Well Worth a Read10 Dec 2010 09:09
Frontier Mining Is Poised For A Major Advance, Once The Kazakh Authorities Sign Off On Its Deal With Coville
http://www.minesite.com/mobile/mobile_single_news_story/article/frontier-mining-is-poised-for-a-major-advance-once-the-kazakh-authorities-sign-off-on-its-deal-with/1178.html
"Shareholders in Frontier Mining have waited for some time for the JORC resource estimate update on the company’s 50 per cent owned Benkala copper project in Kazakhstan to come through, but now that it has arrived it was probably worth the wait. The new resource estimate is certainly positive, and allows the project to be viewed in two parts - split between the oxide and the sulphide resources. The measured and indicated oxide resources amount to 32.7 million tonnes grading at an average of 0.5% copper, and there’s a further 2.67 million tonnes inferred at 0.39% copper, giving a total of 175,000 tonnes of contained copper. But waiting in the wings are the much more substantial sulphide resources which amount to 161.4 million measured and indicated tonnes at 0.44% copper, with another 130.8 million inferred tonnes at 0.42% copper to give around 1.27 million tonnes of copper."
"Frontier will be strengthened significantly by these deals, and it is interesting to note that Erlan Sagadiev, who rescued the company when it was virtually on its knees at the beginning of 2009, has chosen this moment to strengthen the board with the appointment of Randy Eppler as a director. Randy was chief executive of Coal International from 2005 until 2008 when he decided to focus on Sierra Partners, a private investment firm focused on the resource industry. For 10 years before joining Coal International he was with Newmont, where he held a number of senior positions. And before that he did 10 years as managing director of the metals and mining division for Chemical Securities, now part of JP Morgan Chase. Men like this do not risk their reputations with junior mining companies unless they are very confident, as Randy appears to be, that the company they are joining has very solid foundations and a bright future. This appointment also allowed Brian Savage, who originally founded Frontier, to slip out of the door. "
"So the company can now consolidate its reputation as a Kazakh operator. One recent endorsement came when HSBC Kazakhstan announced that it was arranging a US$4 million facility for the purchase of capital equipment for the Benkala project. The bank does not appear at all worried that there has been a delay at the Kazakhstan Ministry of Industry and Trade as regards the documentation for the re-domicile and acquisition. This is looked on as temporary, and if anyone knows his way round the corridors of power in his country it is Erlan Sagadiev. It will help if the delay is not protracted, as he still has to raise more money if production is to start, as expected, before the end of next year."
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