Fans of Aussie miner Mercator Gold suggest the AIM-quoted company’s impending listing on the lively Australian Stock Exchange in May could provide a further bounce to the shares. The listing comes in the wake of estimates of £1.2bn worth of potential reserves at Meekatharra, a historically rich gold-producing district in Western Australia.

The London-headquartered company, headed by seasoned mining entrepreneur Patrick Harford, argues its established reserves are worth £240m and says it expects to produce 200,000 oz of gold in 20 months from its Surprise open pit. Harford contends that Mercator should be able to start producing underground from Meekatharra’s Paddy’s Flat deposit in the second quarter of next year, with output reaching a target annual rate of 120,000 oz by the end of September 2009, with a possible later uplift to 150,000 oz a year.

The company puts its overall gold resources at Meekatharra at 2.4m oz indicated and inferred, with 1.3m oz at Paddy’s Flat. With notable exceptions, grades average a modest two to 2.5 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, but Harford says the company is targeting cash costs of between $467 (£234) and $514 an ounce, against a market price of more than $970, and has high hopes of Euro, another Meekatharra discovery.

Mercator’s shares, which fell from 106p in 2005 to 53p in 2006, have now recovered to 76.25p. They could reward a punt in due course.

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Mercator Gold	AIM	£2.36m	3.25p	0.00p
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