Old money Monday, November 5, 2007 The arrival of busloads of punters with wads of cash to invest fed a bumper turn-out at Mining 2007. BUSSING IN THE PUNTERS: More than 900 investors turned up at last week's three-day Mining 2007 Resources Convention at Brisbane's Hilton Hotel. That would make it the biggest such show in Australia after Kalgoorlie's Diggers and Dealers talkfest. To get the numbers up, Stewart McDonald, principal of organiser Vertical Events, bussed in on different days likely share punters from the Gold Coast, the Sunshine Coast and Toowoomba. It seems there is no shortage of cashed-up retirees willing to open their cheque books for wager on the resources boom. They had a rich menu to pick from, with more than 70 companies presenting 20 minute papers on their activities with not a word of pessimism in the air.
GRANNIES FRONT UP WITH CASH: McDonald recalled that at a mining conference he organised on the Gold Coast in June an older woman approached a company director (name withheld to protect the innocent) after his presentation to seek more details. She finally asked if she could bring a few of her girlfriends around to his stall for a further presentation. That done, they then announced they might buy some shares.
The overworked company man, who had no expectations they were serious investors, told them his broker was doing a placement at 30c a share, while the market was 31c seller.
"May we get some?" they chorused.
"Go ahead, call the broker and see what he can do," he said, dialling the telephone for them.
The broker had 480,000 shares left. "We'll take them," said the leading lady, pulled out a cheque book for the Grannies investment club and wrote a cheque for $144,000.
GET TOGETHER SPAWNS INTER-COMPANY DEALS: While these gatherings are primarily aimed at retail investors, they bring together numbers of Australia's inveterate dealmakers. The night before the final day, goldminer Troy Resource's chairman John Jones, dined with nickel miner Western Area's managing director Julian Hanna.
With both companies presenting the following day, they were able to surprise their audiences with news of a $4m joint venture. That's how much Western Areas (ASX code: WSA) will spend to earn a 51% interest in any nickel developments it finds on Troy Resource's (ASX code: TRY) Sandstone, WA, gold-mining tenements.
The week was positive for all presenters. As Julian Hanna noted, Western Area's share price began the week closer to $5 and ended at $6, 20c short of its year's high of $6.20 and with a market capitalisation of almost a billion dollars.
A SWEETNER FROM WESTERN DESERT: Readers who followed the Speculator (The Bulletin, Oct 9) into Western Desert Resources (ASX code: WDR) will get an opportunity to buy up to $2500 worth of new shares at 25c. The offer is open to all shareholders registered at October 29. Readers of this week's forthcoming edition of The Bulletin will notice I've sold our portfolio parcel of 10,000 shares at 35c "ex" the entitlement and have applied for 8000 at the offer price of 25c. The offer from the Northern Territory gold prospector will raise up to $4.76m through a maximum distribution of 10.04 million shares closing on November 19.
WDR Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Not Held
