Iron ore, ilmenite, titanium sponge - not the latest special offers from Tesco but the range of interests that the Peter Hambro Mining offshoot, Aricom, has up its sleeve. Revenue generation is not far away and the potential seems to be limitless.

Aricom has signed a commodities cooperation agreement with Oboronimpex to investigate opportunities in strategic commodities. Under the cooperation deal, the companies will assist each other in reviewing opportunities in strategic raw materials - primarily those containing titanium, tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum, in establishing new production facilities.

Following the agreement, the Anglo-Russian developer of mineral resources will form a Cooperation Management Committee to manage the process, which will be headed by Director General of Oboronimpex as Chairman. OboronImpex is the investment and managing company in the Rosoboronexport Group.

It's taken a little while but I'm back at break-even with TIO. Onwards and upwards from here I hope!!

Aricom said its first-half pretax loss widened to 1.99 mln usd from 1.12 mln last year due to an expected increase in administrative costs for the expansion of its operations to become fully operational. The company said administrative costs rose to 6.1 mln usd in the first half from 2.2 mln a year ago.

It said it currently expects all its drilling and evaluation works to be completed in 2008, adding the Kimkanskoye deposit will start operations in 2009/10 and reach full production in 2010/11 at a mining rate of 10 mln tonnes per year.

Production at Sutarskoye should commence in 2013, in accordance with the provisions of the licence, Aricom said. It said construction of its Kuranakh project continues on schedule.

what are your thoughts on the share SP now that the interims are out, will it drop back to the 4o''s or will there still be interest as it hopes to join the main market ?

Personally I think the move up to the main market will underpin the SP or maybe even give it a boost so feeling quietly confident.

time to start watching this one again .......



looking back at just the last couple of months, i am quite taken by the way sp has consistently bounced off 50 dma ..... it has just poked through 25 dma which, assuming the upward trend is continued, indicates next resistance at about 62 (200 dma)

decided to be a participant rather than a voyeur so bought first this morning

strange things going on ...... average daily volume is about 3.5m but already 10.5m today ....... just may be a link between that and the rns of a week or so ago, as below .......

28 September 2007, Lansdowne Partners Limited now holds 106,470,746 Ordinary Shares in Aricom plc. This holding represents 10.04 per cent of the current total

Pumben - you must be very happy with the way TIO is going. If memory serves you must be sitting on a 50% profit at the present time!

Queen1, yes this one ha been good for me. however I did sell my first holding for 25% & re-bought @ 57p, hoping that it will continue the upward trend, target 70p !

I think we'll reach there and beyond pumben IMHO so more profits on the way!

Queen1, do you have a target price in mind ?

pumben, with the move to the main market and production on the way I see no reason why the highs of 90p cannot be tested.

Well that's your 70p target hit pumben :-)

I'm assuming you're not going to sell up just yet?

Yes, sooner than I thought but I agree with your reasons & I'm in for the ride now. Having the link with Hambro link & experience of the Russian market is also very interesting. The share mag remains bullish on thi one, in fact I have yet to see a single -ve on this share by the magazine. So I'm with you to the 90's.
However, what are your thoughts on the big sells, why would anyone sell such large holdings ?

Also the chart has broken the 65p resistance, it should be interesting to see if the sp can stay above it. The Dow Jones was down again 71 pts today.

Morning pumben. Well despite two days of falls on the wider markets TIO continued to make ground and is firm so far this morning. To be honest I don't know why the sales have taken place but at the moment it doesn't seem to have had a detrimental effect on the SP.

Up another 1% to 71.50p today on volume of 3.5 million.
The chart is looking good & sp still seems to resist dropping when the FTSE has a bad day. Am very tempted to hang on to my stock to see if queen1's prediction of 90p is realised, but if we have a big market correction then TIO is going to suffer along with the others, as shown by the August blip when 'sub prime' hit the headlines.

