"Joel, I suggest you have a look an Australian stock, Bendigo Mining Limited (ASX ticker: BDG), with the caveat that this is probably a longer term takeover play, due to the profile of the mine development currently underway (the first gold pour is slated for mid-2006)."Bendigo Mining is a bit of a 'sleeper' that is now coming to the attention of the market. A staged development of a 12-million ounce gold resource beneath the old Bendigo goldfields is well advanced, with Stage 1 mine development commissioning commencing in Q2 next year. Initial production of 120,000 oz per annum will quickly ramp up to 200,000 oz per annum over three years, thence to 600,000 oz per annum with the commissioning of Stage 2 by 2012. Sign Up for The Rude Awakening Start your mornings off with a dose of Rude news. The Rude Awakening is dedicated to highlighting phenomena in the financial markets that others may not see. Let the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times "break news." Sign up FREE Today! We will not share your email address with anyone else, period. -Andrew Palmer, Director E-commerce Marketing We Value Your Privacy |
Recently, the company has completed a capital raising (A$140 million), with more than enough cash in the tank (and zero debt) to complete Stage 1 and advance to Stage 2 development. No forward-production hedging, and a rapidly rising cash flow based on a low cash [cost of production] make this a potential 5-10 bagger, once the market realizes the development risk is zero, and that the historically proven high-grade Bendigo resource extends to depth...Not that this is too much of a leap of faith for the geological cognoscenti, in so far as $100 million of exploratory work and drilling has confirmed the case to a high degree of confidence (...It is one of the more robust geological models that I have seen as a geologist of thirty years standing). "The company has made a series of comprehensive and transparent project disclosures from which the business value and risks are readily assessed...a standard to which most of the gold industry players could usefully seek to aspire. With a market cap approaching A$600 million, the company's stock will probably double in price within 18 months, as the development and business concept is proved (aside from any rise in gold price in the interim). Then the big players will move in to acquire the business before the ramp up to Stage 2 and 600,000 oz per annum occurs to send the price through the roof. "...Lots of upside in the event of a long term bull market in gold, aside from the potential for an acquisition premium to emerge in the next 18 months." Gold Mining Takeovers: Northern Orion and Others A little bit closer to home, Vancouver-based Northern Orion, picked up multiple nominations from the Rude readership, as did several other Canadian mining companies. The list below features a sampling of these recommendations. 
Lastly, one of the more unusual ideas that we received would not qualify as a likely takeover play. Nor would it be large enough to make the $250 million cutoff. But we'll mention it just the same: "Lion Selection (LSG.AX) in Australia is a Development Fund, which means it has no capital gains tax in Australia," a reader explained. "It invests in what it sees as the most prospective gold (and other) plays around the world. It has some really promising plays in the portfolio." In other words, Lion Development invests in the sorts of companies that COULD become takeover targets. It acquires stakes in both listed and unlisted shares of small- and medium-sized mining and exploration companies. The companies in its portfolio operate in Australia, Africa and Southeast Asia. Since the market capitalization of Lion Selection is only $150 million, the companies in its portfolio would be even smaller still. Nevertheless, it has managed to invest in companies that have attracted larger buyers. Less than two weeks ago, IAMGold made a bid for Gallery Gold, of which Lion Selection is the largest shareholder. Since we know almost nothing about the rest of Lion's portfolio, we cannot vouch for the stock. But we do find the company's structure somewhat interesting. We hereby conclude the second Rude Awakening group research project, and hope the results prove worthwhile for all. Thanks again to all those readers who contributed their ideas. [Joel's Jotting: A few nuggets of golden ideas in there, no doubt. While resources have proved profitable for a number of investors during the recent bull market, few have been able to keep pace with the Maniac Trader, Kevin Kerr. Kevin has been playing both sides of the market and delivered some very impressive results. Last week we had our monthly editors meeting and we were glad to see Kevin able to make it down from his Connecticut digs for the occasion. When it came to Kevin's turn to speak, he handed out a folder containing some of the year's results. "Wow," was the general response from the editors, highly successful financial minds themselves. Kevin slammed in 154% on cotton calls, 116% on sugar calls and 56% on crude spreads... Looking down the positive side of his ledger we see 80%, 89%, 135%...Even taking into account the year's few losses, he was still up over 40%. If you are serious about extracting cash from this market, let Kevin show you how to play both sides of it and bag some fat wads in 2006. You'll be head butting yourself if you let this one slip by. Check out the year's hottest trader right here: Maniac Trader's Track Record Speaks For Itself http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RTA/ERTAFB23 --- Advertisement --- TRIPLE your money over the next 6 months... GUARANTEED! Introducing one special "alternate" investment - which does not involve buying stocks or bonds and even soars when stocks fall apart... Just over the last two years, you could have made at least eight times more buying this secret investment instead of buying traditional stocks... Is that something you are willing to pass up? Learn about this GUARANTEED investment secret NOW! http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/RTA/ERTAFC15 ------------------------- And the Markets... | Monday | Friday | This week | Year-to-Date | DOW | 10,837 | 10,876 | -39 | 0.5% | S&P | 1,260 | 1,267 | -7 | 4.0% | NASDAQ | 2,223 | 2,252 | -30 | 2.2% | 10-year Treasury | 4.44 | 4.44 | 0.00 | 4.40 | 30-year Treasury | 4.64 | 4.65 | -1.00 | 4.59 | Russell 2000 | 672 | 683 | -11 | 3.2% | Gold | $503.45 | $503.25 | $0.20 | 15.0% | Silver | $8.55 | $8.52 | $0.03 | 25.5% | CRB | 326.09 | 326.36 | -0.27 | 14.8% | WTI NYMEX CRUDE | $57.40 | $58.06 | -$0.66 | 32.1% | Yen (YEN/USD) | JPY 116.06 | JPY 115.73 | -0.33 | -13.1% | Dollar (USD/EUR) | $1.2003 | $1.2012 | 9 | 11.4% | Dollar (USD/GBP) | $1.7623 | $1.7719 | 96 | 8.1% |
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