Interesting little company. Did a series of asset swops to leave them with half of the 4th largest Nickel deposit in the world.
The deposit itself is in the Philippines has been known about for 30 years but due to low prices and lack of demand in the Far East it was never exploited. With the explosion in demand from India and China the nickel price has climbed from $2 to $6.50 but oddly enough is still considered low.
The final approval stage for exploitation is just about to be approved and extraction will begin. The company already has one contract with a Japanese smelter and is in discussions with smelters in a series of countries.
Nothing clever about the operation, as the ore is of sufficiently high grade, they dig it up and ship it out. Infrastrucure is already in place for operation.
TMC is currently priced at 18m, the initial Japanese contract is worth 4m and each additional contract will hopefully be at this level or greater.
Final approval turns the company into a producer and each additional contract simply increases their size.
The management is tight with cash and has some good quality mining skills onboard.
The Philippine government is fast tracking the final approval and the company says it expects it shortly.
One to hold for approval and through the series of RNS's as more contracts are won. Company should be worth 50m in 6 months and 100m in 12-18 months.
Buy it, ignore it, just pointing this one out.

Soul Traders, there is always a risk that MPSA will not be granted, or perhaps will be granted but on very pro-Government (not so good for TMC) terms, this is the variable whch instituions cannot put into the price, and so in the most will stay outside until terms are known and its granted.

However, the upside even on very poor terms for TMC are massive, and with all SE Asian countries, anything can be done when its wanted to be done, so I think approval should be 99% certain, but the 1% is still there until its a done deal, others may think its 50/50, but I would say at this stage, with so many of the other required approvals already done, that they are very nearly there.

PP,

I couldn't agree more with your conclusion. I am not familiar with bureaucracy in the Philippines (!), but feel that if there had been any significant objection to TMC proceeding, it would have been raised already.

Have purchased an initial chunk of stock today at 112p -will either add over time or wait until the MPSA is granted and pounce!

To me the potential of this stock is outstanding. I wish I'd got into VOG while it was still at 30p - but I think this could make up for it!! (IMO, etc). The only possible drags on physical progress with the mining are the disruptive potential of the rainy season and the fact that it may take up to 18 months for the co to get up to speed on production. However, that certainly doesn't preclude a big re-rating on the grounds of the huge assets to which TMC have access - and that's the reason to get in early!

Thanks again for your excellent contributions to this thread and your helpful comments.

Best wishes from Frankfurt,
Soul Traders

soul traders, glad you are onboard and find the information helpful. With TMC, if they get the MPSA then the upside is massive, bigger than VOG I would say. I am familiar with the Phillipines and the way it works, and in my mind MPSA will be granted, just a matter of time and terms.

Still high risk, but for me its a risk worth taking given the incredible upside potential. MPSA should be awarded any time in the wet season, so any time from May to November. I will just keep tucking some away every so often until that time :)

A nice link from a post on AFN, and this is what matters, local people wanting it.

absinclair - 27 Mar'06 - 14:37 - 57
hi guys. thought you might be interested to see this article related to mining in the Philippines, in particular Toledo city.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/mar/27/yehey/prov/20060327pro1.html

Good news for EKA (copper) and TMC (Nickel) :

More background info - from this week :

Citigroup turns bullish
Earlier, Citigroup said it's abandoning a long-held bearish outlook on copper and nickel on expectations of economic growth, tight supplies, sluggish capacity additions and persistent operating outages or shortfalls.

"We continue to adhere to the Commodity Supercycle theory, believing that the combination of 15 years of underinvestment, thorough-going corporate consolidation, mounting regulatory/NGO pressure, and input cost escalation are conspiring to prevent the industry from mounting a meaningful supply response to "peak-peak" prices," said analyst John Hill.

Citigroup raised its 2006 forecast for gold to $553 an ounce from $540, and upped its copper outlook to $1.85 per pound from $1.59.

On the supply side, copper inventories were down 44 short tons at 28,104 short tons as of late Friday, according to data from Nymex.

