I have been searching for an undervalued copper play for a...

I have been searching for an undervalued copper play for a little while now. The one with the massive cult following on HC is CDU, and the star performer of the ASX is SFR. Some would say these are two powerhouses with big futures. After viewing noiprocs' great post comparing CDU and SFR for value, I thought I'd compare another contemporary to the two (Post# 5555411). This other company is Avalon Minerals (AVI), a very scarcely traded stock. Main reason for this Id say is that it is an Australian company, with its main mine in Sweden. I am in no way as knowledgeable as noiprocs, and this is my first attempt at analyzing non-oilers so deeply FA wise, so I may be erring in my judgment. I have borrowed niprocs template, so many thanks to noiprocs. Should I be erring in any way, I would love to be corrected. Everyone on here has read enough posts describing CDU and SFR, so well put the 3 side by side. Heres my analysis;

First, a quick look at AVALON MINERALS

JORC Code Compliant Inferred copper resource has been defined from 2008-2010:
8.2 million tonnes @ 2.7% Cu at the A Zone South;
5.6 million tonnes @ 1.3% Cu at the A Zone North;
24.3 million tonnes @ 0.8% Cu at the B Zone; and
2.5 million tonnes @ 1.6% Cu at the D Zone.
These resources have a combined total of 520,000 tonnes of contained copper

Background:

AVI listed in 2007. The Viscaria mine in Sweden is their project. It has the above JORC for Cu, but also holds a lot of Iron ore and magnetite.

-Significant recent IRON ORE INTERSECTIONS identified just in the D ZONE ONLY:

42.9m @ 35.5% Fe from 93m in VDD0013;
27.6m @ 38.4% Fe from 68m in VDD0014;
19.0m @ 33.8% Fe from 77m in VDD0015; and
19.0m @ 33.4% Fe from 17m in VDD0019

Accommodation is only 4km away in Kiruna, pop. 20,000. Kiruna also hosts a pellet mine which is in desperate need of more ore. It hosts a very experienced mining workforce.?

This iron ore is superior to the Australian type, as it has no silica at all, but is high in magnesium + carbonates. The Fe is also very course. Zinc and silver are abound in decent quantities too.

The largest Cu mine in all of Europe is located 50km south. Thus, the associated infrastructure is world class, including the processing plant. Thus, AVI have the option of using all these facilities which will have an associated start up date of Q3 2011. A capex of about $20 million is all that should be needed in this case.
They may also chose to do it all alone, which would push the projected start up date out to Q4 2012.?

AVI has a lot of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) style mineralization which often manifests as a series of cluster deposits. As noiprocs atates; Historically, VMS mineralization has been found to extend to great depths such as with Xstratas Kid Creek mine which retrieves ore from depths of 2.9 km. IOCG and Skarn Fe are bountiful too at Viscaria.

Interestingly, both labour and power costs are lower in Sweden than Australia these days. Let us not bring the RSPT type tax scenario up either. The Pre-feasability study is due to be complete next month (September).

To top this off, this is a very tightly held company. Management holds 27% of all issued capital. There has been massive director buying over the past 6-12 months.

Here they all are, side by side;

INFRASTRUCTURE COMPARISONS
Congratulations to all SFR holders. This is a beast of a stock, and what all of us speccy hunters wish to discover. What a ride many of you would have taken. With copper prices soaring, the future looks even rosier. A while back I posted a table pitting SFR against 2 contemporaries on the other thread. A lot has changed since then, so I?m comparing the 3 again. I?m purposely pitting the star of the ASX SFR against CDU, the most popular copper stock on HC against a total unknown AVI. Reason being is they are 3 copper stocks with huge potential and at very similar stages of their lives. Everyone on here has read enough posts describing CDU and SFR. The other company in this table is Avalon Minerals (AVI), a very scarcely traded stock. Main reason for this I?d say is that it is an Australian company, with its flagship mine in Sweden. Here?s my analysis;

First, a quick look at AVALON MINERALS

JORC Code Compliant Inferred copper resource has been defined from 2008-2010:
6.7 million tonnes @ 2.47% Cu at the ?A? Zone; MEASURED
4.1 million tonnes @ 1.76% Cu at the ?A? Zone; INDICATED
6.5 million tonnes @ 1.24% Cu at the ?A? Zone; INFERRED
27.4 million tonnes @ 0.8% Cu at the ?B? Zone; INFERRED
4.5 million tonnes @ 1.1% Cu at the ?D? Zone. INFERRED
12.5 million tonnes @ 0.27% Cu at the Tailings Dam; INFERRED

These resources have a combined total of 600,000 tonnes of contained copper

Background:

AVI listed in 2007. The Viscaria mine in Sweden is their project. It has the above JORC for Cu, but also holds a lot of Iron ore and magnetite.

-Significant recent IRON ORE INTERSECTIONS identified just in the D ZONE ONLY:

? 42.9m @ 35.5% Fe from 93m in VDD0013;
? 27.6m @ 38.4% Fe from 68m in VDD0014;
? 19.0m @ 33.8% Fe from 77m in VDD0015; and
? 19.0m @ 33.4% Fe from 17m in VDD0019

Accommodation is only 4km away in Kiruna, pop. 20,000. Kiruna also hosts a pellet mine which is in desperate need of more ore. It hosts a very experienced mining workforce.?

This iron ore is superior to the Australian type, as it has no silica at all, but is high in magnesium + carbonates. The Fe is also very course. Zinc and silver are abound in decent quantities too.

The largest Cu mine in all of Europe is located 50km south. Thus, the associated infrastructure is world class, including the processing plant. Thus, AVI have the option of using all these facilities which will have an associated start up date of Q3 2011. A capex of about $20 million is all that should be needed in this case. They may also chose to do it all alone, which would push the projected start up date out to Q1 2013.?

AVI has a lot of Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) style mineralization which often manifests as a series of cluster deposits. ?Historically, VMS mineralization has been found to extend to great depths such as with Xstrata?s Kid Creek mine which retrieves ore from depths of 2.9 km.? IOCG and Skarn Fe are bountiful too at Viscaria.

Interestingly, both labour and power costs are lower in Sweden than Australia these days. Let us not bring the RSPT type tax scenario up either. Like SFR, the Pre-feasability study is due to be released any day now.

To top this off, this is a very tightly held company. Management holds 29% of all issued capital. There has been massive director buying over the past 6-12 months.