7 dollars impossible think again

40 mins ago - AUM is on the world map!

$5 finish here we come!


SYDNEY, July 4 (Reuters) - Shares in copper prospector Australian Mining Investments (ASX: AUM.ax) leapt 54 percent to a high of A$4.50 on Tuesday after the company said it could be sitting on a big outback discovery.

Exploration data released to the market by the company pointing to a resource of 59 million tonnes of ore, grading 2.04 percent copper at its Rocklands lode in Queensland state, also sparked talk of a potential takeover by neighbouring mining heavyweight Xstrata XTA.L, analysts said.




Swiss-based Xstrata is Australia's largest copper producer and works the rich Ernest Henry mine 40 kilometres (29 miles) away from Australian Mining Investments' deposit.

The Australian newspaper in an unattributed report on Tuesday said one brokerage would be putting out a report later this week describing the Rocklands mine as "one of the most important mineral discoveries of the past 20 years."

The report will put a target of $25 a share on Australian Mining Investments, it said.

Copper prices have largely been on an upward swing since the mid-1990s as demand from industrialising countries such as China and India outstripped new mine supplies. In the last 12 months alone, copper traded on the London Metal Exchange has risen 123 percent to more than $7,400 a tonne MCU3.

The Rocklands ore also contains gold XAU= and cobalt COB-CATH-LON which, when sold as by-products, would reduce overall costs of mining, according to the company.

At 0304 GMT, Australian Mining Investments was 40 percent up at A$4.12, far outpacing a 0.46 percent gain in the wider S&P/ASX 200 .AXJO index. The stock has rocketed up from around A$0.30 at the end of May.