Been hunting around for value outside of the majors for an...

Been hunting around for value outside of the majors for an eternity then cast my net a bit wider than usual when I was not getting anything worthwhile from my perspective.
Early last year a Court decision in the Philippines left the mining industry up in the air. This changed back again late last year coupled with recent Government action.
Now the Philippines has been a deathwish ,particularly for mining, since the Marcos regime.
The mineral wealth of this country has always been first rate, now we appear to have a fresh attitude with Government support- a Government with a six year shelf life.
I bagged the country last year but now I am having very serious second thoughts.
A colleague went to a mining conference in Manila last week. In addition to the Government reps there was the Australian contingent including Indophil, Climax, Red 5, and Lafayette. Also in attendance were the big boys (BHP, Anglo, Teck, all the Chinese under the sun, etc), plus stock promoter extraordinaire Robert Friedland with his Ivanhoe hat.
Adding one and one together and coming up with twenty six, it appears that not only has Mr Friedland done a publicised deal with some old mates with an existing Philippino mining company, but he has been blanket pegging the countryside! Could this be an alternate story to his play in Mongolia ? He is now out of OZ just about with the recent sale of Savage River, and he is rumoured to be selling his copper mine in Burma if he can due to North American pressure.
He missed his presentation to the mining conference in Indaba (Sth Africa) yesterday-still wheeling and dealing in the Philippines? Will this country be his next big promote?
Enough of the rumours.
Did some more research on the above OZ companies plus a few phonecalls.
Tampakan is very attractive but it is suggested that it still has a long road to go before development-beyond my time scale so IRN got pushed to the side.
There are still some more issues with Dinkidi (Climax) and the project finance is not quite there yet. Will probably leave this one until the finance is in place.
The Siana project looks very interesting for Red 5, but Anglo's heavy hand is not fast moving-will leave this one for the time being as well.
Medusa is trying to buy a mine at the moment but the funding requirement is quite large in comparison to the size of the project offerred-once again wait and see from my perspective.
The standout appears to be Lafayette-in the course of the next three months it will bring onstream the first new mine in the Philippines in over 30 years. A polymetallic (zinc, copper, gold and silver) whose numbers are impressive as is the management.
Major shareholders include Lion and Acorn and whilst their presence is not conclusive it is reassuring to some degree.
From the numbers point of view, have a look at the company's website www.lafayettemining.com
and go to Chris Brown's research from ABN Amro Morgan dated 21/1/05. (I know i found the figures impressive but just wish he would not use gold equivalents).
Production starts April/May , with an overseas roadshow due to start in the next couple of weeks.
It certainly is one that could justify a positive rerating in the short to medium term fingers crossed. The Germans may be active in the stock, but that in itself is neither good or bad in my opinion-it may simply add to volatility rather than impact on underlying value.
Cheers, TAS