The start of the New Year is often a quiet time for the market, along with the rest of the country. With most employees returning to work for the first time in two weeks this morning, it's no surprise that not much gets done over the Christmas period.
Three speculative companies have experienced exciting developments in the past few days however, and they each offer unique opportunities for your portfolio in 2015.
Dyesol Ltd. (ASX: DYE) announced just this morning that it had been granted a US$1.9 million Contract for Supply of Prototype Equipment by Turkish firm Nesli DSC in 2015.
Successful completion of this contract will lead to establishment of a pilot line facility in 2016, with the target being mass production of Dye Solar Cells from 2018.
While the flames have cooled on renewable energy in Australia, Dyesol has a multi-national presence and alternative energy interest remains high in overseas nations like the UK, Germany, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey is viewed as a fertile development ground for Dye Solar tech thanks to 1) a substantial energy deficit, 2) attractive GDP growth, 3) competitive labour costs, and 4) supportive government assistance and energy policy.
It's already been a long road for shareholders, but successful commercialisation is in sight and Dyesol looks attractive at recent prices of $0.21 per share.
After a month-long trading halt, Queensland Bauxite Ltd (ASX: QBL) recently announced to the market the successful results of its scoping studies into its South Johnson bauxite tenements in Queensland.
While the drilling program is still insufficient to provide a JORC-compliant estimate of ore reserves, the scoping study provides sufficient confidence to allow for the 'aggressive development' of the bauxite tenements.
The company is expected to commence mining in the latter half of 2015 and is targeting positive cash flow of $12.3 million before tax in the first year of operations.
Investors were disappointed with the news, and shares slipped nearly 25% despite the positive results and the fact that Queensland Bauxite used conservative assumptions in its forecasts.
With less than 1% of its tenements explored, QBL has plenty of room to upgrade its estimate and there is substantial room for improvement.
Finally, Atlas Iron Limited (ASX: AGO) saw its share price nearly double late last week as the iron ore price rebounded to above US$70 per tonne.
While the company did look cheap at 15 cents a share and US$70 a tonne, I would suggest that investors continue to steer clear since the fundamental pressures driving ore prices lower have not eased.
Atlas Iron continues to upgrade its output from 12.5Mtpa (million tonnes per annum) to 13-15Mtpa, and globally major iron miners continue to do the same.
Iron ore prices are now purely driven by demand, and investors should have more sense than to rely on the often obscure Chinese economy continuing to increase its need for iron ore.
Think about how you would feel if your continued existence and freedom from bankruptcy relied solely on your employer's demand for your services – and your next pay-check.
Even if you had the most secure job in the world, you'd find it pretty stressful, and you're clearly setting yourself up for a fall.
Those are the kind of risks you're running by investing in the iron ore sector.
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