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06/30/10--23:46: Metminco upgrades copper resource at Los Calatos by 350% to 926mt (chan 1774327)

Metminco (ASX, LON: MNC) have reported that following phase two drilling by Hampton Mining, resources at Hampton’s Los Calatos Project in Peru have increased by approximately 350% to 926 million tonnes.

Metminco has a 69.4% interest in Hampton. The project is at an early stage (~ 21,000m drilling) exploring a world class Cu-Mo porphyry system (~ 10km long) within a major Cu porphyry belt.

Planning is underway for a new 50,000m drill program. The drilled mineralization (~ 900m x 500m) is open in several directions and at depth.

In the phase two drilling campaign at Los Calatos Hampton drilled 10 core holes totaling 9,516m from November 2009 to March 2010, supplementing 13 cored holes previously drilled by Hampton (phase 1, totaling 6,387m), and 39 cored and reverse circulation holes drilled previously by Phelps Dodge and Barrick.

Total metres drilled on the Los Calatos Project to June 2010 are 21,261m, of which 20,393m was considered in the revised June 2010 resource estimate.

In June 2010 total resources for the Los Calatos Project of 926 million tonnes, using a cut off grade of 0.2% Cu., are subdivided into:

- Indicated Resources of 111,264 million tonnes at 0.39% Cu and 0.038% Mo; and
- Inferred Resources of 814,970 million tonnes at 0.37% Cu and 0.026% Mo.

Hampton is preparing a more detailed technical report on the Los Calatos Project, to be released in this quarter.

Hampton is also currently planning to commence a 50,000 metre phase 3 drilling program at Los Calatos, seeking to extend current resources, and to drill test other nearby exploration targets.

Metminco recently appointment Tim Read and Francisco Vergara Irarrazaval. Read is based in the United Kingdom and was formerly an investment banker and corporate executive and has over forty years experience in the mining and metals sector.

Vergara is senior partner of a law firm in Santiago, Chile and has extensive experience in the resources sector in Chile and in other Latin American countries.




07/19/10--07:38: Daniel Stewart notes Metminco’s strong growth prospects (chan 1774327)

In an analyst note entitled “Copper-bottomed”, London-based stockbroker Daniel Stewart & Co said that Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) provides investors with “an excellent opportunity” to get involved in a company with strong growth prospects, underpinned by the positive copper outlook, and with “little downside risk”.

The stockbroker noted that the principal project, Los Calatos in Peru, already has a resource of 926Mt resource grading 0.51% copper equivalent. According to Daniel Stewart, Metminco is currently trading at a 3x discount to the broker’s fully-risked target price, and it sees further upside beyond this target. The broker said its valuation is dominated by Los Calatos, while the Mollacas project adds more value, and the wider portfolio has substantial “upside optionality”.

“Metminco offers exposure to the potentially massive Los Calatos copper / molybdenum project in Peru. In addition, the company has an interesting portfolio of other assets in Chile ranging from advanced development
projects to grass-roots exploration.”

“Our target price is for the most part based on a risk-discounted DCF of the company’s principal asset, the Los Calatos project. To this, we have added a small amount to account for the advanced Mollacas project. In addition to our base case valuation, Metminco has a very substantial inherent option value.”

The broker noted that the ongoing development work at Los Calatos will de-risk the project, and in this respect the project’s first scoping study will be a major milestone in this process. “The exploration portfolio is particularly attractive. At Los Calatos, there are at least six more areas of potential interest, none of which have been drilled.”

Daniel Stewart highlighted that the next stage of Los Calatos’ development will be a major 50,000m drilling campaign, which “will provide regular newsflow ... and should result in a substantial increase, both in the size if the resource and the quantity classified in the higher confidence categories.”

Metminco joined the AIM market in April 2010 with a £12m placing.




07/27/10--23:27: Metminco raises stake in Hampton Mining to 72% (chan 1774327)

Metminco (ASX:MNC, LON:MNC) has completed the acquisition of 5,376,562 fully paid ordinary shares in Hampton Mining Limited, increasing its interest in Hampton from 69.4% to 71.9%.

Consideration for the acquisition was satisfied by the issue of 21,506,248 fully paid ordinary Metminco shares.

