In a rare piece of good news at the cheap end of the market, Centrex (ASX code CXM) has raised more than it needed to expand its Ardmore rock phosphate mine in Queensland.
It asked shareholders for $2 million and has been given $2.8m. Applications are being scaled back, but Centrex has decided to accept applications in full from anyone who subscribed for the minimum $1000 worth.
The Punter will therefore gets his extra 17,544 shares, plus the 8772 free attaching options. The shares cost $0.057 each and are now worth only $0.053. They will have to double by December 15 next year if the options are to be worth anything, but hey, not everyone is an instant winner.
Whether Trigg Minerals (TMG) will be a winner in the short term depends largely on the success of its attempts to find a better way of extracting the potash from brine at its Lake Throssell project. The company is hoping to have the results of trials by the end of this month.
That other would-be sulphate of potash company, Australian Potash (APC), looks much less like a winner. Emerging from administration, it is asking shareholders for $6m to kick-start its new life as a junior gold/rare, earths/lithium explorer and to relist on the stock exchange. It is offering six billion new shares at one tenth of one cent each, plus one-for-two free options.
Over the past 30 years numerous companies have conducted preliminary exploration for gold on APC's ground in WA. Most recently, St Barbara (SBM), a $135m gold heavyweight, entered a three-year joint venture with APC, and spent $3.5m on exploration but didn't find enough to keep it interested. The rare earth/lithium prospect in WA is even more speculative - APC still has to negotiate access with the traditional owners. Canaccord Genuity are underwriting up to $2.75m of the offer, but the Punter isn't buying.
- The Punter has no financial qualifications and no links to the financial services industry. He owns shares in a number of companies featured in this column.
