Here it is for those that haven't seen it. Fairly much a repeat...

Here it is for those that haven't seen it. Fairly much a repeat of what we have seen from the UMC announcments. The EV assigned per resource tonne underpins it all. Although I'm fairly certain UMC is no orphan in this zero risk environment.

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United Minerals Corporation (‘UMC’) is an emerging iron ore developer with projects located in the heart of the Pilbara Iron Ore
mining province with 4 major operating mines in close proximity.
UMC announced an initial high grade direct ship ore (‘DSO’) inferred resource of 84.5mt @ 60.15% Fe within a global resource of
111.3mt @ 57.7% Fe. The DSO resource shows low levels of impurities (P<0.065%, SiO2 3.65%).
Mineralisation occurs within two main zones in a 1.5km x 1.5km area and in places reaches a true thickness of +80m in the centre of
the orebody. Recent infi ll drilling recorded an outstanding intersection of 117m @ 63%Fe from 61m (including 30m @ 67.05%Fe).
The deposit is close to surface with some 20-40m of quaternary cover and is estimated to have a strip ratio of ~ 1:1. The infrastructure
is excellent with two RIO railways within 3km of the deposit and a BHP railway (Mining Area C) within 20km of this deposit. The ruling
by Australia’s High Court in favor of third party access to BHP iron ore rail infrastructure in September is highly encouraging for UMC.
RIO announced a deal with Iron Ore Holdings (‘IOH’), a junior iron ore explorer with a resource of 8.3mt @ 58.1% Fe, to enter into mine
gate sales upon completion of a feasibility study. RIO stated the key criteria for a similar deal would be quality of ore and proximity to
infrastructure – both attributes that UMC possess.
UMC has started drilling the Railway East prospect and the Jumbo Junction prospect, though no assays are to hand as yet.
Investment Case
The initial resource clearly demonstrates that UMC has a valuable project with an in-situ value of some A$10bn and importantly close
to existing infrastructure. UMC has advised it is negotiating and evaluating various alterntative strategies and proposals with and from
3rd parties in relation to maximising shareholder value.
The ruling by the High Court on third party access to railway is very positive for UMC. However, there are further hearings planned for
Mar/Apr 2009 with decisions by mid next year at the earliest.
The deal between IOH and RIO does have positive implications for UMC and demonstrates that it is possible for a junior to deal with
a major. The excellent location and high grade resource all point to this being a valuable resource which would be attractive to the
majors.
UMC has cash of $17m and currently has 4 rigs with 2 rigs focused on infi ll drilling at Railway Prospect and initial drilling at Jumbo
Junction and Railway East. We understand metallurgical testwork will commence shortly.
Clearly there is still a way to go for any deal to be done but this resource does demonstrate UMC is not just a junior with a dream and
stranded resource but has potential to be become a mid cap iron ore producer over the next 3-4 yrs. The other alternative would be
a corporate outcome, most likely with one of the majors in the region (RIO or BHP most likely).
We maintain our Speculative Buy on UMC. The current price implies an EV per resource tonne of ~ $1.5/t, we believe this can be at least
double this which forms the basis of our +$2.00/sh price target.