Excellent progress made at Khnaiguiyah - this seems a classic...

Excellent progress made at Khnaiguiyah - this seems a classic case of a real mining company, with sound, detailed exploration and (unusually for a junior), doing it by the book - that somehow cant get the punters through the door unlike more flaky stories with fabulous PR

Unlike most of the spruikfest stories which always seem to die off after the hot air blows off, this is the kind of company that will in fact build projects and/or get taken out.

I sense this isnt going to get any real s/p momentum in the near term, but is a definite portfolio "hold" and will deliver shareholder vaue down the road. Zinc isnt the most interesting metal, but its telling that Glencore have been quietly buying juniors for 2 years, accumulating zinc in the portfolio, and are doing a major low grade large open pit Zn/Pb mine at Mt Isa which is telling. The Canadians believe zin will be in deficit by end 2013 as the old Manitoba mines wind down, with some production gaps to replace it - and Mt Isa/Broken Hill enter their lower grade or deeper underground phases. All in all, the zinc market looks like it faces a rising cost curve and projects like Khnaiguiyah will be well timed.

The Khnaiguiyah project in Saudi should be worth a great deal more than this market cap - and that leaves Oman (also promising) in the portfolio as well