Gold supplies were down 487 troy ounces at 7.53 million troy ounces, while silver supplies were down 119,875 troy ounces at 124.9 million troy ounces.

PP,

You may be interested in taking a look at the Galahad Gold (GLA) thread, if you haven't already done so. Similar prospects to Toledo, IMO, and they may be announcing the results of a scoping study at the end of this week (although whether that will do much to affect the SP is another ballgame altogether). Would be interested to read your comments.

ST, will take a look.

Excellent post from AFN :

Geko5trade - 29 Mar'06 - 00:56 -

Spoke to George Bujtor early this morning (Philippino time). Some people don't like talking to CEO's and directors for fear of getting too close to the company. I can understand that viewpoint but I've been saved a number of times by talking to management.
I don't think anyone should be in this share if they haven't come to terms with the political risk. That said I think the probability of success, and major success, has increased very significantly since GB came on board. He is hands on, has an excellent grasp of the production issues combined with a common sense overview. During the conversation I raised a number of issues regarding the MPSA, allocation of funds, timing of progress with regard to the wet season amongst them.
The first thing that struck me was that he is totally committed and sees this as an opportunity to develop a major company. He is fully cogniscent of the difficulties of dealing with Philippino bureaucracy. He doesn't shy away from any of the issues and has a strategy in place to deal with them. In many cases this is simply having people on the case chasing departments to make sure papers have gone from A to B. Mintybear I wouldn't want to gamble on long delays to MPSA, my opinion is that where he needs to buy expertise, he buys it. The report is complete for shipping access and the stages for the development of the docking area well thought through. As I understand it a spur will be used for the first shipments and this will be developed into the permanent access and loading area and there is no problem accomodating the deep draft vessels. Clearly there are issues. Just building an access road entails a group coming out to monitor every tree that's removed! The important thing is that where difficult criteria have to be met they are being met and the infrastructure is moving into situ. The conveyor is a major expense but remember they are likely to be moving three times the volume previously anticipated.
I had assumed that the rainy season would halt production. GB made two comments regarding this which I think are worth consideration. Firstly the weather on that side of the island may not be as severe as in other parts. So whilst we have to assume delays there may be opportunity to continue operations. Secondly the parameters for 'dry shipment' vary considerably. Effectively some companies ship with a higher percentage of water content than others. Perhaps this depends on demand I hadn't really thought of it. What I do think is that if someone is likely to capitalise on that possibility and build it into the contracts GB will take that opportunity.
I think there was another interesting point about the politics. There is a tendency for us to view NGO's as a coherent group. What GP pointed out is that they are more akin to numerous self-interested groups with very different isolated agendas. ie a local group that wants to build a church, another that wants something else. I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with the intentions of each group but it is probably wrong for us to view them as a coherent unified opposition. That is probably a perception that politicians try to infer and has little bearing on the everyday workings of a developing company like Toledo or the bureaucracy they have to deal with.
I consider the MPSA a small part of the planned expansion. I have some notes on the various stages, permits and agreements, and how they relate to the hectares involved. I think it is all in the public domain but I'm going to stop rambling just in case there are discrepancies that might be price sensitive. I doubt it. GB is very sharp and has the knowledge and experience to back an opportunity. All IMO.

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news01_april03_2006

High court says law on mining stays

THE Supreme Court has reaffirmed the constitutionality of Republic Act 7942, or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, when it declared valid the governments financial and technical assistance agreement with an Australian firm to operate mines in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

The Mining Act allowed foreign investors to tap into the Philippines estimated $1 trillion in mineral wealth, and the high court affirmed it in a resolution en banc or in full court and with full judiciary authority.

It upheld the decision of its First Division dismissing a petition questioning the constitutionality of Section 76 of the Mining Law and its implementing rules and regulations, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Administrative Order 96-40, and the agreement signed by the Philippine government with Arimco Mining Corp., an Australian firm that was later renamed Climax-Arimco Mining Corp.

