News

May 14, 2009

Slow And Steady Wins The Race For Tertiary Minerals On Its Storuman Fluorspar Deposit In Sweden

By Alastair Ford

Patrick Cheetham exudes a sort of quiet self assurance as he describes, in a pleasant telephone conversation with Minesite, how things have been going at Tertiary Minerals lately. That calmness may partly be because, situated as they are up in Cheshire, Tertiary’s offices are a long way from the hurly burly of the City, and have therefore been well insulated from much of the frenetic energy of panic that pervaded the markets in the latter part of last year and early part of this one. Patrick’s not one to lose his cool under many circumstances – he’s maintained a fairly consistent demeanour throughout the ups and downs of the market over the last few years, though obviously his company has had to cut its cloth according to economic developments. But even the most hardened of London-based executives has found it hard to stand above the prevailing mood in the City in recent months as sentiment has ruled the day. On a daily basis, then, it’s probably been easier to take a rational approach to the recent market turmoil from the perspective of a Cheshire office, than it has for anyone in close proximity to those on the London trading floors.

But Patrick’s also got more substantive reasons for remaining calm. Tertiary’s share price hasn’t been quite as badly hit as many of its peers at the junior end of the mining market. There has been some slippage in value to be sure, but not for Tertiary membership of the 90 per cent club. Not on a 12 month timeline, at any rate. What’s more, overheads are low - one thing that helps with that is sharing inexpensive offices in Cheshire with sister company Sunrise. There’s cash in the bank too,...