from afr: the mystery behind bocs rise, page-4

I remember I bought into this stock a year or two ago at 28c, then sold at 22c subsequently. The initial appeal to me was it appeared BOC had net assets of 32c - so you were buying an investment portfolio worth 32c, for 22c.

Sounded good to me.

Then I did a more thorough check of their balance sheets, and realised of their net assets, $85m were represented by their mine assets, and only $50m is represented by their investment portfolio. Now, to my mind their mine assets do not even exist, and really have nil value.

There are perenial rampers always saying the mine will re open soon but you have to face the reality here. The mine has a slim to none chance of being worth anything. What you have, is an orebody on an island inhabited by hostile citizens - with guns, that are only too willing to repel foreign corporations trying to screw their land over. The bougainvillans are happy with the way their life is now, why would they want to bring back bad memories? Furthermore, I believe the MD has stated the mine will not be reopened on the grounds that it is simply not certain that it is even economic. Copper prices were multiples of what it were back when the mine was in its prime - these days there are cheaper copper orebodies to exploit.

Haven't been following up on what happened lately but last I checked BOC was also chased by the PNG government for significant backdated taxes. Yes, the PNG gov't is corrupt, they only see BOC has money, is a PNG'en company, and moves in for the kill.

Long story short, its investment portfolio is only worth 12.5c a share. I don't see any point paying a 300% premium for the portfolio, especially as I'm subjecting myself to significant currency risk.