I thought this may be of interest in terms of an overview on MNM...
Mantle Mining Ltd (MNM) Shares on issue – 136m Options on issue – 8.9m (31/12/09,7cps) Market Cap - $7.77m (SP@ 5.7c) Cash - $2.5m (approx) EV - $5.2m
Asset Base
PHOSPHATE (Barkley Phosphate)
· Mantle’s tenements are located between Minemaker’s (ASX: MAK, Market capitalisation~ $90m ) Wonarah and Phosphate Australia’s (ASX: POZ, market capitalisation~ $25m) Highland Plains deposits.
· The Alexandria, Alroy and Buchanan Dam occurrences also sit nearby Mantle’s project area The phosphate deposits in the Georgina Basin occur in relation to either the Wonarah Limestone or Camooweal Dolomite source rocks.
· Recent drilling has confirmed wide zones of high grade phosphate mineralisation (up to 24%)
· Difficult to value BUT it could be argued that as more drilling is completed confirming phosphate mineralisation and a JORC resource is outlined the value should move towards that of POZ. MAK has a Namibian marine project and as a result is difficult to accurately assess the value of Wonarah as a stand alone project.
GOLD
Haunted Stream Gold project
· The Haunted Stream project is located in is a high grade gold field concentrated along the Haunted Stream fault in South east Victoria
· MNM considers the probability of finding a large feeder system and associated bulk-tonnage mineralisation is considered relatively high in this historic gold mining field
· MNM has identified 2 major anomalies which will be diamond drilled in January 2010. The target being a LARGE SCALE BULK TONNAGE gold/copper mineralisation, they believe these anomalies could be the feeder system to the area
· A successful drilling campaign could provide a COMPANY MAKING PROJECT
Granite Castle Gold project
· The project is located west of Charters Towers gold field in Northern Queensland
· The project currently contains the following JORC resources;
Measured 122,614 @3.99g/t au for 15,727oz & 53.3g/t ag for 209,941oz
Indicated 264,021 @3.44g/t au for 29,198 oz & 67.6g/t ag for 574,182oz
Inferred 460,443 @2.32g/t au for 34,375 oz & 50.4g/t ag for 746,680oz
Total 847,078 2.91g/t au for 79,301 oz & 56.2 g/t ag for 1,530,803 oz
· The project has the scope for significant upside in resource as a number of high grade gold and silver shear zones have been identified
· The wet season may prevent any further work occurring until March 2010 but there exists significant scope for a mining project to be developed from this area
Charters Towers Gold project
· The tenements contain the Great Britain project and a number of other prospective area around charters towers
· Great Britain deposit contains 2.128mt @1.8g/t au for 123,000 oz
· Further exploration will be required to increase the size of the project
Coal and CSG
Mount Mulligan
· Mantle is targeting early development options designed to best capture the current upsides from low impact, low capital and low emission energy production by initial targeting of Coal Seam Gas (CSG) development.
· The scope for and prospective attractiveness of using Coal Bed Methane (CBM) for low emission power generation and sale of electricity to local mines and/or the grid is significant. The emergence of an east coast Australian export LNG industry to be fed by an emerging network of CBM gas pipelines in central Queensland adds further upside value
· Company is progressing towards Authorisation (signing) of an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) has been delayed by the advent of a Third Party Claim. The company has retained Special Counsel to work with its legal advisor, Minter Ellison Lawyers, to resolve the claim.
URANIUM
Burke Uranium
· Have recently announced a JV with Southern Uranium (SNU)
· The area hosts uranium deposits such as Ben Lomond and Maureen
SUMMARY
Whilst it is difficult to accurately value MNM as a number of the projects are pre resource definition, it does appear to have a number of promising, COMPANY MAKING projects.
Both the Barkley phosphate and the Haunted Stream gold project have the ability to provide significant news in the short term. The Granite Castle and Charters Tower gold project provide the foundation to potential cash flow in the medium term, in particular the Granite Castle has some scope for significant resource upgrades as they have discovered other high grade shears. The development of the Mount Mulligan coal and CSG has unfortunately been delayed due to an opportunistic third party claim. Once clarified, the shares should reflect the value of this asset as well.
MNM Price at posting:
5.6¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held