A FEW weeks ago we chided Image Resources about splitting off a fourth listed company and weakening the critical mass of the group in these times of consolidation. Well, we now hear that people who know better took absolutely no notice of this and are queueing up to write cheques for the $20 million IPO for what will be known as Emu Nickel.
Existing Image shareholders will get free shares in Emu, which holds 33.3 per cent of the Emu Lake nickel deposit in Western Australia so they're likely to okay the deal. That deposit has already produced nickel hits up to 7.55 per cent and farm-in partner Jubilee Mines is required to spend $1 million a year on exploration. So this is no greenfields project.
We also hear that one of the reasons that Image is spinning off Emu Lake is that it expects to be a takeover target for its very exciting mineral sands project - and doesn't want the nickel to go as part of a job lot with no real value attached to it.
Money is also no object for Image. On Friday an unnamed private investor took $2 million in new shares; a week earlier, Singaporean investor Choon Kong Lim took a $2.3 million placement.
IMA Price at posting:
0.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
