Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Copper sure getting a solid vote with Barrick's offer

In case you have not heard yet Barrick Gold (TSX:ABX) has just trumped Minmetals bid for Equinox Minerals Limited (TSX:EQN)(ASX:EQN). This comes as somewhat of a surprise to some as the worlds largest gold producer makes a friendly bid to make a solid entrance into the copper sector. At present Barrick has very minimal  exposure to copper. Some say this bid may not be well received by those who had been shareholders in ABX for the pure gold investment approach. Others say it gives a clear indication that copper is poised to rise even further in price possibly and is apparently not viewed to be in danger of falling back to previous levels for quite some time. I tend to think the latter is quite likely the right viewpoint as I cannot imagine Barrick offering $7.3 billion dollars for a copper company if they were of the opinion copper would be dropping in price anytime in the foreseeable future. I would expect we may see some levelling off regarding copper prices in approximately 2 years when we will see some of the first new copper mines come into production. After that a lot of where copper prices may go is dependent on the global demand and this is where I think we will see demand remain very strong resulting in prices for copper staying very steady and possibly increasing.
Irregardless I see this latest takeover as a good catalyst for copper stocks and I believe some of the junior explorers will benefit from this as well. As copper becomes something to talk about amongst the pundits and talking heads as a result of this Barrick offer I believe it will open some opportunities for possible profits from any of the explorers that are hitting good intercepts of copper.

There are several companies that could have the potential to meet these requirements and one that I feel is definitely a company with such potential is presently trading at a very low price. White Tiger Mining (TSXV:WTC) has accumulated a number of claims into one holding under one company and is currently involved in a drilling program to try and determine just what the size of the mineralized area is. The first hole they received assays back from was very good and to everyones amazement the price actually declined. I have looked as thoroughly at this whole situation as closely as I could and after conferring with everyone I thought might hold pertinent information I have come to believe that this was not a decline that was warranted by the results. Furthermore the second hole has assays due back possibly this week yet but I was told they may be next week if there is insufficient time for the company to review the results before releasing them. Judging from what the IP surveys show in comparison to what the results were from the cores obtained from the first hole in this round of drilling I see huge potential here.

The flagship project for White Tiger Mining is known as the Marshall Lake project and this is a brief introduction to this property.
The Marshall Lake Property is an extensive Volcanic hosted (VMS), mineralized, land package of approximately 10km by 16km in size covering over 20 significant showings of Copper, Zinc, Silver and Gold. The previous work had been completed by competently known companies of the day (Billiton, Falconbridge Copper etc.).

Historically, these companies conducted exploration efforts on small mineral tracts within their own portion of the Property, but for the first time the entire Property has been compiled under one owner in a single camp package. In addition, during the time of these historical efforts, those companies were exploring with little infrastructure based on the assumption of a $0.30-$0.60/ lb. copper market and a $35/oz. gold market.

Given the current copper and gold markets, as well as the positive outlook predicted by many industry professionals, White Tiger’s Marshall Lake Property is well positioned in a newly formed property package that is comparable in size to the Noranda Camp, Ontario, which currently has 31 operating mines. White Tiger intends to further advance the Marshall Lake Property in a similar fashion.

Another notable change in further exploring the property can be attributed to the advancement of exploration technology, which has allowed White Tiger to more accurately target historical zones, provide extensions of these zones and develop new zones that were not previously identified.

Additionally, the Marshall Lake Property is well located to infrastructure – 30 km west of Nakina, Ontario with access by all weather gravel road from Highway 11 and the main CNR rail line is within 22km to the south of the Property.

Since it is not possible to know what truly lies beneath the ground at this property one must patiently wait for the drill to tell us just how large this deposit is and for assays that will determine just how economically viable this project is. For those who have a risk tolerance that will allow them to, I suggest you go to www.whitetigermining.com to start some due diligence into this company. Remember those who get in at the ground floor will be the ones making the largest returns if this project continues to prove itself.

For the purpose of disclosure I have not received any compensation of any kind for this post. I do own shares in White Tiger Mining and I reserve the right to purchase more shares which I expect to do in the near future.

No comments:

Post a Comment