Around the Traps ... with THE FERRET 08:39, Tuesday, 9 November 2004
Sydney - Tuesday - November 9: (RWE Australian Business News) - ******************************
Speculators in mining stocks like good addresses.
Among the best addresses of all time was to be near Poseidon on the map in the 1970 nickel boom.
So, just in case punters had not realise it, ADELAIDE RESOURCES (ADN) informed the market yesterday of its good address.
It said that on Friday ILUKA RESOURCES (ILU) had announced impressive drill intersections of high grade mineral sands from recent drilling at its Jacinth Prospect 200 kilometres north-west of Ceduna, South Australia.
Well, this is situated 5 kilometres north-west of the boundary of EL2840, wholly owned by Adelaide Resources.
Not only that but Adelaide Resource also has a joint venture with Adelaide Resources covering both EL2840 and the adjacent EL2841.
But the clever punters were already on the case.
Adelaide last week rose 3.5c ahead of the Iluka announcement and 5.5c to 28.5c after the announcement on Friday.
Yesterday the stock soared 9c to 37.5c before rapidly coming back to the field to close at 29c.
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Iluka, meanwhile, rose 36c on Friday and a further 34c to $5.49 yesterday, before closing at $5.25.
Some punters may have hoped for more upwards action seeing as how the the stock had not only made a hot announcement on mineral sands exploration, but also got a guernsey in the morning newspaper over speculation that WMC RESOUCES (WMR) may be thinking of a takeover bid.
This cut WMC 12c to $6.87 which is till miles ahead of the Xstrata offer.
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One of the annoying things we have to put up with is a company putting out an amended announcement without saying what the amendment was exactly.
Which means we have to go through it with a fine toothcomb and compare it with the original, which may already have been processed into a news story on the RWE network.
However, WESTPAC (WBC) showed how it should be done yesterday.
It advised there had been an error in the earlier profit statement and pointed out precisely what it was and on what page.
Despite what CEO David Morgan said was an "outstanding result" - profit was up 16 per cent - Westpac came from well ahead at $19.05 to close down 21c at $18.69.
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Oh, no, it's happened again.
This penchant for symbols instead of words is spreading among oil explorers.
Last week we bemoaned the fact that when ELIXIR PETROLEUM (EXR) announced the proposed acquisition of a block in the North Sea it said it was surrounded by producing oilfields, with "many of them classified as giant fields (> 500 mmb reserves)".
It was the (> we did not like because not all investors necessarily know what it means, particularly when, as in this case, the gremlins do their bit and separate the (> from the 500.
It said that as a result of drill stem tests, the Waggamba 1 well indicated that oil existed in the Triassic Showgrounds Formation (10 metres) and the Permian Bandanna Formation "(> 10 metres)".
Mosaic rose 1c to 23.5c.
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Now here's something you don't often hear at an annual meeting.
The recently appointed executive chairman of debt collector RMG Ltd (RMG), Don Bourke, told the unhappy gathering, "As both your chairman and a long-term suffering shareholder of RMG, I, like all shareholders believe that the company’s performance to the end of 30th June 2004 at a loss of $9.3 million, $3 million worse than 2003, was both unsatisfactory and is nonsustainable."
However, they're fixing things.
"On an operational front, the company’s priority since I joined has been to focus on the level and efficiency of debt collection," Mr Bourke said.
"We have already identified and commenced progressively implementing a number of specific actions, which should significantly improve our performance in this area."
He said that after only six weeks exposure to the company he believed that by June 30 next the company should be operating profitably.
Unfortunately the market did not see RMG as a recobvery.
The shares remained at a lowly 2.8c.
(Comments and complaints to [email protected] - no requests for advice please.)
