EMED Mining, Condor Gold and Donner Metals at Proactive Forum on March 21

Copper, gold and nickel give our next One2One Forum a unique lustre as we are joined by a trio of companies at very important and exciting crossroads in their development.

EMED Mining, Condor Gold and Donner Metals each have a great story to tell, and are at the point where the market hasn’t fully recognised the progress they have made to date.

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It promises to be a landmark year for EMED Mining(LON:EMED, TSE:EMED) and its Rio Tinto copper mine in Andalucía. Development work is expected to start soon, once it has its long awaited governmentapprovals, and first production could follow in 2014.

The initial target is for 37,000 tonnes of concentrate a year, which would make EMED a hugely cash generative company. An updated technical report values Rio Tinto at just under US$430mln and suggests it will pay back the initial investment in the mine within four years.

The stock is up 25% in the year to date, so the market is starting to slowly wake up to the EMED story. According to brokers there is much further to go. Joining us to tell us more will be Ron Cunneen, the company’s chief geologist.

The more drilling Condor Gold (LON:CNR) does at its La India prospect in Nicaragua, the better the 100%-owned gold deposit looks. The recently released preliminary economic assessment (PEA) assigned a net present value after tax of US$325mln, based on a gold price of US$1,400, producing an internal rate of return of 33%. That equates to more than 500p per share for a company currently trading at around 150p.

The life of mine average operating cash cost has been estimated at US$575 per ounce of gold so the economics of the prospect look really sound.

Broker Ocean Equities said the PEA was a “great first step” for Condor in assessing the economic viability of the project. “Condor has a large land package of prospective ground that is expected to host areas of virgin high grade gold veins,” the broker said.

While current newsflow centres on La India, the group also owns several exploration concessions within El Salvador. Making a return visit is chief executive Mark Child.

Toronto-listed zinc and copper specialist Donner Metals' (CVE:DON) Bracemac-McLeod mine, in the Matagami mining camp in Quebec, has been systematically de-risked and taken to the brink of production.

This has all been done on time and within budget under the watchful eye of Xstrata Zinc (LON:XTA), which has a 65% stake in the project.

What is getting the management of Donner especially excited is the 35,000 metres of drilling planned for this year at McLeod Deep. Though it sounds like the strapline to a spooky movie, chairman David Patterson says: “Something is going on at McLeod Deep that hasn’t been seen in the rest of the camp.” Recent drill data appears to support this thesis.

The grades at McLeod Deep are three times the average grade of the main deposit, and the geologists want to find out more.

Meanwhile, Bracemac is expected to go into production by the end of May this year, which should mean the miner becomes cash-flow positive in the second half of the year. David will be on hand to bring us bang up to date with events.

Join us at the Chesterfield Hotel in Mayfair to hear their respective investment propositions at 6pm on March 21.