News

June 04, 2009

Metals Exploration’s Bankable Study At Runruno Is Coming On Apace, Supported As It Is By A Very Wealthy Backer

By Alastair Ford

Jonathan Beardsworth, the man at the helm at Metals Exploration, is just about to fly off to the Philippines when Minesite phones him up for a chat. He’s off to get things ship-shape at his company’s Runruno gold-molbdenum project, ahead of a visit by one of the company’s key backers, property mogul Chris Candy. Perhaps nautical terms aren’t the most appropriate expressions to apply to Jonathan, who spent much of his early adult life going around in tanks, but the idea that you might want to make sure that things are ticking over in reasonable fashion before your 44 per cent shareholder steps onto the turf must be familiar to virtually all company directors or project managers out there.

Still, Chris Candy’s already got a lot to be happy about. It was his money that really pulled the fat from the fire as far as Metals Exploration was concerned at the beginning of this year. The share price had sunk from a 12 month high of 23p down to a low of 6p, and given the way banks were all rolling over and giving up the ghost back then the market was unconvinced that Metals Exploration was ever going to get Runruno financed. So when Chris Candy rode to the rescue, he was able to buy in on...