Hampton’s premier project is the Los Calatos copper and molybdenum porphyry deposit located in southern Peru, near and in a similar geological setting to three large existing copper-molybdenum porphyry mines.

At Los Calatos, Hampton has recently announced estimated JORC compliant resources (at a 0.2% copper cut-off grade) of 926 million tonnes, made up of Indicated Resources of 111 million tonnes at 0.39% Cu and 380ppm Mo and Inferred Resources of 815 million tonnes at 0.37% Cu and 260ppm Mo.

Hampton’s other advanced projects are the Mollacas copper leach project and the Vallecillo gold-zinc project. Both these projects are located in Chile, approximately 500km north of Santiago.




10/10/10--23:24: Metminco raises A$30m to accelerate Los Calatos copper exploration (chan 1774327)

Metminco (ASX:MNC, LON:MNC) will raise A$30 million through a placement of 150 million shares at A$0.20 per share, with BGF Equities acting as the lead manager.

The placement, together with the acquisition of the remaining minority interests in Hampton Mining (ASX: HHM), announced on 30 September 2010, enables Metminco to focus on an aggressive exploration program to build on the 926 Mt copper/molybdenum resources already defined and to drill test several new high-priority targets on the Los Calatos project.

Funds raised  will also be used to undertake a feasibility study at the Mollacas project, to advance the Vallecillo project and for working capital.

The placement, which is subject to shareholder approval, is primarily to institutional investors, significantly broadening Metminco’s shareholder base and introduces a number of strong “cornerstone” investors to the company.

Shareholder approval will also be sought to issue 160 million shares to Takoradi Limited (ASX: TKG) and 35 million shares to the Sentient Group in accordance with a purchase agreement to acquire Takoradi’s 25.4% minority interest in Hampton.




10/22/10--07:17: Metminco shares lifted by strong investor interest in Australia (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) shares have been trading strongly today, after an Australian tipster’s newsletter boosted investor interest on the ASX.

Overnight Metminco shot up over 50% on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).

This morning the AIM listed shares played catch-up, rising over 30% to a 24p intraday high. Metminco has held onto most of the early gains and was last trading at 21p.

In a regulatory statement on the ASX the company acknowledged the substantial price movement but said it was not aware of "any information that would be required under ASX Listing Rules that is not in the public domain".

However the company noted that it was aware of a private research report that has been released.

The October edition of Port Phillip Publishing's ‘Diggers & Drillers’ newsletter tipped Metminco, saying the Los Calatos project in Peru makes the share price look significantly undervalued.

The newsletter is written by Dr Alex Cowie.

The newsletter highlighted that Metminco has one of the biggest copper resources of any ASX-listed copper company.

Cowie said that Metminco’s recent fundraising will "take the pace up a few gears with two consecutive 50,000 metre drill-programmes".

Earlier this month Metminco announced a A$30 million fundraising, with the issue of 150 million new shares at A$0.20 each.

The new programme will increase the total metres drilled substantially to 121,000 metres.

“This massive drilling programme is in highly prospective ground,” Cowie said.

The tipster emphasised that the current Los Calatos 1.2 billion tonne resource is the result of just 21,000 metres of drilling.




11/01/10--04:32: Metminco poised to accelerate exploration of Los Calatos after Hampton Mining deal (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) said it can now accelerate exploration activity, after it agreed a deal to take full control of Hampton Mining and raised A$30 million in the third quarter.

This morning the company released an update for the three months ended 31 October 2010. Metminco provided a comprehensive report on its entire asset portfolio, but identified developments at Hampton as the main highlight.

With full control of it associate, Metminco plans to explore Hampton’s Los Calatos project to build upon the existing 926 million tonne copper and molybdenum resource. 

The Los Calatos copper-molybdenum project is located in south Peru, within a well known major copper porphyry belt. There are three large mines and mining infrastructure nearby.

The project covers a total tenement area of around 214 square kilometres.

Metminco noted that Los Calatos hosts a large copper porphyry 'cluster', which covers around 68 square kilometres.

So far eight exploration targets have been identified within this cluster. Hampton recently commissioned a comprehensive geophysics survey across the cluster. 