Hi HARRYCAT. Yes, if there's a big correction all boats will sink on the lowering tide and TIO will be no exception. Having said that, and to maintain a nautical theme, the SP seems to have a fair wind behind it at the moment and as the company enters the main market good things may be on the horizon.

Wardell Armstrong review of Aricom's assets:

Aricom plc today announces that Wardell Armstrong International ('WAI') has now completed its Mineral Expert's Report ('MER') on Aricom. The MER forms part of the prospectus for Aricom's admission to the Official List and move to the Main Market which has now been approved by the UK Listing Authority. The full prospectus can be downloaded from Aricom's website and the below is a short list of selected highlights:

- Reserve and Resource estimates to JORC standards totalling 918m tonnes of ore
Aricom Group Resource Summary (in accordance with JORC Code 2004)
Tonnes % Fe Contained Metal
(Mt) (Mt)
Measured 55.65 33.4 18.6
Indicated 321.43 38.9 125.0
Measured & Indicated 377.08 38.1 143.6

Inferred 540.9 28.0 151.7



- K&S

o 'The two deposits host a large reserve and resource base that will be operational in 2010 and demonstrate highly positive economics.

o ...given the considerable amount of work completed at Kuranakh over the last 2 year period, WAI believes that Aricom should achieve the licence requirements at Kimkan and Sutara.'

- Kuranakh

o 'Kuranakh is a medium sized titanomagnetite deposit which is at an advanced stage of development with open pit mining due to commence imminently. From the site visit, it is clear that Aricom has demonstrated the ability to bring a Greenfield asset into operation. The project benefits from its resources base and good access to infrastructure.'

o 'The operation should begin to generate positive cash flows in the second quarter of 2008 when the first concentrate shipments are sold under the off-take agreement with China National Gold. Once full production is reached, a net operating profit for the Kuranakh project (minus capex, taxation, etc.) of around US$6.0m per quarter, or US$10.0/t ore mined, can be expected.'

- Garinskoye

o 'Garinskoye represents a large magnetite ore deposit, which has considerable exploration potential. The project is at an early stage of development, but greatly benefits from extensive exploration work which has already been undertaken in the Soviet era. WAI consider that the exploration programme adopted by Aricom is appropriate in order to both substantiate previous exploration drilling and improve confidence in resource categorisation.'

o 'During 2009, it is planned to begin mining the high grade near surface ore at Garinskoye. This will generate approximately US$33m profit during the year and contribute towards the full scale production development of the mine.'

- Bolshoi Seym

o 'Previous metallurgical test work has shown that, as with Kuranakh, it is possible to produce a 62.5 per cent. Fe concentrate and an ilmenite concentrate with up to 49.9 per cent.TiO2.

o WAI considers that this project is in the early stage of exploration. It is a large titanomagnetite iron ore deposit, which has considerable merit and therefore potential, and as such justifies the exploration works which have been proposed, both to confirm the potential resources of the deposit and improve confidence levels in those resources that are present.'

The contents of this announcement have been approved for release by Owen Mihalop of Wardell Armstrong International. Owen Mihalop has consented to the inclusion of the material in the form and context in which it appears.

Jay Hambro, Chief Executive of Aricom plc, commented: 'Wardell Armstrong has now carried out an independent review of the full group of Aricom's projects and summarises it as a 'sound portfolio of mineral deposits' that could 'based upon performance to date and the current status of each of the projects, be developed into operating mines generating good returns for the investors'.

The report further demonstrates the value inherent to the Aricom asset portfolio and I believe it shows a quality portfolio of projects, with near term cashflow, feasibility stage, development, and exploration stage projects ensuring continued growth through the next 4 to 5 years.

Aricom is pleased to have reached this position where our scope for growth through our well balanced portfolio has been independently audited, and we look forward to benefiting from the great competitive advantage we have with regards to our location on China's doorstep. With the combination of this suite of assets and over half a billion dollars in cash, I believe we are well placed for the future.'