MINCO gold and silver explorer.... the facts

I have spoken to Roger Turner - he seems very straight forward.

He confirmed that Matthew Dorman's departure was over a disagreement about the sale of share options as implied by Obsignal. He said this was not confidental information.

He said that the finance for Laguna was progressing well and that they are talking to 4 banks. He didn't say anything material with regard to timescales or the need for a placing.

I also asked him about Pallas Green 'eating cash'. He said this was 'rubbish' and confirmed that the cost to Minco will be around £160K (i.e. 23.6% of 1m Euros) for 2006.

I personally think Minco looks an excellent buy at these levels EVEN if there is a need for equity finance. Remember the Collins Stewart note gave a target of 20p assuming that there would be a $10m placing. Minco say the note is conservative and this is reasonable given the metal prices it was based on. So that's a 'conservative' upside of 33% for what looks like a low risk play. That may not be enough for some of you but it's certainly attractive enough for me.