The geophysics programme is being carried out by Quantec and it includes inverse polarisation (IP) chargeability and direct current (DC) resistivity testing to around 750 metres depth, and magnetotellurics (MT) resistivity down to around 1,500 metres.

The newly raised funds will be used to help Metminco test high priority targets with the drill-bit.

Daniel Stewart analyst Martin Potts highlighted that Metmince is currently preparing a 50,000 metre drilling campaign at Los Calatos, utilising 5 rigs. The campaign is expected to run until mid-2011.

The analyst also emphasised that the Hampton deal was the most important event of the past three months.

Potts rates Metminco as a ‘buy’ with a 31 pence target.

Early in the quarter, Metminco upped its stake in Hampton from 69.4 percent to 72.6 percent. It then agreed a buy-out deal with Hampton’s remaining shareholders – including Takoradi Ltd, the Sentient Group, Notesan Ltd and A J Holdings – on 30 September.

The deal will be conducted as a share-based transaction, with Metminco issuing new equity to Hampton’s minority shareholders.

Metminco shareholders are due to vote on the deal at an AGM on 24 November 2010.

 




12/06/10--01:48: Metminco completes Hampton Mining acquisition and A$30 mln placing (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) now has full control over Hampton Mining’s South American assets, thus paving the way to accelerate exploration at the Los Calatos copper project.

The company told investors that it has now completed the deal to buy the remaining equity in Hampton, and it has concurrently complete its A$30 million fund raising. It has now issued 150 million new shares.

It has spent the last few months finalising the transactions.

The Los Calatos copper-molybdenum project is located in south Peru, within a well known major copper porphyry belt. There are three large mines and mining infrastructure nearby.

The project covers a total tenement area of around 214 square kilometres.

Metminco noted that Los Calatos hosts a large copper porphyry 'cluster', which covers around 68 square kilometres.

So far eight exploration targets have been identified within this cluster. Hampton recently commissioned a comprehensive geophysics survey across the cluster. 

The newly raised funds will be used to help Metminco test high priority targets with the drill-bit.

Specifically it is planning to conduct 50,000 metres of drilling at the Los Calatos.

 




12/08/10--00:59: Metminco appoints new MD and new Nomad (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) has announced the appointment of William Howe as managing director and of FTSE 100 specialist banking group Investec (LON:INVP) as nominated advisor and broker to the AIM market.

Metminco has also requested and was granted a trading halt on the Australian Securities Exchange pending the issue of a prospectus. It is expected that the ASX trading halt will end no later than 10 December 2010 when the company has lodged the prospectus.

The company said it will maintain its strong association with Daniel Stewart who will continue to act as its joint broker in the AIM market.

Metminco’s new managing director Howe founded Hampton Mining Limited, which is now wholly owned by Metminco.

Metminco has a portfolio of copper and gold projects in Peru and Chile.

The Los Calatos project in Peru has a JORC compliant resource of 926 million tonnes (Mt), consisting  of indicated resources of 111 Mt at 0.39% copper and 380 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and inferred resources of 815 Mt at 0.37% copper and 260 ppm molybdenum.

The Chilean assets include a 50% interest in the Mollacas copper leach project with JORC compliant resources of 17 Mt and a 50% interest in the Vallecillo gold zinc project with JORC compliant resources of 10.1 million tonnes.




12/15/10--00:39: An exciting year in store as a fully-funded Metminco embarks on an ambitious drilling programme (chan 1774327)

As announcements go it was fairly low key. But for Metminco the regulatory news release of December 6 heralded a new and exciting phase in the company’s development. We speak to director Bill Etheridge about plans to drill and develop the company's potentially world class copper project in Peru and he tells us about the other hidden gems of the Metminco portfolio.




12/22/10--01:46: Metminco starts 50,000m drilling programme at Los Calatos copper-moly project (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) announced that a 50,000 metre drilling programme is now underway at the Los Calatos copper-molybdenum project in southern Peru.

The drilling programme is designed to infill and extend the current resources, as well as testing a number of new targets.

Los Calatos has an existing resource of 4.7 million tonnes of copper equivalent metal, or over 10 billion pounds of copper equivalent.

The work is being carried out by Metminco’s, now wholly-owned, subsidiary Hampton Mining.

