Stakebuilding lifts Serabi

12/03/2009 Robert Tyerman

Mining entrepreneur Steven Poulton has bought nearly four per cent of bombed-out Brazilian gold play Serabi Mining.

Shares in AIM-quoted Serabi have jumped nearly 89 per cent to 0.9p following the purchase of a 9.5 per cent stake by Barclays Stockbrokers on behalf of clients. These clients include Poulton, founder and former boss of another AIM counter, Ariana Resources, and director of Stellar Diamonds, a subsidiary of yet another AIM company, West Africa-focused Mano River Resources.

Poulton now holds 3.64 per cent of London-based Serabi, which needs about $5 million (£3.6 million) to resume underground mining at Palito in Brazil’s Jardim do Ouro district, according to chairman Graham Roberts. The company is still producing from the shallow oxide deposits there, but equipment delivery delays last year put paid to the underground operation for the time being,

Roberts says Serabi is talking to ‘several parties’ about raising the required funds and suggests that an eventual deal may be ‘at the asset level’, rather than a corporate transaction. ‘Gold is the flavour of the day,’ he points out, hopefully.

Floated at 30p four years ago, Serabi shares reached 54.5p in 2006 before disintegrating all the way to 0.43p earlier this month. Described by Roberts as ‘a decent option on the gold price’, they remain essentially speculative.

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