West Australian mining engineer Bob Gregory is in town seeking to raise £1.6 million for AIM and Australia-quoted Rusina Mining on the strength of potentially exciting projects in the Philippines. He says institutions, including Golden Prospect, Sloane Robinson and RAB Capital, have warmed to the company’s Acoje project, north of Manila, boasting tempting chromite, nickel and platinum potential.

One ghost that Gregory, who was building a gold mine in China when asked to take the helm at Rusina, has been at pains to exorcise in his travels is that of Vladimir – better known as Roger – Nikolaenko. A key former backer of suspended AIM flop Reefton Mining, which soared and then collapsed when its vaunted uranium prospect near Rio Tinto’s Rossing mine in Namibia was found to lack a licence, Nikolaenko was a major holder of Rusina.

The Reefton row precipitated the departure of nominated adviser Grant Thornton and broker HB Corporate. But Nikolaenko persisted in his ploys.

Gregory also found Nikolaenko controlled another company, Kinloch, which had a stake in Acoje, along with local group CRAU. After much huffing and puffing and two special shareholders’ meetings, he ousted Kinloch and now wants investors to concentrate on Acoje. On conservative estimates he says (unsurprisingly) it could be worth ten times today’s 9p a share.