Earlier this month, Metminco completed a deal to take full control of Hampton Mining’s South American assets. It concurrently completed a A$30 million fund raising, issuing 150 million new shares.

Los Calatos is located in south Peru, within a well known major copper porphyry belt. 

The project covers a total tenement area of around 214 square kilometres and there are three large mines and mining infrastructure nearby.

The project area hosts a large copper porphyry 'cluster', which covers around 68 square kilometres. So far eight exploration targets have been identified within this cluster. Hampton recently commissioned a comprehensive geophysics survey across the cluster.

 




01/26/11--04:53: Broker Spotlight: Daniel Stewart & Co names ‘Top Picks’ for 2011 (chan 1774327)

Many of us welcome January with nicotine patches, detox smoothies and fitness DVDs. On the stock market however it is a month of big predictions.

Unlike many resolutions that are broken in matter of days, London’s top analysts are sticking their necks out by naming some of the stocks that they think will deliver all the way through the year.

Daniel Stewart and Co has named its ‘Top Picks for 2011’ in a note to clients. 

The broker’s analyst team has picked out two favoured stocks in each of their core sectors: Metals & Mining; Oil & Gas; Healthcare; Telecoms & Technology; Leisure & Gaming; Financials.

Metals and mining analyst Martin Potts named two juniors Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) and Peninsular Gold (LON:PGL) as his top picks for the year ahead. Richard Nolan believes that Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) and Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR) will be the best two stocks in the oil and gas sector.

In the healthcare sector Vadim Alexandre named Asterand (LON:ATD), a tissue-supply and contract research group, and stem-cell specialist ReNeuron (LON:RENE) as his top picks.

Telecoms and technology analyst Mike Jeremy reckons Globo (LON:GBO) and Avanti Communications (LON:AVN) will lead the way in his sector. Meanwhile PartyGaming (LON:PRTY) and Playtech (LON:PTEC) are Michael Campbell’s top picks in the Leisure & Gaming sector.

Simon Willis named NEOVIA (LON:NEO) and Planet Payment (LON:PPT, OTC:PLPM) as his top picks for the financial support services sector.

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) Target  price 40 pence (current price 24 pence)

Analyst Martin Potts is a big fan of the company’s Los Calatos copper-moly project in Peru. Setting a price target of 40 pence a share, he sees little or no downside from current levels (24 pence).  

“The company also has an interesting portfolio of other assets in Chile ranging from advanced development projects to grass-roots exploration,” Potts adds. “It is well funded and at current levels investors have an excellent opportunity to become involved, with little downside risk.”

Peninsular Gold (LON:PGL). Target Price 99 pence (current price 45.5 pence)

Martin Potts singled out the Malaysia-based junior gold producer. He reckons an upcoming expansion of the Raub gold mine, in Pahang state, and ongoing exploration will drive a strong rally for the stock.

“Peninsular Gold is a straightforward business with one operating asset at the Raub mine and significant exploration ready to unfold,” Potts adds. “We expect the stock to appreciate with the commissioning of the plant expansion and receipt of drilling results from the current campaign.”

The mining expert emphasised that his price target is almost double Peninsular’s current share price.

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) Price target 200 pence (current price 172 pence) 

Analyst Richard Nolan says things are “coming together quite nicely” for GKP, which he rates a buy up to 200 pence a share (current price 172 pence). 

The year promises to be one full of landmarks for the Kurdistan-based oil company with a major drill programme in store. 

Crucial will be the data from Shaikan-2 towards the end of the second quarter, which should furnish the market with the crucial oil/water contact depth, and in turn provide a little more information on the true scale of GKP’s oil finds. 

“Operations and volumes should trump financials in the short to medium term and be the dominant driver for Gulf Keystone’s share price,” Nolan adds. “We do not expect Gulf Keystone to return to the capital markets until late 2011 at the earliest barring a significant change in operations1. As such, we see an expanded and fully funded work program de-risking an investment in the company.”

Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR). Target Price 291 pence (current price 233 pence)

The AIM-listed oil company has been exploring over 30,000 square kilometres of prospective grounds offshore Namibia, with some success.

Earlier this month it identified a 3.1 billion barrel ‘mega-structure’ in its Southern licence, taking the overall prospective resources on the acreage to 13.2 billion barrels.