The First Division had dismissed the suit filed by the Didipio Earth-Savers Multi-Purpose Association Inc., which questioned the legality of the governments deal with the Australian firm and the constitutionality of Section 76 of the Mining Act and its implementing rules.

Separately yesterday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo assured foreign investors that the Philippines would not revoke its liberal policy on the mining industry even as she urged them to support the governments environment protection programs.

I want to develop the mining sector, though not at the expense of our environment or our workers, she said.

I believe a modern state can provide a clean environment and a good job especially if you will help us in that respect.

The President met some of the largest foreign donors and investors last week when she opened the two-day meeting of industry stakeholders at the 2006 Philippine Development Forum.

She gave her assurance that the Mining Law would not be substantially amended following calls from influential Catholic bishops that the government review its mining policy.

But the President urged mining companies to devote at least 10 percent of their capital expenditures to finance environmental projects and to spend 3 to 5 percent of their direct mining and milling costs for annual environmental programs.

Mrs. Arroyo also assured foreign investors that government efforts at creating a culture of transparency in the bureaucracy would continue.

We want to make sure that every dollar that you invest in the Philippines is well spent, she said.

Earlier, presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said the government would block any move to inject substantial amendments to the Mining Law.

The policy stays. There will not be any substantial changes or amendments, and especially not a reversion of the law, Defensor said.

The Philippines is trying to attract about $6.5 billion in foreign funds to revive the mining sector amid calls from influential Church leaders early this year to cancel all mining concessions.

In Congress, House Speaker Jose de Venecia has already instructed the committee on environment and natural resources to look at the possible amendments to the decade-old law. Rey E. Requejo and Joyce Pangco Pares

Post from one person who attended the EGM today, all good news I think :) :


david77 - 3 Apr'06 - 14:03 - 5906 of 5906

Seems I get the honour! There were about 15 shareholders at the meeting chaired by CK - Merfyn Roberts was also there.

The two resolutions were passed by substantial proxy votes and by those attending today.

The new shares had been irrevocably placed with institutions @ 108p subject only to today's votes. Those institutions included Framlington, Fidelity, Scottish Widows, RAB Capital, and GS Mineral fund(?). I may not have remembered the last one correctly.

CK told us pretty much the same as in the operations update of 22 March.

The MPSA is not holding anything up at this time, and he couldn't really give any more info than that he expects the MPSA 'soon'. He is confident that it will be issued in due course - all of the preparatory work has been agreed.

Good stuff, PP.

Two further posts from EGM attendee's and much more detail, and thanks for daz and Tiggy for sharing :) :

daz2004 - 3 Apr'06 - 21:30 -

Meeting was better attended than AGM...about 15 PI's i reckon, 20 in total.

Anyway funding was as already detailed due to taking production from 500kt to 1Mt+ per annum...original estimate was US$10m now to be US$18m.

- conveyor to be used instead of barge boats...conveyor to be 1km in total length so that 30-60kt ships can be loaded. Barge boats would have meant 3-4 of these being filled and towed out to then for their loads to be taken off again to be then be reloaded onto ships, this whole loading process will reduce timescales dramatically.

- additional work will be done to the roads to increase their widths...

- additional work will be done to increasing drying areas

The whole issue of this placing really is to get Direct Shipping Operations performing to a much higher level than was estimated. When all this infrastructure is in place income generation will be significantly greater than anticipated.

Sample shipments are scheduled to up to 3 Japanese smelters(NIPPON is still taking it), 2 Chinese, and the one of the largest smelters in Europe (Greek smelter LARCO http://www.larco.gr/ )

ECC meeting is next week, CK confident its in the bag. Something mentioned about DENR minster needing to sign something and he's been out of the Country.

MPSA requires ECC & feasibility study of designated area. The feasibility study is very throrough as DENR have requested it, its up to JORC standard but CK mentioned something about nickel deposits being difficult to JORC standard?? (I haven't got that written down, just remember that)

Tax required for DSO is 35% for government & 2% for Indigenious People, and thats all...infact capital expenditure can be offset and also if Acid-Leaching operations set up then 5yrs tax free holiday mentioned.

