La Verde

Drilling at Catalyst Copper Corp's La Verde project in Mexico. (CCY Photo)

A group of accomplished mining entrepreneurs have taken control of an un-loved junior mining company.

Catalyst Copper Corp., which holds a 60% interest in the La Verde copper porphyry project in Mexico, closed a $1.4 million financing today, selling 20 million units, consisting of a $0.07 share and a full $0.10 warrant.

Richard Warke

Richard Warke

Richard Warke, who just sold his Arizona copper developer, Augusta Resource Corp, for $555 million to Hudbay, and in 2011, sold his Ventana Gold for $1.54 billion to to Eike Batista's AUX, now owns 28.7% (assuming he exercises his warrants) of Catalyst. This is the first time Mr. Warke has shown up as an investor in the company.

Ian Telfer and Frank Giustra, the duo that took over Wheaton River Minerals, which subsequently merged with Rob McEwen's Goldcorp and spun out Silver Wheaton, round out the top three largest shareholders in Catalyst following the financing, with Telfer owning 32.1% of the company, and Giustra owning 19.9%, assuming the gentlemen exercise their warrants.

Lawyer and mining entrepreneur Robert "Tookie" Angus will also own 14.7% through his Diamond Hill Investment Corp. Mr. Angus was a director of Ventana Gold at the time it was sold for over $13 per share, having climbed from $0.10 just a few years earlier.

A December 2012 PEA suggested Catalyst's La Verde project had a 21.2% IRR and $1.625 billion pre-tax NPV (undiscounted) using $2.70/lb copper, $1,200/oz gold and $25/oz silver. Last month, the company retained engineering firm, JDS Energy and Mining Inc., "to review the La Verde Project with the objective of identifying potential optimization and value enhancement opportunities."

Catalyst has been on my radar ever since Riverside Resources CEO John-Mark Staude and I discussed La Verde randomly at the Mining Indaba in Cape Town, South Africa earlier this year. Dr. Staude told me La Verde is a quality project that should have sold to a producer in the last cycle, and probably came very close to being sold, which was enough to compel me to pick up some shares in the company. Getting access to the project, within Michoacán State, has been among its primary challenges, I learned in that discussion.

Catalyst's stock has withered away over the past couple of years, with two share consolidations having taken place, now equal to a 13:1 roll-back. Former CEO John Greenslade, of Baja Mining infamy, resigned from the top seat at Catalyst earlier this year.

Following today's financing, Catalyst has 29.28 million shares outstanding, which last traded at $0.165 Monday, giving the company an approximate market capitalization of $4.83 million ($8.13 million if you include the 20 million warrants which are now in the money).

As a shareholder in the company, I am biased. Always do your own due diligence.

Read: Catalyst Copper Announces Closing Of Non-Brokered Private Placement