House broker to Stratex International (AIM: STI) the junior mineral exploration company presently focused on Turkey, reiterated its bullish tone after listening to a presentation at the company’s AGM held last week.
In a note released this morning, HansonWesthouse said that Stratex’s aim to deliver shareholder value in 2009 through joint venturing its advanced Altintepe and Inlice gold projects to capable partners could have a positive impact on the share price. Stratex is also seeking joint venture partners for its more early stage exploration portfolio, which would allow the company to keep to its business model of developing exploration and development projects in partnership with larger partners.
HansonWesthouse went on to note that with £2.7 million in cash and no need to raise capital in 2009, Stratex’s assets and opportunities in Turkey were being substantially undervalued.
At the company’s AGM last week, Stratex confirmed that it was in discussions with several parties interested in entering into joint ventures over some of its projects.
“In total, Stratex has drilled 17,623m and has found 993,111 oz of gold and 3.2 M oz of silver (28,600 oz gold equivalent) or, an outstanding 59 oz of gold per metre drilled,” HansonWesthouse reported.
Stratex plans to find JV partners for its current gold assets, the 574,013 ounce Altintepe and the 262,300 ounce Inlice projects.
“The company’s strong cash position clearly differentiates it from the majority of its peers but we believe that investors are currently wary of exploration companies viewing them as high risk. However, when Stratex is able to demonstrate a clear ability to convert the discovered ounces in the ground into dollars in the bank, the company will be viewed differently and will undergo a substantial re-rating,” it said.