Eighteen months ago Colin Bird, a mining entrepreneur with more than 40 years of experience as an engineer and explorer, sold Zambian copper-nickel group Kiwara plc to Canada’s First Quantum for £158 million. As Kiwara’s largest shareholder, Bird might have been forgiven for putting his feet up. However, as chairman of Jubilee Platinum (LON:JLP) and with interests in several other operators, including a directorship of Africa-focused oil group SacOil Holdings (LON:SAC), there was little chance of that. In September he brought his latest project to the Alternative Investment Market in the form of Galileo Resources (LON:GLR), a rare earths business boasting 3 million tons of potentially exploitable stockpiles in South Africa. Despite market conditions that Bird describes as the worst he can remember, a listing of the £23m market cap business offers an intriguing option for investors to buy in to the rare earths sector – which fifteen years ago very few mining groups took any interest in.
For investors that have followed Bird’s businesses, Jubilee Platinum will be well known. The company owns the Tjate project on the eastern limb of South Africa’s Bushveld Complex, which is believed to contain one of the world’s largest undeveloped defined blocks of platinum ore. The 2009 acquisition of Braemore Resources and the associated access to hi-tech refining technology, means Jubilee is now poised to ramp up production as its smelting operations expand. It has just raised £4.4 million to help it execute that mine-to-metals strategy.
Bird’s step into the rare earths business involves the option to take an initial 51% stake in a project called Glenover, which boasts stockpiles from an old phosphate mine previously operated by Gold Fields of South Africa. It has since emerged that the ‘dumps’ actually contain significant levels of rare earths – a term used to describe around 17 metals that are increasingly finding their way into new technologies, from wind turbines and iPods to the batteries used in hybrid cars and missile guidance systems. Bird’s deal with the owner of the project, a company called Fer-Min-Ore, involved a reverse takeover of PLUS-listed shell, General Industries, which subsequently transferred to AIM under its new name, Galileo. To help fund the development of Glenover – and Bird’s team are currently working towards a scoping study…
Interesting.
