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Fox Marble (LSE:FOX) believes it has a 16b euro resource of marble in Kosovo. They listed late last year and so far things haven’t gone smoothly but hopefully they are now back on track.
In early December 2012 Fox Marble woke up to the news that 4/5 of their mining licences had been revoked. The Mines & Money conference was in full swing and Chris Gilbert had taken a booth. It was not an easy few days for him but he was resolute that the licences were legal and would be restored. Today the RNS came to say that subject to compliance all four licences are restored. They expect to be able to comply on three out of four licences and have asked for an extension on the fourth.
FOX believe they have a huge marble resource. The quarries are open pit, low cost and one is already producing with sales announcements presumably due shortly. The timeline for the other quarries suggests that this year should be pivotal.
The Executive Directors are business people, not miners but they have brought in some top notch people to run the operation.
There is clearly political risk in Kosovo but assuming the licence issue is largely resosolved, the other main risk lies with marble pricing. I am no expert but from my research it seems that marble trends and pricing are dictated by a very small number of players, so there is a danger that FOX could find themselves wrong-sided. There is also no firm price in the market, what they will receive will depend on the quality and reliability of the resource.
The other risk is whether demand for marble will remain strong. Fashions change.
Disclosure: at the time of writing the author holds FOX
Susan Marmor has been trading her ISA and SIPP full time for 7 years. She has made money every year, including 2008. She believes that making money is about picking the right shares at the right time and using sound money management techniques to manage risk.
For her trading she uses a combination of sound fundamental data and technical analysis (which involves using price charts and some of the fancy bits and pieces that go with them). She runs the occasional seminar to show people what she does and how she does it.
Disclaimer:
Please keep in mind that all comments made by Susan Marmor are for educational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice regarding the purchase or sale of securities, options, futures or any other financial instrument of any kind. Consult with your investment advisor before making an investment decision regarding any securities mentioned herein. Susan Marmor assumes no responsibility for your trading and investment results. Susan Marmor does not warrant completeness or accuracy for any observations made herein, or warrant any results from the use of the information.
Oh. Note that it would be different if the mortgage was also transferred to the “debt collector”. This appears to happen automatically in some states (where “the mortgage follows the note”). It would be interesting to know if the “debt collectors” ever try to foreclose.