julietta, which can be financed and developed even at current gold prices.
The operation of the Julietta mine has given Bema valuable experience and a strong profile in Russia. Bema is recognised as one of
the few Western companies to have brought international financing to a Russian project and built a mine working with local
partners. This success has provided Bema with opportunities to evaluate other mineral properties throughout Russia and it intends
to utilise this advantage to acquire and develop additional high grade precious metals projects in Russia. As London is now
recognized as the mining finance centre for Eastern Europe, Russia and the countries of the Former Soviet Union there is a lot of
sense in Bema’s decision to list here.
stockhouse.com
Insiders say that Minews is pis..ed off with SUF bacause they will not pay extravagant sums to participate at their London confereces - money making exercises for the organizers, free lunches for the attendants, little benefit for the companies. Rotton idea...
Well known that Canaccord charge about GBP600,000 for an AIM listing. SUF did it for about half that by being smart about who they used as advisors and brokers.
Minews can't find Barker's telephone number? Has he tried calling the SUF office in Toronto? They have it! Some journalist!!
Will be interesting to see how Bema does in months ahead compared to SUF......
stockhouse.com;
I'm no insider, but I know a PR puff piece when I see one.
Who needs the puff when you have the real stuff ?
It make take more time for Mr Market to realize what value SUF represents, so in the meantime buy some shares, or at least hold onto what you have, and relax.
-- Chas
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Reuters Company News
Norilsk Nickel has no plans to stockpile palladium
Thursday October 3, 7:45 pm ET
NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Russian metals giant GMK Norilsk Nickel (GMKN.RTS), the world's largest producer of nickel and the platinum group metal (PGM) palladium, said on Thursday it will not interrupt palladium supplies to the world market for the foreseeable future.
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Norilsk has no intention of stockpiling the precious metal amid a global supply deficit of around 60 tonnes annually and private and government inventories which have been drawn down over the summer, Leonid Rozhetskin, Norilsk's Deputy General Director, said.
"Today the world is consuming more palladium than it is producing, and so the long-term outlook for palladium is excellent. That means in the long term, we don't need to stockpile any of that metal," Rozhetskin said at a conference in New York.
The executive told analysts at a meeting showcasing Russian companies that Norilsk estimates about 160 tonnes of palladium will be produced in the world this year, while consumption should reach roughly 220 tonnes.
Palladium is used largely by automotive manufacturers in catalytic converters to capture noxious fumes in exhaust systems.
"We are very confident in the continued usage of palladium," he said. "It is a question of recapturing some of the swing production away from platinum in favor of palladium as it has shifted in the last two years, but we think that's a task we are eminently qualified to achieve," he said.
Rozhetskin also said Norilsk was interested in avoiding the extreme price volatility the metal has seen in the last few years and erasing the stigma which palladium acquired in the early-to-mid 1990s of having unreliable exports from Russia.
The Moscow-headquartered company says it exports 98 percent of its PGMs, with 43 percent of sales going to Europe, followed by the United States with 30 percent and Asia with 27 percent.
At its mining and refining operations well north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia, Norilsk produces around 40 percent of the world's palladium, 17 percent of its platinum, 19 percent of its nickel and 3.5 percent of global copper, it said.
Norilsk's revenue in 2001 reached $4.378 billion, with precious metals accounting for 46 percent, nickel 32 percent, and copper 14 percent.
Spot palladium last traded Thursday in New York at $316 an ounce, down from over $1,000 an ounce two years ago. |
