RWD - Reward Minerals

pattyp said:

HANDS UP THOSE WHO COUGHT THE FALLING KNIFE ???????

PAT DID! ! ! WOOT WOOT ! ! !

A gift from the brokers... Giving me another chance to buy at Cap Raising Price

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Phosphate latest craze for investors

PURE SPECULATION: Robin Bromby | May 12, 2008

NO sooner does one mania finish, it seems, than another one is off to the races.

There was the uranium craziness, followed by mini-manias for various specialty metals and iron ore juniors. Millions of dollars was thrown at them all, but it appears that punters want to roll the dice one more time.

This time it's phosphate. Look what happened with Uramet Minerals (URM) and Krucible Metals (KRM) in the past few days. The former's stock shot up to an intraday gain of 250 per cent after it announced finding phosphate in grab samples at its Thorntonia project north of Mt Isa and -- more importantly -- next to the Lady Annie deposit controlled by Joseph Gutnick.

Krucible is also in the same neck of the woods and all it needed was for the mob to belatedly read the company's quarterly report and be reminded that it is sitting on land close to Phosphate Hill, the mine owned by Incitec Pivot (IPL). Krucible still has to get site clearances before it can drill, so it is very early days.

Yes, phosphate is going to be big. But, also yes, this has all the smell of the early uranium mania. Just as, 18 months ago, half the languishing juniors suddenly found potential for uranium on their gold (or base metals, or iron ore) tenements, now suddenly previously unsuspected phosphate indicators are being announced.

How many years is it going to take these greenfields projects to get into operation? Who knows, but investors buying for a long-term position should heed the words from New Zealand on Friday.

Peter Mourits of NZ's largest fertiliser supplier, Ballance Agri-Nutrients, made two points. One, there is no shortage of raw materials reserves and, two, new projects are well into the planning stages.

He didn't cite examples, but we can. Morocco and Western Sahara have enough known phosphate to meet the world's demand at present levels for 300 years. And big money is going into new production, including a new mine in Morocco (the so-called Saudi Arabia of phosphate). An Indian company is to spend $US1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) to build a fertiliser plant in Mozambique, a country with large known resources of phosphate. And another Indian company has teamed up with Singapore money to develop new mines.

It is true that phosphate is going to be in huge demand to meet world food needs. But it's a long way from grab samples to bagging the end product.

One final point: there may be pauses in demand growth as fertiliser use is hit by price resistance. In the past few days, there have been reports that farmers in The Philippines may no longer be able to afford it, and that NZ farmers may use less superphosphate due to cost blow-outs.

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BHP to buy Canada potash partner for $300m

Reuters

CALGARY -- BHP Billiton Ltd's Canadian unit has launched a $C284 million ($299.79 million) friendly takeover bid for Anglo Potash Ltd to gain full control of a partnership to develop a Saskatchewan potash mine, Anglo Potash says.

Under the deal, BHP will offer Anglo's stockholders $C8.15 in cash for each of their shares, which it said was a 34 per cent premium over Friday's closing price on the TSX Venture Exchange.

Anglo Poash chief executive Todd Montgomery and several other company directors have agreed to tender their combined 26 per cent stake to the offer.

The company has a 25 per cent interest in a partnership with BHP Billiton Diamonds Inc, which holds 32 potash permits covering more than 1.8 million acres (728,500 hectares).

Shares in Anglo Potash jumped $C1.99, or nearly 33 per cent, to $C8.06 on Monday.

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