PR is being addressed with Charles Vivian, Pelham PR in attendance, who informed us that they are talking to finacial press and priming them so that when news is released in future then they will hopefully run a feature for example on mining exploration in Philippines with TMC mentioned. Felt reassured that the PR is being worked on and I look forward to more exposure coming...

I hope the above is a fair assessment, I may have missed something out or someone who attended may be able to elaborate further...but the overriding sense that attendees got imo, is that management know exactly what they are doing, the DSO is not some small operation being undertaken, George was not there, but CK has complete 100% faith in what George is doing and he mentioned his previous experience has/is paying dividends, "WE are extremely lucky to have him" was stated...the sp is where it is because its the Philippines it carries a higher risk, however he did state that the hardwork has paid off and he highlighted that the rewards are also higher as well.


Tiggy2101 - 3 Apr'06 - 21:32

I attended the EGM today, and thought it was a very positive meeting and well worth attending. I also met Daz and had the opportunity to thank him in person for all the hard work and well researched information he has posted on this board over the last two years.

My notes are similar to those posted by David77. However I will add \ confirm the points made at the EGM, in no particular order.

1)An institutional visit is planned in April 2006.
2)Chris commented that George is confident that more orders will be added and that the order book will only get bigger.
3)Toledo will be focused on direct shipping and cashflow generation and confirmed the BFS will be funded by direct shipping.
4)The market will be informed once contracts have been signed, should be in the next six weeks or so.
5) Chris stated that TMC was very fortunate to have George on board and have Atlas as a partner.
6) MPSA will be expected in the coming weeks, and all preconditions of MPSA are in place. Chris did comment on the amount of bureaucracy and is continuing to chase all the necessary documentation on a daily basis.
7) Return on investment should be no later than December 2007
8) Confirmed BHP are still on board and a large smelter in Europe could be added in addition to 2 in Japan and 2 in China. Could not name names until contracts have been agreed.
9)Construction of the trestle conveyor should start in August once the sample shipments have taken place. It will take about 2 months to complete the trestle conveyor located 1 Kilometre inland.
10) The question was asked about the bishops who are opposed to mining. Chris stated that the majority of the catholic church were not opposed to mining and did not see any potential problems.
11)The placing for shares was taken up by Framlington, Fidelity, RAB Capital, Scottish Widows with the smallest investor taking 250k
12) A new PR company was appointed in January 2006

Hope the above information helps, and thank you to all the ADVFN posters who have contributed to this board. I guess my sentiments are in the Daz \ Minty camp!!

Regards and good luck
Tiggy

Placing now a done deal and no more reason to hold the price back, so of it goes....... :)

L2 4 v 2 and moving up well.

I think this should be back to the 130/140 range soon. Still moving well today, now 1 v 2 at 107/114 and all blue.

Yep - very satisfactory rise today - would be delighted if your prediction comes right, PP!! Certainly the potential is there.

BTW thanks again for some excellent posts - lots of encouragement in the details, including re planned institutional visit in April plus the take-up of the placing shares. I'm glad to hear they'll be working on their PR as well - it seems that the biggest problem with this venture is that nobody knows it's there. Otherwise there's no reason for it to be this cheap (??).

FYI - Nickel price in today's FT: $15,650 the tonne or $7.10/lb. It just seems to keep going up at the moment, which hopefully augurs well for the durability of TMC's conservative pricing estimates, but WDIK/DYOR.

Up 7p so far today, to 112/118. No news that I can see . . .

Just found this article on TMC.Registration is free.

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com/registered/articles/article.asp?TMC2

Toledo Mining Corporation: where from here

One thing is for sure, many bulletin board posters who hold shares in Toledo Mining don't seem to be very happy just now.

First came the unexpected financing announced on 8 March, which raised 8.5 million at 108p, just a small discount to market. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth greeted this news - although the EGM to authorise the issue seems to have passed off smoothly enough.

