Member Info for Treadstone

Yes but look what you could have got this for on 1st June. Then again other miners in iron ore like BZM are being thrown away at 17p. 10p is cash and Forecariah (which is just starting production on receipt of licence) has been given a value of 55p by the Investors Chronicle. It even has another big project coming on stream in 2016. IC including the 2nd project gave a maximum value per share of 190p. What I am really saying is the market is irrational to say the least. However the Stephen Dattels name and the quality of the project (although only in the early stages) has caught the attention of The IC and the investing public. Yet most other miners are well down due to sentiment. WAFM may even reach 100p but some point reality will have to sink in that its a long way from production. I wish I had bought in at 10 p looking back to xmas but then again miners were out of favour. You should write a book on your trades. adventures in Aim land. Got any other good tips. In cash at the moment licking my wounds from my misadventures.

Yes well maybe that's an idea. I have to say the same can be said about BZM share price wise. I think Aim miners have taken a terrible pasting in the last year and have been overdone. At the same time clouds appear to be coming over the worlds economies, with both Germany and China slowing down. The market has been ignoring that for a while, but at some point the combination of no growth anywhere plus looming debt problems must have an effect or am I missing something?

You would think with such a good company producing profits this board would be alive with posters. i used to watch this company a long while ago, when the share price was well above £1, and it continues to be performing very well as a business while its sp is lagging behind. Perhaps it needs to publicise itself a bit more. Interviews with the likes of miningmaven and the print media could help improve its profile. Even with the worlds economies not in great shape this share price just has to be seen as undervalued. A P/E of 6.33 is incredibly low for this company. Any opinions on why this is?

Many Aim Resource stocks are shot to pieces with no real justification. While European debt situation and economic slowdown lurk in the background things will remain volatile. It amazes me that Footsie 100 is as high at is bearing in mind the seemingly worsening situation. The market seems not to mind.

Over the past 2 years, major deals worth in excess of $10.9bn have been conducted in the region, so presumably there would be no shortage of ready buyers should WAFM prove up a resource base, particularly if it identifies strong grades from its Binga prospect, which is just 50km - 75km from the Cameroon coast, thereby greatly redcing potential FOB costs; a point emphasised by Brad Mills: " We are exclusively looking for the highest grade DSO (Direct Shipping Ore) deposits possible as this is what blast furnaces are ideally looking for - 60-65 per cent grade with low impurities. The early indications are looking very encouraging. Generally the capital requirement for developing a DSO resource is low if it is near the coast. Since there is virtually no beneficiation of the ore, the only requirement is mining, crushing, screening and transportation to a low capital expenditure offshore ship loading facility. So with $200m - $300m in capital expenditure it is possible we may be able to see cash flows within a two year period from our Binga Licence area". The earlier point about iron ore pricing is obviously set against a backdrop of faltering demand from China, and if you are taking a long view of the industry, its worth remembering that the percentage of scrap and recycled metals used within the Peoples Republic will invariably rise. But while the secondary metals market will gradually eat into demand for ores, the issue of grades will remain key to steel making. Even if Chinese GDP was to average only 5.6 per cent over the rest of the decade, the country indeed Asia as a whole, wil still clamour for high grade hematite to drive the steel industry. China' administration has also set a goal to eventually own at least 50% of the sources of its iron ore imports. Therefore, the likes of WAFM will be firmly in the cross hairs of Beijing if they prove up their West African assets. UNQUOTE. I have slightly abreviated the article as its rather long, but the salient points have been included. A very positive assessment of WAFM's iron ore future.

