Markets

Rare Earth Minerals' 333pc rise after name change puts Aim under fresh scrutiny
What's in a name? About 10m, according to investors in Aim-listed Rare Earth Minerals Plc, whose share price rose 66pc yesterday.

Rare Earth Minerals' new website can still be found at www.zestmusic.com By Rowena Mason, Energy Correspondent 6:00AM GMT 31 Dec 2010
18 Comments
The company, which does not yet own any rare earth minerals or licences to mine them, was a loss-making music business called Zest until eight days ago.

It has not revealed how it plans to acquire any of the minerals on which China has a near monopoly. Nor has it disclosed the countries where it is targeting acquisitions with just 630,000 of cash in the bank.

However, since it proposed the name change on November 12, its share price has more than quadrupled from 0.35p, valuing it at 3.1m, to 1.52p, valuing it at 13.5m.

The rise is likely to raise further questions about the London Stock Exchange's governance of the AIM market - three years on since Roel Campos, an SEC commissioner, described the junior market as a "like a casino".

It has been under renewed scrutiny since Desire Petroleum's wild share spikes earlier this month. A spokesman for AIM declined to comment on whether the regulatory team is looking into Rare Earth Minerals

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One broker said: "It is penny stock madness, a herd mentality, though I'm not sure what they're trying to cash in on. It is just like a type of dotcom boom situation."

At the height of the dotcom boom, a string of cash shells - companies with a stock market quote but no actual business - listed on AIM. The value collapsed when the bubble burst, prompting the LSE to change its rules.

TD Waterhouse, the retail broker, said Rare Earth Minerals was its most traded stock yesterday, with the most buy orders and fourth most sell orders. "It's the first time I've ever seen it appear in the top ten," a spokesman said.

More than 143m shares changed hands, despite no new publicly available information.

The only announcement the company has made recently has been the award of 98m share options to "directors, staff , consultants and advisors" at 0.5p, redeemable in ten years.

The company's shares also rose sharply in January, when it appointed David Lenigas, a veteran of the world of penny stocks, as a non-executive. He is one of only two board members at Rare Earth Minerals and disclosed he was a director of 94 other companies including Solo Oil, Vatulouka Gold Mines and LonZim.

Last year, a study by Manchester Business School found AIM companies were no more likely to fail than those on other markets. However, they had more chance of survival if older, bigger, had a greater free float and a reputable nominated advisor.

Rare Earth Minerals was unavailable for comment.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm YUM! :-)

gla

just for the interest of you guys ...... from today's FT

Lithium: the next speculative bubble?
The silvery metal’s price has had a meteoric rise, but supply is also accelerating

Yangibana Update and Change of Name

Highlights
· Beneficiation continuous pilot plant testing has successfully validated the simple and effective flowsheet of Yangibana flotation process

· The pilot operation confirmed 70% TREO recovery at a final concentrate grade of 23% TREO.

· Ongoing improvement through optimised flotation circuit chemistry to further improve recovery to >80% at a higher TREO grade.

· Clear indication of progress from bench scale to commercial production.

· Successfully generated bulk samples for downstream engineering equipment design testwork

· Generated concentrate for next stage Hydrometallurgy pilot plant operation scheduled in March

Details of Ownership
On 1 December 2011, REM announced that it had acquired a 30% free carried interest to Bankable Feasibility Study ("BFS") of the Yangibana North Rare Earth Deposit. The exploration costs until the commencement of the BFS are therefore borne solely by Hastings Rare Metals Limited (70% owners and operator). The same terms agreed and announced on 1 December 2012 also apply to Gossan, Hook, Kanes Gossan, Lions Ear and Bald Hill North.

Change of Name
REM is in the process of changing its name to reflect it diversified holdings in the strategic technology materials sector. It is anticipated that this process will be complete by Monday 27 March 2017 at which point REM will become Cadence Minerals plc with the revised AIM ticker KDNC. A further announcement regarding the change of name will be made in due course.

spiffing idea ...... why not waste more money?

Lithium processors prepare to meet demand in era of electric car