Richard Nolan believes that Chariot’s ‘mega-structure’ will tease potential farm-in partners into Chariot’s key projects, which would be a clear catalyst for the stock.

“Announcing a deal with an international partner should underpin the value of the whole company,” Nolan said.

Asterand (LON:ADT). Target price 30 pence (from 21 pence)

Analyst Vadim Alexandre raised his price target on the stock to 30 pence a share from 21 pence (current price 16 pence). He sees particular value being generated by last year’s acquisition of BioSeek. 

“The collaboration model works well for BioSeek given the significant intellectual property portfolio the company has developed around the BioMAP system and database,” Alexandre says. 

Deriving the new valuation, he says the group should be valued at a minimum of two times 2011 forecast sales. The hope is that Asterand is able to build on the progress made during 2010, when it landed a prestigious and valuable five-year contract with America’s National Cancer Institute. 

The base award is valued at US$5.4 million over 17 months, with provisions for renewal at the NCI's option,” the analyst adds.  “Not only is this contract expected to push Asterand back well into profitability, but it also further demonstrates the group’s success at expanding its work with government institutions.”

ReNeuron (LON:RENE). Target price 13 pence (current price 6.9 pence)

The stem cell pioneer gets a big thumbs up from Alexandre, who rates the stock a buy all the way up to 13 pence a share. Recently, ReNeuron’s ReN001 injection was used to treat the first stroke patient in a study group of 12 with no apparent side-effects. 

The Daniel Stewart analyst said: “With its lead stem cell therapy now in the clinic, and with over £10m of cash on its balance sheet, the company is poised to continue delivering positive news flow in 2011.” 

Avanti Communications (LON:AVN). Target Price £25.25 (current price 621 pence)

One look at Mike Jeremy’s target for Avanti quickly shows just how bullish the analyst is. He clearly thinks that the AIM-listed stock will be shot into orbit, just like the Hylas broadband satellites.

Avanti’s first broadband satellite, Hylas 1, was finally launched in November after a number of delays and it is scheduled to start beaming high-speed internet to remote areas in April 2011. The growing telecoms group plans to launch at least another two satellites in the coming years.

“We expect demand for satellite broadband to be driven by continuing uneven remote area provision, but also by mobile capacity (backhaul) needs and institutional (government) requirements,” Jeremy said.

Globo (LON:GBO). Target Price 103 pence (current price 16.5 pence)

Mike Jeremy’s other top pick is mobile-device software firm Globo. 

The Greek software group has reinvented itself in recent years. After a complete change of direction developed the CitronGO! Software platform. It synchronises email, instant messaging, files and contacts across a number of different devices like PCs, Laptops and smart-phones.

“Globo’s CitronGO! mobile platform is now established with 13 Major Network Operator partnerships We estimate a 10 million potential user base by 2016, 5 percent of a 201 million subscriber base,” Jeremy said.

He adds: “We have revised our DCF-based valuation from 45 to 103 pence to reflect the huge potential contribution from CitronGO!” 

PartyGaming (LON:PRTY) Target price 295 pence (current price 192 pence)

The online gaming group is valued at 295 pence a share, giving more than 50 percent upside from the current share price. Analyst Michael Campbell reckons may struggle in the poker arena, where the likes of Full Tilt and Poker Stars are piling on the competitive pressure. 

However he reckons this will be more than offset by the performance of Party’s bingo and casino offering. 

Campbell adds: “Party’s merger with BWIN results in the largest online gambling business across a number of product verticals. It’s the largest European Poker business across Europe and occupies top spot in casino, whilst sharing the spoils with Betfair in the sports betting vertical, though Betfair's model  is distinctly different to the Party-BWIN model.”

PlayTech Target (LON:PTEC) Target price 541 pence (current price 395 pence) 

Campbell calls the company the “best of breed” in the business to business market for online gaming. And he reckons the company will benefit from the dash to regulation in countries such as Italy, Scandinavia and the US. 

Setting a 541 pence a share price target, the analyst adds: “We expect to see continued growth in online casino and bingo when Italy and France come online. This is further underpinned by opportunities in the Scandinavian and US markets. Regulation, M&A, new licensees and a move to the main list are all catalysts for the share price.”

