News

February 23, 2009

Independence Group Stars At Fremantle, With Its Profitable Nickel And Its Exposure To The Giant Tropicana Gold Project

By Our Man in Oz

Last week more than 600 close followers of the Australian mineral exploration industry trundled along to the Esplanade Hotel in the west coast port city of Fremantle, ostensibly to hear presentations over a two-day talkfest from 40 companies. In truth, they only came to hear a handful, and in particular the first cab off a crowded rank, which was Independence Group. No-one left disappointed, because Independence chief executive Chris Bonwick has four-ways to hold an audience, and turn other miners green with envy. He has lots of cash in the bank, he has low-cost and profitable nickel production, gold to come from Australia’s best discovery in a decade and, possibly (just possibly), a dividend policy which appears to have survived the downturn, and might be confirmed as early as tomorrow.

Before looking a bit more closely at Independence, a few more words need to be said about that 600-strong audience at the annual Explorer’s Conference. Officially, the number was down by about 100 on last year. But, looked at another way, this year’s event attracted the same sized crowd as turned up in 2007, which is an interesting insight into an industry which has seen the bottom, and is now looking up again. Miniscule when compared with mega-events such as Cape Town’s Indaba conference or...