FYI (two stories below). Regards, Terry J. Crebs Lakewood, Colorado USA P.S. Grades and thicknesses not "yet" as good as our/Diamond Field's 1995 Voisey's Bay Ovoid (+3.7% Ni & +115m thick) discovery. 1) Nickel find talk not all good news WMC Resources Limited says it is concerned speculation about a nickel find north-east of Laverton in Western Australia will damage the company's relationship with a local claimant group. Newspaper reports have described drilling results in the Musgrave ranges near the South Australian border as being on a par with the lucrative Voisey's Bay deposit to be mined by nickel giant Inco Limited. But WMC says the comparisons are unfounded with only one of two holes drilled in the area producing high concentrations of nickel, cobalt and copper. Spokesman David Griffiths says WMC wants to inject some facts into reports on the drilling for the benefit of local indigenous groups. Thursday 25 May, 2000 ________________ 2) WMC Shares Jump 4.5% on Nickel Find in West Australia Perth, May 24 (Bloomberg) -- WMC Ltd.'s shares surged for their biggest one-day gain in 10 weeks after the world's No. 4 nickel miner said it was encouraged by results of two drilling sites for nickel and copper deposits in Western Australia. WMC shares rose 4.5 percent to a four-month high of A$7.93 (US$4.53), and their biggest one-day jump since March 16. While the company stands to gain from any new find of nickel as prices of the metal surged 86 percent in the past year to more than $10,000 per metric ton on higher demand from stainless steelmakers, it is too early to speculate on the size of the discovery, WMC and analysts said. ``They look promising, but there's still considerable work to be done for the thing to be developed,'' said Peter Main, an analyst at RBC Dominion Securities Ltd. ``It's too early to call a size on it.'' The company said it drilled two holes in the Musgrave ranges in Western Australia, which lie within aboriginal reserves near the South Australian border. Results from one of the two holes showed deposits at least 800 meters long and 26.55 meters wide carrying 2.45 percent nickel, 1.78 percent copper and 0.09 percent cobalt while final results from the second drill are still due. WMC acquired the leases to the West Musgrave site in 1997. The company has a ``long history of exploration in the general area in the 1960s,'' said Jack Parry, WMC's executive general manager in charge of exploration. ``We've got a very interesting result, it's a very good hole,'' said Parry, though it's too early to measure the scope of the discovery. Hard to Believe The Age newspaper said the Musgrave discovery could be the world's biggest nickel find, larger than the yet to be developed Voisey Bay find in Canada by Toronto-based Inco Ltd. ``I find it extremely hard to believe that WMC wouldn't have reported it, if it's bigger than the Voisey Bay,'' said RBC Dominion's Main. ``It's far too early to extrapolate that sort of size.'' Main said he won't raise his earnings forecasts for WMC or his valuation of its shares following the find because it usually takes between three to five years before companies can exploit a proven discovery that boosts profits. It takes more than a year to confirm proven reserves from an initial find, he said. Still, the Australian find makes WMC more attractive than other Australian mining companies, said Main, who this month advised investors to switch to WMC shares from Anaconda Nickel Ltd., a company producing lateritic nickel in Western Australia. WMC is likely to outperform the Australian Other Metals Index on the back of rising nickel prices, he said. The Other Metals Index has lost 14 percent since the start of the year although it has gained 23 percent in the last 12 months. The world's demand for nickel exceeded supply by 45,000 tons last year, a report by the International Nickel Study Group said. Demand is expected to outpace supply again this year as consumption of the metal grows 7.5 percent in Europe, 4.5 percent in the U.S. and increases also in Taiwan, India and Chi na, the group said. The London Metal Exchange's global nickel stockpiles fell 522 tons to 23,346 tons yesterday, its lowest since March 1992. May/24/2000 2:46 ET For more stories from Bloomberg News, click here. (C) Copyright 2000 Bloomberg L.P. _______________________________________________________ List archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