Planet Payment (LON:PPT,OTC:PLPM). Target Price 120 pence (current price 94.5 pence)

Simon Willis reckons Planet Payment is set up well for 2011, after a string of deals with US payment processor Global Payments (NYSE:GPN) and the lifting of the Visa moratorium on new business in October

“These two factors, together with a strong flow of new merchant acquisitions in Q4, set the group up well for 2011,” Willis said. 

“In addition, a flow of corporate activity in the sector last year, which saw Visa and MasterCard, as well as several private equity houses, acquire similar businesses suggests the 2011 EV/EBITDA (10x) looks cheap.”

Planet Payment’s multi-currency processing service helps retailers and other merchants perform transactions with international cardholders in the cardholder’s home currency. 

NEOVIA (LON:NEO). Target Price 80 pence (current price 64 pence)

NEOVIA is what is known as an alternative payments business, essentially it operates a number of services which facilitate secure online payment processing. It operates the NETELLER online payment business and it recently acquired US firm Optimal Payments.

Simon Willis reckons the acquisition is a big plus for the AIM-listed stock.

“The acquisition of Optimal Payments by NEOVIA is a transformational deal which achieves four of the group's five strategic objectives,” Willis said.

 




03/07/11--01:08: Metminco to join Australia’s S&P/ASX 300 index (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) will join Australia’s S&P/ASX 300 index effective 18 March 2011, seeking “stronger institutional investment support and wider investor recognition for our six assets in Chile and Peru”.

The S&P/ASX 300, which provides up to an additional 100 small cap stocks to the S&P/ASX 200, is designed to address investment managers' needs to benchmark against a portfolio characterized by sufficient size and liquidity.

Metminco, which is also listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange (LSE), has a portfolio of copper and gold projects in Peru and Chile.

The Los Calatos project located in southern Peru has JORC compliant resources of 926 million tonnes, comprising indicated resources of 111 million tonnes at 0.39 percent copper and 380 parts per million (ppm) molybdenum and inferred resources of 815 million tonnes at 0.37 percent copper and 260 ppm molybdenum.

The Chilean assets include a 50% interest in the Mollacas copper leach project with JORC compliant resources of 17 million tonnes consisting of indicated resources of 7.2 million tonnes at 0.56 percent copper and inferred resources of 9.8 million tonnes at 0.52 percent copper.

The company also holds a 50 percent interest in the Vallecillo gold zinc project with JORC compliant resources of 10.1 million tonnes consisting of Indicated Resources of 7.9 million tonnes grading 1.14 grammes per tonne (g/t) gold, 11.4 g/t silver; 1.32% zinc, 0.29 percent lead and Inferred Resources of 2.2 million tonnes at 0.78 g/t gold, 8.2 g/t silver, 0.58% zinc and 0.26% lead.

Late last year, Metminco announced that a 50,000 metre drilling programme was underway at Los Calatos with an aim to infill and extend the current resources, as well as test a number of new targets.

Prior to that the company completed a deal to take full control of Hampton Mining’s South American assets and raised A$30 million via a share issue.




03/16/11--02:04: Metminco choice of new chairman applauded as Fillmore resigns (chan 1774327)

John Fillmore, the founding chairman of Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC), has resigned to devote more time to new mining exploration ventures and to focus on his growing Melbourne legal practice. He will be replaced by Antonio Ortuzar, a Chilean lawyer and a “respected figure in the global resources sector”. 

 

 




03/31/11--05:08: Metminco’s Fillmore reflects on a year of substantial achievement (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) chairman John Fillmore said that 2010 was a year of substantial achievement, in which it has built on its decision to focus on South America.

“During the year Metminco transformed from being a company focused on Australian exploration projects with limited potential to a company with a controlling interest in a portfolio of high potential assets located in Peru and Chile,” Fillmore said.

Initially it acquired a 69.4 percent stake in Hampton Mining – this was subsequently increased to 72.6 percent, and it agreed to buy the whole company. Also it raised A$24.5 million and joined London’s AIM market in April 2010.

With the acquisition Metminco took control of the world class Los Calatos copper and molybdenum porphyry deposit located in southern Peru, as well as the two projects in Chile - the Mollacas copper leach project and the Vallecillo gold-zinc project.

