Maghreb Minerals Makes Its AIM Debut Maghreb Minerals Made Its AIM Debut Just As Markets Closed Down For Christmas.
It was bad luck that Maghreb Minerals eventually listed on AIM December 23rd as by that time the focus of investors and commentators had switched full time to Christmas. Doubtless brokers Westhouse Securities pulled every lever to get the show on the road a few weeks earlier, but even with Robyn Storer, Westhouse’s consulting mining analyst, as managing director of the company, time slipped away. Naturally George Heard is a director as Maghreb Minerals is a spin-off from his company Consolidated Global Minerals. This company retains an 32.6 per cent holding post the £2.56 million placing and RAB Capital is said to have a significant holding though it is not immediately obvious from the list of investors.
The surprising choice as chairman is one Gordon Riddler who insists on preceding his name with the words Eur Ing, an academic title for which payment is made according to those who know. Was it not for this title Minews might never have noticed him, but now that he has put his name in the frame again perhaps it is time he remembered that he did a few years with Minmet when it was being run up and down prior to the present management taking charge. Our friend the Eur Ing remembers with undoubted accuracy his time as Head of Minerals Group at the British Geological Survey, his long association with the Mineral Industry Research Organisation and his chairmanship of the Applied Earth Science Division of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. All worthy posts, but it was at Minmet that he had to face up to the hard realities of commercial life and the results hardly covered him with glory. Presumably that is why he forgot to mention the company in his CV at the front of the prospectus, though he may have thought that the line “he has served on the boards of research, exploration and development companies” would suffice.
Now that the company has listed there may be changes on the board as Ms Storer can hardly maintain this dual role and Dr Hans Madeisky, the very experienced exploration manager and head of new projects, may come to the fore. If it is felt that Minews has dwelt overlong on the subject of management, the fact has to be faced that founding directors are key to analysing any new exploration company. Probably even more than the projects themselves in certain companies.
The logic behind George Heard’s decision to spin-off Maghreb is clear as the main asset of Consolidated Global Minerals is the Front Page gold project in Colorado where it is earning a 50 per cent interest and is operator. Recent drilling results have disclosed some encouragingly high grade assays. The company has also joint ventured some of its properties on Nevada where it hopes to find new Carlin- type mineralization under relatively low volcanic cover. It is well nigh impossible, however, to maintain a list of shareholders in North America willing to back a company with assets in Tunisia even if they knew where it was and realised that it is stable and economically successful country and the first in North Africa to enter a trade agreement with the European Union.
Maghreb Minerals owns nine exploration permits in Tunisia and has option agreements with the Tunisian government to negotiate to acquire the Fej Lahdoum - Dar N’Hal and Bou Jabeur mining licences. In order to acquire these options it has to spend around £450,000 on a 5,000 metre drilling programme by April 2005 and any purchase would include mine infrastructure and tailings. The company therefore acquired its own drill in October last year with funds subscribed by existing shareholders and started drilling the following month. Ownership of this drill enables it to be flexible in pursing its exploration strategies and to test and evaluate targets efficiently and within budget. Fej Lahdoum is a lead-zinc mine which operated from 1891 to 1956 as an open-cut and latterly an underground operation. Dar N’Hal started mining in 1978 and its northern deposit has been largely mined out. Current ore production is 150 tonnes/day which is sold to the nearby Bou Grine mine owned by Breakwater Resources.
The Bou Jabeur mine is a further 130 kms to the south west of Tunis on the Algerian border. It is another lead-zinc operation which was first mined for lead and silver by the Romans and later by the French who concentrated on lead and zinc. In the 1970s, however, a new deposit was discovered to the east of the old mine and this was being mined by the Tunisian government until 2003 when it was put on care and maintenance. Recent exploration near the old mine intersected some very high grade mineralisation and Hans Madeisky reckons that there is potential for further discoveries and hopes that there will be significant silver credits. The initial strategy is to focus on determining the economic mineral potential of these mine options, including the tailings, before moving onto the other exploration permits. If proved economic, no time will be wasted in bringing them into production.
Tunisia cannot claim much in the way of exploration success in recent years and Hans Madeisky reckons that this is largely due to the fact that geologists were aiming, wrongly in his opinion, for salt domes. He has worked out an exploration programme using modern techniques and a broad conceptual model based on Mississippi Valley type deposits for the rich metallogenic region. This approach has already generated drill targets on prospective structures in the Majerda zone around Bou Jabeur and on its western extension into Algeria. This zone is the central part of the Atlas fold belt in Tunisia and is 250 kms in length and 50 kilometres wide. It has hosted nearly all the past and present lead-zinc producers in the country including Bou Grine, Fej Lahdoum and Bou Lajeur. Albidon, another AIM listed company, is earning into the Trozza zinc oxide project which was discovered by BHP Billiton in the north centre of the country, so Maghreb is not alone in its views on the potential of Tunisia.