News

January 27, 2009

Any Time Now The Bottom Fishers Will Be Sizing Up The Unique Strengths Of Altius Minerals

By Charles Wyatt

Anyone seeking a stock which will be quick out of the traps once there is early evidence of economic recovery should look no further than Canadian-listed Altius Minerals. Yes, its shares inevitably fell with the rest when the market crashed. But as he watched Altius halve in value over a short six months down to the present C$4.93 per share, chairman Brian Dalton reckoned his company had got so cheap that he announced a buy-back scheme. You can’t blame him. His company had C$160.4 million in cash and liquid investments at the end of October. It gets annual income from a nickel royalty attaching to the Voisey’s Bay operation. And it has a swathe of other interests from energy to gold, any of which could get the shares up and running again. On top of that, of course, it has a 20.2 per cent holding in Aim listed Rambler Metals and Mining, and that’s a company that has always looked just a short hop from greatness.

Gold is top of the pops at the moment as Kinross Gold has just underlined with its recent US$360.5 million fundraising. Kinross seemed to lock that money down almost effortlessly, once the gold price had moved out of its three month trading range and started to attack the US$900/oz barrier. Also rolling with the bulls as gold surges, Franco Nevada has wasted no time in acquiring a 50 per cent gold royalty stream in the Palmarejo silver-gold project in Mexico from Coeur D’Alene for US$80...