News

February 03, 2010

Indaba Winds Down, Leaving Some Delegates Talking Of A Restart To The Super-Cycle, And Others Warning Of Choppy Waters Ahead

By Our Man in Oz, in Cape Town

Day Three at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, and the verdict is in: Success. Not outstanding, but at least according to veteran Australian stockbroker Hugh Wallace-Smith, worthy of a score of “six to seven out of 10”. Given what the mining world has been through over the past two years that’s a very positive rating. Not everyone agrees. They never do, and even Hugh had his own “only in Africa” story to tell which shaved a point or two off his rating. Over the past few years he has been following the story of ASX-listed Sundance Resources which owns the Mblam iron ore project in Cameroon, a promising but marginal prospect which needs, among other things, a 1,000 kilometre railway and a port. So, curious to hear first hand what’s afoot in Cameroon, Hugh popped along to a presentation from the Cameroon Minister for Mines – who duly failed to turn up. Africa, as seasoned investors know, always wins.

Pricing-in frustration is an impossible challenge, but Africa is definitely a place where frustration can almost be measured in dollars and cents. The trick for investors is to appreciate that a price has to be paid, and to make the appropriate allowance. It was with Hugh’s reality check in mind, and an enjoyable lunch provided by Melissa Sturgess, chief executive of ASX-listed and Aim-traded Nyota Minerals, behind him, that Minesite’s Man on the Cape embarked on his final survey of Indaba,...