From The Investors Chronicle today. QUOTE THE GREAT WESTERN AFRICAN IRON RUSH: Glance through the recent first quarter upgrades from copper miners across the globe, and it quickly becomes apparent that the struggle to maintain ore grades is now a structural problem facing the industry. However it should be noted that this issue - while not so yet acute - is also relevant to the iron ore industry. This was brought home last month when Luiz Mello, technology director of Vale SA, confirmed that the Brazilian mining giant was considering a range of strategies designed to attenuate the problem of declining grades. Where Vale goes others will surely follow. Although Vale maintains that its ore bodies still have superior grades to other large scale producers such as Rio Tinto, the fact that they are in decline has prompted some resource analysts to speculate that long term price projections for iron ore are well short of the mark.. The general consensus holds that bulk prices - based on last month's average of $147 a tonne - will eventually fall around 39% as more production comes on stream. However if average grades in Brazil's southern iron ore system - as some anticipate - fall by a third over the next few years, it would invariably feed through into higher processing costs - and consequent Free On Board (FOB) prices - for regional producers such as Vale SA and Anglo American. If ore grades are in decline, then spot prices will inevitably head upwards. So it may well be that China, Japan and Korea will increasingly focus on new deposits across the globe, not only to access higher grade ore bodies, but also strategically to diversify supply routes. One potential option has emerged on Africa's west coast. Although the region currently produces less than 1% of the world's iron ore, this could rise tenfold in a relatively short space of time. AN AIM PLAY WORTH WATCHING: Perhaps the largest permit holder in Cameroon is West African Minerals (WAFM) - a $110m aim traded miner headed by mining financier Stephen Dattels and co-chaired by Brad Mills, ex-chief executive of Lonmin and former preident of BHP's base metals division. Mr Dattels has strong record of monitising mining assets; the chief example being the $2.50 bn sale of Uramin to Aveva in July 2007. Wafm has identified 30 prospective zones through an aeromagnetic survey of its exploration licences in cameroon, Sierre Leone and the Central African Republic; a number of which are in close proximity to advanced iron ore projects that share similar geology. Brad Mills believes that West Africa's potential is immense. "To put the iron belt that stretches across Cameroon and the Congo Republic into perspective, we are talking about a formation that could rival, and one day replace, the likes of Pilbara in Australia". Cont'd

Take a look at Griffin Mining. Posted results from Investors Chronicle today (GFM) Sp cheap and company prifitable with excellent prospects.

From Investors Chronicle today - Share company results. QUOTE: Griifin Mining profits to soar. China focused Grifin mining reported record revenues, profits and production for 2011, as an upgrade to the processing plant worked wonders at its Caiijing zinc gold silver joint venture 250 km north west of Beijing. Rising metal prices and falling processing costs meant Griffin enjoyed healthier margins on increased production, and as a result the company recently announced plans to raise its stake in the mine from 60% to 88.80%. it will pay $110m in cash to its Chinese partners, assuming approval by the relevant chinese authorities. True, the deal will suck up all of Griffin's $91m cash pile and more, but a larger piece of the pie should boost attributable profits substantially - after tax and subtracting the Chinese partners' share of the profits, earnings for Griffin shareholders totalled $15.80m last year. Nevertheless with a recent mineral resource estimate extending Caiijing's mine life to more than 50 years, Griffin plans to further boost returns with another plant expansion that would double ore throughput again. Don't expect it too soon, as the company still has to apply for the necessary permits, complete engineering and mine plan adjustments - and more importantly find a way to pay for it. Griffin is on track for another solid year of production in 2012 - brokers forecast 2012 EPS of 9.50 cents on slightly higher out put - but the the shares have yet to respond to swelling profits. We reiterate our longstanding buy tip (105p 31.8.07) BUY........UNQUOTE. P/E of just 7. I hope this of help to you. Looks very promising and already very profitable.

Ophir has been a great success with much more to come. It has some onshore as well as offshore acreage to drill. could go much higher as it seems to have the magic touch with the drillbit. Aex has a small area offshore which is keeping people interested but any drilling will likely to be next year. i am watching BLVN as its another producer/explorer under valued. Maybe worth dipping a toe in on any pull back. So many of these are behaving like Index stocks particularly GKP.

November/december last year was a good time for buying with hindsight, but like I said I am no good at guaging entry points. I should have taken up the IC advice and bought here, but because it was already double the float price and most mining explorers had tanked I did'nt think this would move up the way it has. OTC has a target of 4p but it declined from around 3p to 0.65p where it languishes. Henderson Global Asset Management has an interest of 11.50% in the stock. It has produced excellent updates on its gold resource in Slovakia but the market is indifferent. ECR and RRR are also in the doghouse, RRR mainly because of the collapse in the Jupiter Mines sp. The problem is that in a recession commodity prices tend to get hit first. The steel industry is not healthy which means lower prices for steel feed (ie manganese and iron ore for starters) and I notice copper has come off from $8600 a ton to around $7600 a ton. In 2008 copper reached a low of around $4000 a ton when the market sank to its nadir. So if Europe throws a real wobbly prices could tumble. I bet the likes of Rio Tinto, Anglo and Billiton have hedged their production to protect themselves as much as possible, in case markets fall out of bed. So with all this nervousness around you have been right all along with your trading strategy. Its a pity we both did'nt look at this last december. One you can keep a watch on is Aminex. It has a new chairman in Stuard Detmer since last october. He came over from Sibir Energy last october to rescue aex as it had become moribund. He has a reputation as a rescue specialist. His plan roughly is to sell the American interests and concentrate on Tanzania where Cove and Ophir energy have done so well. Aex is awaiting the rsults of a gas test on Ntorya-1 well and is undertaking 2d seismics on the Ruvuma acreage where it has a 75% interest. Detmer has wealthy backers for any future drilling, but the plan is to farm out a big %age of the drills to enable Aex to maximise the number of drills in which it can afford to participate in. The sp is cheap and East Africa is attracting a great deal of interest. I think there won't be much drilling activity this year but next year could be interesting. Its the only really cheap share left as Cove has been sold and Ophir is on a totally different level. One for you to look at and watch. I used to be in it before cashing up, but quite willing to go back if European debt causes a market dip which I think it may. I don't believe the debt problems are going away. There's no growth anywhere apart from Germany and quite frankly there's no appetite for further lending as Germany does'nt want to underwrite any stimulus packages. If Greece exits the market the French banks are going to take a massive hit and they are supposed to be backed by the government ie the tax payer. A bit like musical chairs. Nobody wants the music to stop as there ain't enough chairs for everyone to sit on.

