Mamba Minerals April 2 2013 From " The Australian" where its tomorrow today. :) As all we happy Altius Campers know, Altius has a 20% equity interest and a 3 % royalty interest in Mamba's Snellgrove Lake Project. We dont yet know what news prompted Mamba to request trading in Australia be halted pending the upcoming news release. It is almost certainly good news. However, there persists a rumor that the news may relate to the discovery by the Mamba drilling crew of an ancient city of the Dunderdale Indians, a tribe of Indians noted for their ferocious female warriors. In that eventuality, it is expected that her Lordship K Dunderdale will resign to become Chief of the Dunderdale Tribe.
Canada Moose
Mamba Minerals (MAB)
BACK on February 12 it was mentioned here that Mamba Minerals was attracting some followers on the strength of a drilling program in Canada's Labrador Trough iron ore province that was about to start. Mamba was trading at 46c then and has since marched off 13 per cent higher to 52c.
That's not a bad effort given iron ore stocks have not exactly been in favour this year thanks to expectations that over-supply will hit in the second half and send prices down sharply.
Having said that, iron ore prices are still holding on to elevated levels and the Chinese, and others, are still interested in securing long-term supplies from outside the grip that Vale, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton have on global seaborne supplies.
But the absence of rail and port access in Brazil where Vale calls the shots, and the Pilbara where Rio and BHP dominate, means that the chances of new suppliers emerging are growing more remote by the day.
The Labrador Trough - where Rio has an operation - is in a different category because the region's existing rail and ports are covered by open-access regimes, with the availability of cheap hydro-electric power a bonus.
So find something half decent, and there is a better chance that a junior can get in production and become an iron exporter in the Labrador Trough than just about any other iron ore province.
From the update file then comes news that last week Mamba went into a trading halt pending an update on drilling results at its Snelgrove Lake project, 200km north of Labrador City.
It is known that the initial holes in the program were all about confirming the seriously big-tonnage magnetite potential of Snelgrove, as well as determining the potential for higher grade (direct shipping ore) hematite material.
Confirmation of the magnetite potential would be welcome news. But it will be news that the first of DSO holes have come in with big hits that will really excite the market.
Given the stock has gone into a trading halt, the guess is that Mamba has come up with the goods, with the magnetite and the DSO, all within 60km of a multi-user railway that heads off to a multi-user port.
At its last sale price of 52c a share, Mamba was sporting a (fully diluted) market capitalisation of $45m.
That used to be nothing for an iron ore explorer, particularly for one trying to break in to production in the Pilbara. But without rail and port access, dreams of getting into production in the Pilbara for junior companies have remained just that, dreams. Backers of Mamba are betting the Labrador Trough will be more user-friendly.
Maybe so. But Mamba's drilling results will have to point to something big in tonnage terms before anyone gets too excited. Then comes the grind of confirming it before setting out on a development pathway.