The investment case for copper miners

[#1]

Palamin reported their results up until december - and they were fantastic, with a 6% dividend yield. Now the 180day moving average for the rand copper price is up almost 8% since december, so there is a fair bit of upside potential for Palamin, IMO. Copper would have to show a substantial downward slide for this stock to start taking a real knock. Metorex is in a similar situation, with a dollar price for copper being the relevant measure.

[THRESHOLD]

The danger with Palmin is that she really has very little life left in the current operation - maybe 7 to 10 years depending on the current extension. Thereafter she moves to her "LIFT 2" phase - this is a MULTI billion rand project to effectively build a new mine under the current mine. The last time she announced such a project - moving from open-cast to underground - her shares fell 80%. On that occasion she effectively issued some 50% more shares by way of fully convertible debentures to her parent - RIO TINTO.

[#3]

If I am not mistaken, Metorex is in a similar situation?