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Oracle from Oz, Optimism in the Outback


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Listen To The Oracles Of The Outback: Forget The Sage Of Omaha.

 

By Our Man In Oz / Minesite excerpt

 

(The boom goes on… The boom ends tomorrow … , which is it?)

 

Mark Creasy, Australia’s richest prospector (but secretly an Englishman to his bootstraps), is in no doubt. “It continues,” is his succinct summation to the question of the future of the boom. “Three billion Asians want the same lifestyle that we’ve got, and they can’t be wrong.” Creasy’s optimism is backed by a private gold and base metals prospecting business estimated to absorb A$4 million of his fortune annually, plus a share portfolio which the last time it was searched covered a three-page print out and consisted almost entirely of small-to-medium mining and exploration stocks, much like a punter at Ascot betting on the field. More about Creasy’s portfolio later, but first the second oracle.

 

Clive Donner (secretly a South African to his strap of biltong) runs the Linq Resources investment fund, which is essentially the re-badged Rothschild Golden Arrow fund. Donner too is an optimist, though without the verbal flare that Creasy brings to the job of predicting the future. “A lot of what we’re seeing is supply driven,” he says. “Stockpiles in some commodities are virtually non-existent, and when you factor in continuing global growth it’s hard to see supply catching up with demand in the short term.” Donner says it really doesn’t matter how many small mines are started they will be “a drop in the bucket” of demand. “The high level of demand we’re seeing is not a one-off wonder.”

 

Linq’s investment portfolio, unlike Creasy’s, is a public document, though there is a time factor at work which means that what you see reported today might not be what the fund holds tomorrow. But, even given that Donner can buy and sell as he pleases it is worth noting that in the September quarter he was a buyer of shares in freshly-floated South African-focused Platmin, and a participant in the A$18.7 million raising by emerging north-west Australian gold producer, Wedgetail Exploration. The top three holdings at September 30 were Queensland copper stock, CopperCo, in which Linq had a holding valued at A$28.9 million, or 16 per cent of its portfolio, followed by Wedgetail (A$17.1 million, 9.5 per cent), and the southern African coal producer, Riversdale Mining ($A13.9 million, 7.7 per cent). Other big holdings were in Oilex, Elkedra Diamonds, Independence Group and China Gold Mines. Of the future, Donner said he remained a buyer, more than a seller. “Sustained high demand and critically low LME stockpiles continue to drive prices.

 

Creasy, who is understood to be an investor in Donner’s Linq fund, has a much more eclectic range of interests as shown in a search of his holdings earlier this year. Investments, either held personally or through his company, Yandal Investments, were spread across more than 30 mining companies, with big positions in Lion Selection, De Grey Mining, Apex Minerals, Regis Resources, Platinum Australia, Tanami Gold, Albidon Investments, Dominion Mining, Dioro Exploration and Helix Resources. Not everyone is a winner, even Creasy was a holder of Croesus Mining when it went belly-up with his stake listed as 24.5 million shares, once worth a lot but now worth a lot less.”

 

...more; http://www.minesite.com/storyFull5.php?storySeq=3908

 

= =

 

Companies featured in this Story

 

(Clive Donner's investments)

 

CopperCo Ltd (ASX-CUO), A$28.9 million, or 16.0 per cent

Wedgetail (ASX-???) , A$17.1 million, 9.5 per cent

Riversdale Mining ($A13.9 million, 7.7 per cent).

Elkedra Diamonds NL (AIM,ASX-EDN)

Riversdale Mining Ltd (ASX-RIV)

Oilex,

Independence Group and

China Gold Mines

 

 

(Mark Creasy's investments):

Linq Resources

Tanami Gold NL (ASX-TAM)

Apex Minerals NL (ASX-AXM)

Croesus Mining NL (ASX-CRS)

Albidon Ltd (AIM-ALD,ASX-ALB)

Platinum Australia Ltd (ASX-PLA

Lion Selection,

De Grey Mining,

Apex Minerals,

Regis Resources,

Dominion Mining,

Dioro Exploration

Helix Resources.

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