rumours have made the share price go down and people posting untruth statements let all look at facts Mirabela managing director Ian Purdy last night said the miner was in good shape and that he was perplexed by yesterday's share market rout. The rout, accompanied by above-average trading volume of 8.3 million shares, sparked a "please explain" from the Australian Securities Exchange.
"We are in excellent shape," Mr Purdy said. "And we have the support of our major shareholders. It (the company's position) is completely at odds with what has happened in the market today.
"We really don't understand the basis of the market speculation."
Mr Purdy used Mirabela's response to the ASX query to confirm the miner's guidance from last month that it expected to produce between 19,000t and 21,000t of nickel in concentrate at a cash cost "towards" $US6 a pound, or about $US13,000t, this year.
Mirabela also had $US41 million in cash in the bank, in line with its expectations, and was considering a capital raising. Mr Purdy later added that Mirabela had just completed a twice-yearly interest payment on the unsecured notes, while its two nickel customers, Brazil's Votorantim Metais and Norilsk Nickel, had stuck to their obligations.
"Our share price is not trading on fundamentals, it is trading on speculation and it's led to a large variant in our share price over a very short period," he said.
"The operation is going very well."
Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg have an average share price target for Mirabela of $1.11. Nine of 17 analysts are recommending a buy. By the numbers 0.52% The average nickel grade for Santa Rita's open cut reserves and resources. Source: Mirabela Nickel
MBN Price at posting:
24.8¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
