Hmnmmm. Tiger gossip. I guess since No where man / Storm has been so assidiously downramping....I might do a bit of ramping. I will save the best to last.
The copper belt is being (if not already) sewn up. That which is not pegged is almost certainly going to Chinese interests in return for 5bn of roads and rail.
In short if your not 'in' the Katanga province now, you aint got much chance. Why is it important to be in the Katanga province ? - simply because in 10yrs copper supply will overrun demand with all the new mines coming on. The ones that will survive the fall in price of copper are those lowest on the cost curve. The deposits in the copper belt are so vast, and so rich they automatically fall into this catagory. But there are three important kickers for Katanga province mines: They have cobalt and Silver credits (and sometimes PGMs). So rich are the credits that the Komoto mine just merged with Nicanor.. the cobalt credits are such the copper is free. Look closely at the silver and cobalt credits for tiger. The other kicker is that Congolese workers and other costs are so much cheaper than 1st world countries. Most vitally - the supergene copper zones mean that finance is much easier as the payback horizon is so much shorter. If you start tucking into 10% -15% ore zones straight up you start to pay back in bucketloads quicker. Bankers love it.
So Tiger sits in the middle of all of this.
Now for the interesting part - when Tiger license is cleared (and it will be Mr Storm) it will (to the best of my knowledge) be the only pretty well fully drilled, JORC defined, legally held prospect in the Katanga province NOT DEVELOPED.
Now I know for a fact there are some of the major minging houses who have nothing or still scratching around the dirt they just picked up....and there - just a short drive from Lubumbashi, off the highway, next to the rail line is a big fat juicy JORC compliant explored deposit with solid license.
Anglo and Rio sussed out Komoto - but now Komoto has merged with Nicanor this is gone. So they have nothing yet. Then there is CVRD....? And finally BHP have started drilling north of Tiger but can they be bothered waitingn 2-3yrs to get some defined resource?
Given BHP and Rio are now at each other forget any other takeovers and buy ins. This leaves CVRD and Anglo desperate and dateless. CVRD has a stronger sense of desperation to break into to Africa (witness Mozabique and some other little adventures) they dont have great copper experience - but Tiger would make an interesting play thing to cut their teeth on.
A couple of canadians keeping a close eye to boot.
When JORC compliant resource is released after the license is cleared and before listing on TSX - Tiger will run hard. No doubt with a few gorillas of the industry chasing its tail !
TGS Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
