Couple of earlier research reports.
Might be worth a punt now imo.
http://www.minesite.com/fileadmin/content/companies/1182_BROKER_0_Hambledon_Mining_20-02-07.pdf
http://www.minesite.com/fileadmin/content/pdfs/Brokers_Notes_3/16_May_-_Hambledon_Mining.pdf
Also had this "free" email tip from the AIM Newletter in May 07
"Buy Hambledon Mining at 16.75p
Argues the award winning Aim & Plus Newsletter
Hambledon Mining (HMB) is an AIM-listed gold mining company working in the mineral-rich Altai region of East Kazakhstan. It is mining an open pit and stockpiling ore in readiness for the completion of an 850,000-tonnes-per-year treatment plant at its Sekisovskoye gold deposit. Once processing is underway, Hambledon will start to develop the much larger underground resource.
Hambledon owns 100% of Sekisovskoye, which holds two adjacent licence areas - Sekisovskoye and Tserkovka - with gold resources totalling 3.4 million ounces. And it expects to soon be awarded two more adjacent territories, Glinka and Krugliachka.
The Sekisovskoye deposit is located around 40 kilometres from the East Kazakhstan regional capital and is connected by a sealed road that provides the main route to Russia. The deposit was discovered in 1833 and surface mining took place for almost a century until the 1980s. Further exploration has been carried out since 2003 and mining operations recommenced in June 2006. Until the processing plant is established, mining is focused on pre-stripping so that waste material can be used for the construction of the tailings dam and other facilities.
Altai Kenbai-itu, which is also fully owned by Hambledon, is constructing the treatment plant on site and this is expected to start up in the next three months. The plant will be capable of treating both open-pit ore and underground ore when this becomes available. Initial production from open pit mining will be around 40,000 ounces per year, rising to over 100,000 ounces as underground ore is extracted. Further expansion is likely as exploration of the extensions bring the inferred resources into the indicated category, as well as the exploration of the newly-acquired territories.
In total, Hambledon owns JORC-compliant indicated and inferred resources of 2.6 million ounces of gold, together with a further 740,000 ounces of Soviet-categorised resources. The latest results relate back to interims, published last September. At that time Hambledon had cash of 9.8 million in the bank. It also flagged plans for a 42% expansion in planned process-plant capacity to 850,000 tones per year. To this end, in March it raised 10.4 million to fund the extra construction costs and purchased its own mining fleet which is now operational. The General Resource Estimate was approved by Kazakh authorities and the JORC estimate grew by 88% over the six months. The mine plan now shows an initial mining reserve estimate of 226,700 ounces of mainly open pittable ore. Work on the underground mine plan is ongoing and significant reserve increases are expected as the detailed design progresses.
Drilling has begun at the Tserkovka target and this should create additional newsflow in the coming months. Hambledon is now on the fast track to production, with the first pour of gold only a few months away.
Being on the brink of production, the company is largely de-risked from any severe delays to construction of the plant and for processing to begin. The much larger underground reserve can be tapped as soon as initial open-pit processing has begun. As the surrounding area is explored, we expect further resource upgrades. But the established reserve makes this a far from speculative play there is very real cash flow due in the next quarter.
In our valuation, we have assumed that the gold price remains at $620 per ounce for the current year, then have conservatively assumed a price of around $480 in year two, falling to the $420 level in years three, four and five. Of course, if the price is sustained at current levels then our numbers will be significantly increased.
The cost of tapping the established resource will be low. In undertaking the pre-strip, Hambledon encountered additional ore that was stacked in preparation for early processing. This, along with good equipment availability and productivity, will mean that Hambledon enjoys unit costs which are low by industry standards. However the cost of deeper mining is at this stage unclear. We have taken a cautious view and, as such, our projections merely represent the base-case scenario.
Sekisovskoye will produce 14,500 ounces of gold in 2007, rising to full-year contributions of 118,000 in 2009 and 138,800 in 2011. And, with our cautious gold price estimates, this equates to production revenues of 10.7 million in December 2007, creating pre-tax profits of 3.5 million and earnings of 0.8p per share. In 2008, revenues of 35.7 million translate to profits of 17.5 million and earnings of 4.1p, putting the stock on a multiple of just 4 times. Our base-case scenario, which is factored on indicated and inferred resources of 2.6 million ounces of gold (valued at $75 oz), values the shares at 28p. But if, as we expect, the resource increases the scope for that number to rise sharply is very real indeed. Broker Seymour Pierce reckons the shares are worth three times what they are now. Either way, at 16.75p the shares are clearly undervalued even without exploration upside and will, we believe, be re-rated once production is underway. Our initial target price represents an upside of 67%, with the potential for more (200% if you believe Seymour's case). Mining stocks are out of favour at present but in a case such as this where the fundamentals are so attractive, now is just the time to BUY.