Since then it has focused much of its attention on Los Calatos. A 10,000 metre drilling program helped increase the project’s estimated resources from 1.6 million tonnes of copper equivalent to over 4.7 million tonnes of copper equivalent -  over 10 billion pounds (lbs) of copper equivalent.

Fillmore highlights that the group has also identified 8 high level targets at Los Calatos, within a “Porphyry Cluster”.

Meanwhile at Mollacas it is working on detailed metallurgical tests with the aim to complete a detailed feasibility study, and possibly start copper cathode production in 2013.

At Vallecillo preliminary metallurgical test work indicates a gold recovery on site of more than 90 percent into Dore bullion and recovery of more than 90 zinc into a concentrate averaging more than 50 percent zinc, Fillmore highlighted.

“I am confident that the company will continue to meet its goals and grow its resource base,” Fillmore said.

In the six months ended 31 December 2010 Metminco made a $11.34 million loss.




04/06/11--04:42: Metminco is 'Elephant Hunting' says Investec, initiates coverage with a 'buy' (chan 1774327)

Metminco (LON:MNC) received a boost today as Investec started coverage of the miner with a buy recommendation and 31 pence a share price target - it currently trades at 24 pence.

In a note entitled 'Elephant Hunting', analyst Hunter Hillcoat, focused mainly on the potential of Los Colatos, the company's flagship asset in Peru.

Metminco has already defined a resource of 926 million tonnes, though as Hillcoat pointed out, Colatas has the potential to be a world class project. 

Of the A$30 million it raised towards the end of last year the majority will go into a drilling campaign at Calatos.

Around A$10 million is being earmarked for a 50,000 metre programme, which it is hoped will at least double the size of asset, likely to be followed by a second round of the same order of magnitude.

The project occurs in a major copper porphyry belt in far south Peru. 

It is located in desert, near the coast (around only 70 kilometres inland) and near power and water, so it is very well located for possible development.

The tenements total 214 square kilometres and are home to a large copper porphyry cluster, with at least eight different exploration targets identified by surface mapping and geochemical sampling.

And it is in an incredible neighbourhood geologically  with three major copper mines in the vicinity - Cerro Verde, Cuajone and Toquepala.

Investec’s Hillcoat said: “In our view, given the opportunity to expand this resource, the general scale of the alteration system in which it occurs and the abundance of follow up targets, Metminco will continue to expand the resource base, with the possibility that it will develop into a true world class porphyry cluster system, such as found in Escondida.”

Most of Metminco’s current valuation is accounted for by Calatos. But there is a lot more besides this monster project.

A potential fire-cracker is Camaron, the company’s gold property in Chile.

The company has collated some “very good” sampling results from Camaron, but hasn’t until now had the funds to drill the area. 

It does now and will spend around A$1 million starting next year on a modest programme.

It  also has a half share Mollacas and Vallecillo, two copper-gold projects in Chile.

The latter has a lot of potential with a resource of more than 700,000 ounces of gold equivalent and seven untested exploration targets: four polymetallic, two comprising a copper-gold porphyry, and one gold.

However, the company’s partner in both projects, Chilean company MN, isn’t in a ready position to contribute financially.

“We look forward to ongoing exploration newsflow, as well as progress on the early development assets (Mollacas and Vallecillo) and the possibility of a simplification of the asset ownership structure,” Hillcoat said.

 




04/28/11--01:42: Metminco announces landmark financing deals (chan 1774327)

The South America focused copper and gold explorer unveiled a fundraising in two separate transactions and revealed that Barrick Gold has surrendered the buyback rights to the company’s potentially world class Los Calatos copper-molybdenum project in Southern Peru.




05/20/11--06:22: Singer Capital Markets gives Metminco seal of approval as broker starts covering firm (chan 1774327)

Analyst Charlie Long at broker Singer Capital Markets reckons miner Metminco (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC) is a good prospect and recommends investors start building a position.

The City broker, which recently visited the site, started coverage on the firm, which is mainly focused on copper, with a "buy" rating and a target price of 33 pence (current price 24.50p).

"We think there is good reason for Metminco to outperform over the medium (12m months) and longer term, and recommend investors start building a position here.

"Management own 18 percent of the company, have never sold shares and we believe they will continue to add value as the existing portfolio is developed and new projects ar acquired," he said in a note to clients.

