fcn re: the future

The ASX has taken a real battering, but some opportunities are emerging for those with strong nerves and a good bank account. While we haven't seen anything of note to cheer us up about FCN lately, I think at current prices they offer a real opportunity to make some good gains over time.

Remember FCN has some seriously prospective ground and now three heavy weight partners; BHPB, XStrata and Anglo American.

Take your eyes off Collurabbie for a moment. BHPB hasn't focussed on this of late and unless the Falcon crew can get them to either get back to drilling or move out of the road, I think that is on the back burner. This is especially so as at this stage Xstrata is still struggling to finish up the Jubilee takeover and won't be focussing on its FCN stake. It is still below 50% as far as I can tell.

Saxby, on the other hand, is looking very prospective and quite likely to generate some real interest in the FCN stock in about 3 or 4 months time when Anglo American gets started on their drilling program. Word around the blocks is that Anglo are quite excited about the prospects there and are looking at a long term commitment. This is no quick fly in fly out see what we can turn up a few minutes deal. We are likely to see a concerted effort on the part of Anglo to test whatever is there (and preliminary results suggest they have plenty to work on). The advantage for FCN is that Anglo is committed to spending $7 million before Falcon has to contribute. Any sort of a hit there is likely to have significant benefits for the FCN share price. Remember FCN has about 140 million shares on issue. Compare this with AGM which has some 750 million and it is now over $1.

Having said that, there doesn't appear to be any rush to jump into FCN and it may even go lower in the short term given current market conditions.