Re my April post on WAFM, I've found the back copy of Investors Chronicle with the relevant article entitled " Iron ore set to Soar". Iron ore demand will double by 2030 as miners target higher grade ore. Two junior miners that that have adopted this strategy are West African minerals and Ferrex. Definately two to watch. higher grade ore contains higher grade direct shipping ore. This can be sold without processing, which saves capital costs and offers earlier cash flow. Apart from the IC tip its the potential of higher grade ore that's attracting the attention of investors. Nevertheless the share price would appear to be overdone as production is a long way off. Personally I'm in cash as this last year has been horrendous for mining explorers, many of whom are being considered worthless as they are not profit centres yet. 40% of my savings has evaporated through holding and not trading. A big mistake trying to act like Warrwen Buffet in the wrong type of stocks. Fortunately I've always held a sizeable chunk of cash and not believing in averaging down as it's throwing good money after bad. The grit in life's vaseline is of course Europe, which is a slow but quickening car crash. Its a story of the ant and the grasshopper is it not? The grasshoppers (virtually every country except Germany) want to carry on the party by endlessly dreaming up new ways of borrowing the latest being European Bonds. Unfortunately the ant (Germany) is'nt dumb and knows this means it will have to be the ultimate guarantor and won't play, because it knows the rest of Europe wants a licence to carry on as usual without mending their profligate ways. The ant too has had to pull in its horns to fund the revival of East Germany and understandably refuses to play ball. In the end markets will decide the outcome with bond rates high enough to make it impossible for some countries to borrow their way out and that means pending implosions and panic. The european union was always a political construct not a economic one, in the sense that for Europe to work it needs a single govt and treasury and that of course is unacceptable to its member states. To add to the pressure in the boiler you can the debt problems in the USA which for the moment are conveniently off the radar. So next up...bank panics in Europe, social unrest and more of their rich buying London property. So volatility will continue to be a way of life as Europe struggles with its stagnant economies and bad debts. You are quite good at trading but I am not so hot at it. I'm afraid of a market rout if Greece leaves the Euro because the markets will zero in on Spain and Italy next because that's the way things work. So I'll sit on the sidelines for the moment unless you have any good trading tips.. Anway if the markets have a sell off opportunities arise anyway. One last thought a stockbroker just told me the average time a US stock is held is exactly 20 seconds. Algorhythmic trading I assume.

Personally fascinated with the massive rise in the sp of this company. Iron ore prices are not strong at the moment and don't look that promising down the road. If you look at other operations such as Jupiter mines owned by Pallinghurst Resources (Brian Gilbertson of Billiton fame main director) with good prospects in australia and south Africa, you will see a share price that's fallen by 80% over the last year or so. In fact many mining explorers are in a poor shape sp wise as you are well aware. What with WAFM working in potentially difficult countries unlike JMS and far from any production, why has the share price here multiplied sixfold. I'm happy for investors here and wish I had invested here myself from that point of view, but it does'nt quite make sense. The only reason I can think of is that Stephen Dattels is the main guy here and he commands a considerable following in mining investment circles. Polo Resources and GCM come to mind. Dattels and Gilbertson. Both giants in mining investment. One favoured the other not so much. I'm sure this will prove a good trade, but at some point the market will wake up to the fact that the sp is based more on expectation than anything else and has run ahead of itself. Nevertheless great for those who got in early believing the Dattels effect would work its magic on investors minds. I should have done the same.

Not in here but WAFM appears in an interesting article today in the Investors Chronicle. Seem you have a high grade iron ore deposit on your hands. See my post today on RRR for full article. Looks promising here.

