diggers & dealers ~ drunks & dreamers, page-3

re: diggers & dealers ~ drunks & dreamers...... ......Further update.
Don't you just wish you were there.....

Dateline July 26th.

The West Australian

Rock Kickers Swoop on Forum to Chew Dirt

JOHN PHACEAS

RESOURCES WRITER

More than 1300 miners, explorers, prospectors, brokers, analysts and hangers-on have descended on Australia's gold capital, Kalgoorlie, for the annual Diggers and Dealers Miners Forum this week.

With another 300 or so prospective delegates also sitting on the wait-list to mop up the places of any last minute dropouts, the record turnout for the conference - now in its 12th year - is a clear sign the metals sector is back in vogue.

Nearly 40 companies are booked to make half-hour presentations, of which about half are gold miners and hopefuls.

But nickel and base metals plays are also heavily represented this year, along with emerging diamond miners such as Miles Kennedy's runaway success Kimberley Diamond Co, and niche iron ore miner Portman, which on Friday dramatically upgraded its first half profit forecast to more than $17 million.

The driving factor in the turnout is confidence that the recent resurgence in commodity markets is not a flash in the pan, with demand from Asia, particularly China, likely to put a new floor to demand for most commodities. Though some of the over-exuberance which drove prices for metals such as nickel to their highest levels in over a decade at the start of the year has waned after Chinese efforts to slow its economic growth, prices remain buoyant.

After languishing below $US300 an ounce until 18 months ago, gold continues to hover around the $US400/oz mark and could again threaten its early year highs above $US430/oz.

Nickel, having earlier blasted through $US17,000 a tonne, remains in the stratosphere at more than $US15,100, with most pundits predicting prices above $US12,000 a tonne for at least two years when the first of several major new mines are due to come onstream.

Copper is also back in town, trading above $US2800 a tonne, while even zinc and lead - traditionally the laggards of the base metals universe - are off the floor and trading at levels not seen in years.

The shift in sentiment has also underpinned a wave of junior mining floats over the past 12 months, many of which will be presenting for the first time in Kalgoorlie this week.

But the heavyweights of the gold industry will again dominate proceedings, with Barrick, Newmont, AngloGold, Gold Fields SA and Placer Dome all making an appearance.

Those groups are also expected to be keen observers when Australia's only surviving gold major, Newcrest Mining, takes the stage today.

Legendary Canadian rock-kicker and Ivanhoe Mines chief Robert Friedland, who discovered the massive Voiseys Bay nickel deposit and sold it for $4.1 billion, is another speaker sure to draw a huge crowd.

And dealmaker Andrew Forrest is another certain to set the rumour mill spinning when the former Anaconda Nickel chief executive spells out the plans of his first foray into the gold sector, via producer Siberia Mining, tomorrow.

With the Federal Government having effectively ruled out any implementation of financial incentives to encourage exploration, much bar-side discussion will no doubt be dedicated to the call for a flow-through share scheme.

But the issue of native title, and the difficulties of gaining access to land for exploration are also expected to be a hot topic of debate.

Then there are the skimpies . . .