Good article, HH, thanks.

I agree that the timetable seems to be a bit drawn-out. But the upside is still considerable, and in that light waiting until 2011 for TMC to be producing 50 million tonnes of ore per year seems to me to be worthwhile. Okay, I wish it would happen be the end of next week too, but it still ain't bad.

Actually if it does take a while for the market to wake up to the value of this stock, then that could be a good thing for the canny investor. If TMC's SP continues to lag for a while, then as long as the nickel market remains buoyant I'd continue adding to my holding on a regular basis by reinvesting top-sliced profits from elsewhere - all feeding the multi-bagger that this is ultimately destined to be.

DYOR, etc.

Toledo Mining Corporation PLC
19 April 2006


TOLEDO MINING CORPORATION PLC

OPERATIONS UPDATE
The directors of Toledo Mining Corporation plc (AIM : TMC) wish to inform and
update the market on the following activities which have been carried out during
the quarter ended 31 March 2006.

Project activities focused on re-sampling and analysis of the laterite deposit,
ore body modelling, preliminary infrastructure design and seeking the necessary
permits and clearances from the appropriate Philippine Government agencies.

Field activities associated with the major sampling program continued with the
aim of providing the grade and metallurgical information for mine design and
planning purposes. Progress has been excellent:-

Test Pits re-sampled: 610 pits (4,575 samples collected)

Test Pits re-deepened: 186 pits (547 samples collected)

New Test Pits dug: 18 pits (209 samples collected)

Drilling completed 67 holes (1,019 metres drilled & 861 samples)

Lines Cleared 47.3 kms

GPR Survey 28.15 kms (incomplete)

The topographic survey covering the 288 hectare MPSA application area has been
completed as has the cross-section profiling of the access roads (16 kms) from
the coast to the mine site. The Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey will be
completed in the second quarter. In-fill drilling and new in-fill test pitting
is also expected to be completed in the second quarter. Following completion of
all the drilling, a JORC compliant resource statement will be prepared.


As previously reported, the nickel and cobalt grades from the re-sampling
program are higher than the historical grades across the whole spectrum of
assays above cut-off grade.

Within the 288 hectare MPSA application area, a smaller higher grade 'priority'
ore block has been identified where metallurgical bulk samples will be extracted
and initial mining will commence. Snowden Mining Industry Consultants validated
the re-sampling assay results and generated a detailed ore body block model for
the 'priority' area using conventional geostatistical methods. Open pit
optimization and detailed mine equipment sizing, estimation of operating and
capital costs, and mine scheduling will be undertaken by Snowden early in the
second quarter.

Detailed engineering design and capital cost estimation of the coastal and mine
infrastructure facilities commenced. The design of the causeway for initial
shipments is well underway, as is an alternative road to the existing public
road which was re-surfaced last quarter and which will be used for the
metallurgical shipments. Leightons Construction is intimately involved in the
engineering design and construction phase.

A detailed bathymetric survey of the area immediately offshore from the proposed
barge loading area was completed as was the detailed survey of the near shore
anchorage area and the 50 kms shipping channel to the South China Sea.

Discussions continued with potential laterite customers in China, Japan, Europe
and Australia. Trial bulk metallurgical shipments of up to 30,000 tonnes in
total are planned to be sent to potential customers by mid-2006. Several long
term ore supply contracts are expected to be put into place during the second
quarter. An export target of 80,000 to 90,000 dry metric tonnes of ore has been
set for 2006, rising to around 1 Mtpa over a two year period.

Permitting continues to be an area of considerable focus. Both the Mineral
Production Sharing Agreement and the Environmental Clearance Certificate are
awaiting signature by the Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources.

On the Celestial/Ipilan deposit, a major re-sampling and metallurgical testing
program has been fully planned and mapped out. Work is expected to commence once the third extension to the current Exploration License is approved by the Mines & Geoscience Bureau. Approval is expected shortly.

There's not a lot I can add to that - well done, PP, for beating me to the post! It all looks very encouraging,