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.

The price of nickel has been falling as global shortages ease.

not to THAT extent! ...... fall is prob more to general market malaise, lack of any news, forced margin sales and investor boredom ..... underlying price of nickel may have dipped, but most unlikely to be in for any dramatic or extended decline as China, India and Pakistan booming economies continue to gobble up a wide range of hard commods

The price of nickel peaked in May 2007 at around $55000 per ton today it is $27250 per ton QED. Source LME.

Of Interest


http://online.barrons.com/article/SB118620540105588257.html?mod=googlenews_barrons

i know about the price of nickel but this fall seems a bit steep!

looking around it seems the small miners are in general being dumped

sorry it's so small, but even so, i think we'll all find it useful

TMC has fallen from grace...150p in sight

The question that remains unanswered is whether TMC is profitable now that it is generating cash from exporting laterite ore. Only the directors of Berong Mining Corporation know the answer to this question but in reality it is unlikely they continue to mine and ship if it is not generating a surplus. Perhaps a trading statement would be useful to investors.

Personally I would be more than happy to increase my shareholding at 150p.

I am waiting for when they directors next offer themselves options at as low a price as possible. This is why I believe they are not very enthusiastic in their RNS's. Why have an option at 5, when you can have it at 2 or less. Then I shall buy back two or three times my original holding.

that would be foolhardy

Halifax & Cynic,Two of you both at work here.

Someones getting paranoid.

sure am bleak, no doubt exacerbated by a stack of forced sales by CFD holders (like me, but i still have mine!) ....... sp had damn well better remember how to bounce or it will disappear down the plughole!

RNS says AXA has increased its shareholding to 12.14% .

wish it was >29.5% ...... or any other bugger for that matter!

|Halifax, if you check rns 21/05/07 you will find all 4 elements of the AXA group have reduced their respective holdings not increased. Holdings were 3.845 million at +14%.

Oily as you probably know well on 26/6/07 RNS reported that AXA notified their shareholding as 3,445,000 or 11.8%. Todays notification is 3,545,000.or 12.14%, and by the way this is an indirect shareholding and the increase of 100000 shares is in the "RW Portfolio".

Do you have a point to make?

Sorry halifax, genuinely missed that one when looking for last axa holdings rns. Should be another rns shortly to divulge the purchaser of the 1,055,000 shares just after the bell last night. This represents another 3% of the company being mopped up, or approx 20% of the free float availiable.

Followed by another 515,000 broker deal.

And up she goes. +26p