The broker said its "buy" case was based on the firm's ability to find and/or acquire new properties and develop them into large economic mining projects - underpinned by the value of the firm's flagship copper project -  Los Calatos in Peru.

Metminco has six projects in Chile and one in Peru. Los Calatos in Peru is at an early stage of exploration and already has an estimate of 4.7 mio/t contained copper equivalent, which Singer reckons will be added to.

Based on the current in-ground value of copper, this would be worth approximately US$500m, representing 85 percent of the current market capitalisation.

There are also several very exciting projects at various stages in Chile, added the broker.

Long said Vallecillo was probably the company's "most exciting" Chilean project with a 700Koz resource of gold and base metals at V1 which Long thinks will be expanded and mined. V6 provides blue sky potential with copper oxide and Cu-Au porphyry targets.

Metminco recently raised around US$30mln in a placing and can now complete nearly 100km of drilling at Los Calatos and to undertake scout drilling at Vallecillo (copper-gold project, Chile) and Camaron (gold property, Chile), and to progress with the feasibility studies at Mollacas, added the broker.

It thinks at least three of the assets (Los Calatos, Mollacas, Vallecillo) have the potential to be world class.

Singer added that Metminco was well placed to deliver on its development strategy because of its skilled management team.

"Metminco will add to resources at Los Calatos and Vallecillo but also discover new large metal deposits from properties either recently pegged or yet to be acquired. These discoveries should drive the share price upwards and limit the downside in the event of a market sell-off," said Long.




06/03/11--03:33: Tim Read at Metminco says its copper project has the potential to be a “very big” asset (chan 1774327)

Tim Read, Non Executive Director at Metminco (LON:MCN ASX:MCN) tells Proactive Investors that there’s little doubt that their main mine at Los Calatos is a very large and a very deep copper resource. Before then, the Mollacas project is forecast to produce 30mln lbs of copper a year with income of around $45mln a year of cash flow, returning capital in 15-months.


06/10/11--07:42: Metminco share fall unreasonable - analyst (chan 1774327)

The election of left-wing Ollanta Humala as president in Peru has unreasonably spooked investors and brought miner Metminco's (LON:MNC, ASX:MNC)) share price down around 14 per cent since last Friday, says analyst Charlie Long at Singer Capital Markets.

In a research note, he says the main fear was Humala's proposal for a windfall tax on mining profits but the broker believes that any new tax regime will be "less onerous" than is feared.

Now is an excellent time for investors to pick up the stock of the copper-focused firm and rates it a "buy" with a target price of 33 pence (current price: 19.5 pence), he added.

Humala replaces Alan Garcia and is 94th president of the South American country. He will serve for five years.

Long says Humala has pledged to govern by consensus and consult mining firms on any proposed tax change and says the broker thinks that onerously high taxes are an unlikely outcome.

He adds that mining windfall taxes have a reputation for not lasting and emphasised that presidential terms are restricted to five years, so even if Humala introduced a tax, it is very possible that it would be changed or scrapped before mining starts at the firm's flagship project "Los Calatos".

He also said Peru's sign-up to several trade agreements meant if it introduced unacceptably high new taxes it would risk legal action from foreign-owned miners and pressure from US and other governments.

Metminco has six projects in Chile and one in Peru. Los Calatos in Peru is at an early stage of exploration and already has an estimate of 4.7 mio/t contained copper equivalent.

Also, Long points out that Humala has pledged to end the environmental conflicts, which were a big issue under Garcia, who is blamed for rapid expanion at the detriment of the environment and indigenous people.

"Interestingly, if Humala gives more power to local anti-mine groups, Los Calatos could benefit from being a project with low environmental and social risk. Los Calatos is located in an uninhabited area with no history of Indian populations, 50km from the nearest town and where there are no rivers to pollute. Furthermore, the land is owned by the government which removes land ownership and access issues."




07/03/11--23:39: Metminco confirms that Los Calatos is a ‘classic major porphyry system’ (chan 1774327)

The group acquired the project last year and it has quickly become its flagship asset. A 50,000 metre drill programme began in December 2010. Metminco has encountered significant intercepts of mineralisation through this programme so far.