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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTHERNERA (t.SUF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Frankly Speaking who wrote (7197)	11/24/2004 6:31:24 PM
From: Letmebe Frank	Respond to of 7235

Lonmin takeover of SPC? UPDATE 1-Southern Platinum surges on Lonmin takeover talk Wed Nov 24, 2004 05:59 PM ET (Recasts with CEO, market source comment) By Nicole Mordant VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Shares in Southern Platinum Corp. (SPC.TO: Quote, Profile, Research) surged 25 percent on Wednesday on speculation Lonmin Plc (LMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is stalking it, prompting the small Toronto-based miner to announce that it has held talks recently with big unnamed platinum firms. "The name in the marketplace is Lonmin," a well-placed market source said, adding that talk was that the London-listed platinum miner was rumored to want to do a "straight takeover". Lonmin could not be reached for comment. Patrick Evans, Southern Platinum's chief executive, declined to comment on the market speculation but said that shareholders would be better off if the company wasn't bought. "We believe that shareholder value would be maximized by Southern Platinum being independent. However, we are open to the concept of a strategic partner with an industry player," he told Reuters. An example of a such a partnership, he said, was Southern Platinum's relationship with Impala Platinum Ltd. (IMPJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) , the world's No. 2 platinum producer, which smelts and refines the smaller firm's mined output. The key asset of Southern Platinum, formed in September from splitting up SouthernEra's platinum and diamond business, is Messina Platinum (MESJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research) , the owner of a platinum mine in South Africa. Southern Platinum issued a news release earlier on Wednesday after its stock jumped 15 percent and it was halted by the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company, with a market value of about C$160 million ($136 million), said it had held discussions in recent months with platinum majors, which could lead to a transaction. It also said it was in ongoing discussions to restructure, replace or eliminate its project debt. Evans said the company issued a statement "in reaction to market speculation and the necessity to create a level playing field." After the release, the stock continued higher, ending the day 49 Canadian cents firmer at C$2.40. Before Wednesday's surge, Southern Platinum's stock had slumped by a third after it was separately listed from SouthernEra's diamond interests on Sept. 1, hit by a strong South African rand that has squeezed margins. ($1=$1.18 Canadian) yahoo.reuters.com

To: Frankly Speaking who wrote (7197)	11/24/2004 11:24:50 PM
From: Letmebe Frank	Respond to of 7235

Lets look a Lonmin…amongst other things. Lonmin stock info: uk.finance.yahoo.com LMI, with 141,803,000 shares outstanding and a share price of 1009p, which I convert into $CAN 2.24 gives me a $CAN market capitalization of $317,071,673. Yahoo says cap is 1.43B. Perhaps you, anyone, can explain the difference? SPC on the other hand has a market cap of $2.4/share x 85,339,411 shrs = $CAN 204,814,586. SPC doesn’t have a smelter – seems that’s what Lonmin could use now. Meesina’s shareprice has been hammered in half since the summer. investor.reuters.com SPC has an interesting slideshow on their properties: southplats.com On Yahoo: "Lonmin Plc, gold and platinumLonmin Plc has invested on the African continent, more precisely Sub-Saharan Africa. And what do they do there? They are active in the extraction of platinum and gold. The company is the world's third leading platinum producer, an extremely rare and expensive metal, made up of precious properties. It is an excellent catalyst; it is resistant to oxidisation and corrosion and conducts electricity very well. The company also has smelting works and refineries of its own to transform the platinum it extracts. For example, the platinum is a constituent of ultra-solid optic glass, computer hard disks and medication to fight against cancer. Furthermore, Lonmin produces gold and lots of it. They hold significant interest in Africa's third biggest mine, the Ashanti Goldfields in Ghana." uk.finance.yahoo.com SPC website & release: southplats.com Perhaps a review of this information may spur some discussion. LMBF

To: Frankly Speaking who wrote (7197)	11/30/2004 11:55:03 AM
From: seventh_son	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7235

For those who missed the conference call here are some key points: - November will show an operating profit for Messina! - November tonnage will be more than 90,000 - full capacity for phase 1 will be 115,000 tonnes which will be reached in Q3 2005, with projected tonnage for 2005 of 1.3 million tonnes - several unsolicited discussions have occured with platinum majors which apparently range from possible takeover, joint-venturing, and sale of particular assets, but no specific bids have occured at this point - mechanization and increased tonnage will drop per tonne operating costs (from my memory, might be off slightly) about 370 rand/tonne now to as little as 10% less than 270 rand/tonnes (about 250 tonnes?) -- about 1/3 less - cash on hand of $12 million US is expected to be sufficient to cover 2005 requirements, however if funding is required it will definitely not come through private placement; in fact, a company approached SPC to do a private placement at current prices and it was turned down - Southern Platinum can terminate without penalty its offtake agreement with an unnamed automobile company in the event that it winds down its Messina debt; the company has been actively pursuing options to do this All in all no home run in terms of takeover bid, but a lot of other very positive news, which gives me personally a lot of comfort and relief in holding the stock at current prices.