Amur project valued at £25 million

25/01/2008 Robert Tyerman

Russia-focused Amur Minerals will seek around £7.5 million after a report valuing its Kun-Manie nickel project at £42 million.

Robin Young, chief executive officer of British Virgin Islands-based Amur, says the net present value of US$84 million put on Kun-Manie by consultant SRK’s pre-feasibility study envisages a 15.7 per cent internal rate of return. Last November’s 140 per cent increase in indicated and inferred resources to136,500 tonnes of nickel and 37,700 tonnes of copper, making Kun-Manie a significant deposit. Initial capital expenditure on the project is expected to be £166 million, with a further £33.5 million needed to produce 16,000 tonnes of nickel concentrate a year.

He says technical measures and smelter deals could make SRK’s estimates conservative and suggests some costs could be capitalised because of the scale of the project. Amur is to start an extensive drilling programme to convert resources to reserves and will put in train a £2 million bankable feasibility study, with a view to obtaining a mining licence by mid-2009 and starting production in 2012.

Floated two years ago at 33p, Amur shares have disappointed punters, halving to 15.75p by the beginning of last year and even now are only 19.25p, valuing the company at £19.6 million. They offer distinct speculative promise, stock market conditions permitting, provided the next funding goes well.

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