Key Stock updateMonument Mining Limited (MMY:TSX-V)Industry: Mining - Gold Producer
Recommended: June 2011
Recommendation Price:
.61 (set to HOLD at
.485 following the org. proposed financing)
Current Price:
.46
Market Cap: $83,883,537
Shares Outstanding: 182,355,516
Fully Diluted: 318,900,000
EVENT
Shares in Monument Mining were halted at 5:53 a.m. Pacific Time on Friday, December 2, 2011, at the request of the company, pending an announcement. The announcement(s), which are briefly updates below, have been disseminated and the shares will commence trading tomorrow.
Today’s announcement: Effective at open of trading December 6, 2011, shares of the company will resume trading.
Announcement(s):
Late Friday, Monument Mining, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Monument Mengapur Sdn. Bhd., in Malay1. sia, has entered into the definitive acquisition agreement with Diamond Hard Mining Sdn. Bhd., its shareholders, and its wholly owned subsidiaries, Cermat Aman Sdn. Bhd. (CASB) and Malaco Mining Sdn. Bhd., all incorporated in Malaysia, to acquire 70% of the Mengapur polymetalic project located in Pahang state, Malaysia. The acquisition remains subject to financing, shareholders’ and regulatory approvals.
Late Friday, the company also filed a SEDAR a NI 43-101-compliant technical report on the Mengapur project 2. prepared by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants, which includes a description of the study.
Finally, the company also announced the Mengapur acquisition shall be closed in conjunction with completion 3. of the previously announced private placement of up to $70 million. Subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange, the private placement will now comprise up to 140 million units (previously announced 156,250,000 units) at a price of
.50 per unit (previously announced at
.45 per unit). Each unit will consist of one common share and one common share warrant. Each warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share of the company at a price of
.70 per share (previously announced at
.67) for a period of 36 months from the closing of the private placement.
IMPACT
Positive
DISCUSSION
Having made our thoughts known to management and via our downgraded rating on the stock following the October 11, 2011, proposed financing for the Mengapur project, we are somewhat pleased to see that management has adjusted the price of the offering from
.45 to
.50. Given the stock had been trading in the
.55-
.60 range prior to the proposed financing and that on a valuations basis, the stock appeared cheap at those prices, we remain disappointed with this decision at these levels. Our disappointment is tempered by the
.05 rise which creates less current shareholder dilution and the seemingly strong metrics of the Mengapur project. However, one could also argue that given the strong metrics of the Mengapur project, why was or is there not an opportunity for financing in a less dilutive manner. As the announcements above are positive on balance, we will reserve this agreement for a later date.
Management stated that the proceeds of the private placement will be used for the acquisition and development of the Mengapur Project and for general working capital. They also were quoted as stating that "with widespread concern of the second global recession and European debt crisis, we would like to use our best effort to ensure the project is adequately funded to prevent our shareholders from being exposed to financial risk." From this we infer that management thought that the project offered such an attractive payoff that it was best to finance it immediately (even at discounted levels) rather than risk the potential of underfunding, given the unstable global financial market. This reasoning we can sympathize with, but clearer communication of this would help allay confusion and promote proper discussion in the future.
Broadly speaking, the Mengapur project appears to offer solid metrics and should create value for shareholders. As such, we will reinstate our BUY rating on the stock at current levels based purely on valuations. We will monitor it closely, as we remain unimpressed with the shareholder communication from management in recent months.