Petra Diamonds received a buy rating in the Sunday Telegraph. Points to far east to maintain sales and prices. Personally I think this is a company with the right mines producing the best quality diamonds, but one has to factor in the possibility of a drop in diamond prices as the world economy retreats next year. For several months diamond prices have shown a slight fall. Its a difficult one to value looking ahead in the medium term. Will probably continue ticking up on monday

This is still a good company, but when the sp was around £25 the p/e was well over 150. That happened to be the time to exit. The share price shot up from about £12 taking the p/e into the stratosphere. Yes the profit growth has been staggering for the last 8 years but even a p/e of 83 today is very high taking into account the prevailing economic conditions. I believe we are in slow motor crash that will continue for up to a year that will hit share values very hard. Sovereign debt and the weakness of the banks will be the catalyst. Don't forget the footsie 100 is still trading at over 2000 points above the december 2008 low and maybe will start to crack. There is little or no growth anywhere outside of the BRIC countries. This has been the best share of the decade by miles, but even good things come to an end. The world has never had to face such a mountain of debt and can't find an escape route. Markets are sentiment driven and its pointing south I'm afraid. I've taken a beating elsewhere but am holding cash until well into next year as well. I should have sold out completely last xmas but did'nt. Good luck with your investments.

Nobody can know where this share price will go in the next 12 or 24 months. The Chinese recently made an offer for this company, but it fell through on technicalities. If anymore offers come through obviously the sp will move north. Other than that its operations at Rossing South are highly thought of and well managed. Notice that its sp was one of the few that went up in 2008 when the market literally crashed and today its ticked up on another bad day. As long as nuclear is considered a necessary option despite recent events in Japan and Germany this should at least hold up quite well. You need to do some research into the ownership structure and the web of interlocking companies involved and find any recent articles. Its a tough market right now, but although I'm not in here I keep a weather on it. Used to be in POL another Stephen Dattels company. Good luck

Not in this share at the moment but interested in watching it. In the 2008 freefall in share prices this was one that went the other way on the perceived need for nuclear power by the world's governments. With events in Japan and Germany stepping away from nuclear energy, it will be interesting to see if KAH will repeat its 2008 role in the coming pull back in markets. Any opinions ?

Well whatever Mr Robinson admits in regards to the costs of offering free transhipment to overseas buyers in the USA, It is definately eating into income and profits as predicted but the sp holds up in the face of a demanding p/e as well. Analysts appear divided on ASC's future, but a recent announcement that its going to enter the Chinese market shortly has set the cat amongst the pigeons. From reading newspapers the young in China are already buying big into some western fashion house products like Prada. This must be tempting ASOS to get in now and obtain a foothold in this enormous market. How this will be done.. who knows? but it won't be long before the tactics will be made public. Its this gigantic prospect that should keep the market positive about future of this company. Like you I'm not in this company but watching with interest. Amazing growth and now all these possibilities in the far east. If only RRR was like this!

its unfortunate that sentiment in many aim stocks has headed south as the indices became range bound, and then negativity over sovereign debt started to creep back in. I thought this might have had a small rebound on announcement of its annual figures, but any good news therein has been ignored and the sp is falling back. The figures themselves are not bad at all considering the difficult business environment, ADS have more clients and a 10% rise in profits. If the sp falls much more there could be another spike here at some point, the only worry is the spread which remains bad with little or no trading at the moment. Still worth keeping an eye on for an opportunity. With a spike the spread will narrow markedly. This little firm is capitalised at around £1.50 million and that's not too high.

I see you've joined the analysts and see this as a sell because of a high p/e. Don't forget that at the end of their financial year this will come down to reflect the higher revenues. The growth in this company's revenues and profits is quite staggering and it will take a much slower rate of growth to bring the share price down. I'm old enough to remember Polly Peck and Asil Nadir. I watched it go from around 8p to £35 in about 3+ years but never bought it. I can remember everyone from your hairdresser to the portuguese cafe owner gambling in it until it went down in a sea of fraud. Based in Cyprus and god knows where else with shady financial accounting etc. There is no connection with ASC and Polly Peck. ASC is based in this country as far as I am aware their accounts are Kosher, though I don't in general have entire confidence in Accounting Firms, who repeatedly fail to flag up concerns that should be bought into public view especially with big outfits like our banks. They had to have known about the vast shaky borrowings on the worlds wholesale markets, but decided to say nothing. That apart I read your vog posts with interest as I hold some there and await the licence. God knows when it will come. Any ideas please ???