CUDECO SHARES PLUNGE 42 PER CENT

SHARES in copper miner CuDeco plunged 42 per cent today following a trading halt due to the company’s updated resource estimate.

In a statement to the ASX, chairman Wayne McCrae (pictured) says the resource update lifts the company to a whole new category with a major project announcement after it doubled its resource to 2.27 billion tones of copper metal.

The Gold Coast’s third largest public company will unearth three million tonne per year of copper at its Rocklands’ operation near Cloncurry. But it's not the result that shareholders were holding out for and the market has responded accordingly as $223 million was today wiped off the company''s value.

However McCrae says the updated resource confirms an initial life of 10 years and the commencement of further studies and feasibilities over the next five years.

"The current mining lease application is for 40 years but I'm sure that Rocklands will deliver well beyond those years," he says.

Earlier today McCrae confirmed a major class action on behalf of shareholders against stock blog HotCopper for what it claims to be 'misleading and deceptive conduct' under the Trade Practices Act.

He is also suing the site owner for defamation based on what he describes as absolute ‘malicious falseness’ and 'injurious falsehood'.

“It is absolute crap that has been posted to down ramp the CuDeco share price,” McCrae told Gold Coast Business News.

“It’s (HotCopper) a public forum and if they want to criticise my management that’s fine, but if you use an alias with the purpose of downgrading the stock, it’s not on. The site is owned by a stockbroker.”

It is believed two bloggers posted misleading comments on the site regarding CuDeco’s Rocklands’ project.

While CuDeco has since been removed from the site, McCrae says both ASIC and the ASX ‘didn’t want to know about it’ prompting him to appoint Gold Coast law firm OMB to investigate.

Shares are trading at $2.77 each.