Contact Information: Investor Relations Contact: Hawk Associates, Inc. Antonella Montagna and Frank Hawkins Phone: 305-451-1888 E-mail:
Providential's Subsidiary, IndoChina Mining Corp., Signs Agreement to Create Joint Venture and Acquire Stake in Mining Company
| Source: Providential Holdings, Inc.
LOS ANGELES, CA and HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM--(Marketwire - April 17, 2008) - Providential
Holdings, Inc. (OTCBB : PRVH ), a company providing advisory, merger and
acquisition services as well as independently investing in Vietnamese
economic opportunities, today announced that its wholly owned subsidiary,
IndoChina Mining Corp. (IMC), has entered an agreement with Phu Yen Mineral
Joint Stock Company (Pymico) to create a joint venture in a diatomite mine
in Phu Yen Province. According to this agreement, IMC will own 49% of the
joint venture, Indochina Mining Joint Venture, and acquire 30% of Pymico.
Indochina Mining Joint Venture will mine diatomite, or diatomaceous earth
(DE), a material having a wide array of applications such as: industrial,
filtration, abrasion, absorption, pest control, thermal, hydroponics, and
DNA purification. Pymico has estimated that the mine holds mineralized
material of approximately 2 million tons.
President and CEO of Pymico, Sinh Van Luong, said, "Our joint venture with
IndoChina Mining Corp. will increase the company's technological
capabilities and enable us to mine DE more effectively. New uses are
currently being explored for this mineral and the demand for it will
increase. IMC's acquisition of a stake in Pymico will solidify our
long-term relationship as we work together on this project and others in
the near future."
Tai Vo, director of IndoChina Mining Corp., said, "This agreement
represents our first acquisition of an important stake in a non-metal
mining company in Southeast Asia. It is also just the beginning of our
mining activities, and we believe Pymico is an ideal partner. DE is a
natural resource that can be used in many different applications. We
estimate that, at a current price of approximately $700 a ton of DE, this
mine has the potential to be very lucrative. This is a great opportunity
for emerging growth and we plan to continue looking for different venues
for mining materials in Southeast Asia."
About IndoChina Mining Corp.
IndoChina Mining Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Providential Holdings
(PHI), plans to take majority and minority stakes in precious and non-metal
mines in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Vietnam, the company's strategy
includes establishing joint ventures to explore and mine for metals in
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
About Phu Yen Mineral Joint Stock Company
Phu Yen Mineral Joint Company is headquartered in Phu Yen District in
Vietnam and has been operating since 1991. The company mines fluorite,
ilmenite and diatomite, and uses them to produce construction brick,
construction stone, additive cement (Puzoland) and aquaculture products.
For more information, visit http://pymico.com.vn
About Providential Holdings, Inc.
Providential Holdings and its subsidiaries engage in a number of diverse
business activities, the most important of which are M&A advisory services
and investing in the rapidly growing economies of Vietnam and Asia. As part
of its activities in Vietnam, Providential has been hosting seminars in
conjunction with the Nasdaq Stock Market, the Vietnamese Chamber of
Commerce and Industry and leading U.S. investment banking firms, to help
Vietnamese companies go public and raise capital through the U.S. financial
markets. For more information on Providential Holdings, visit
http://www.phiglobal.com.
A profile for investors can be accessed at
http://www.hawkassociates.com/profile/prvh.cfm.
For investor relations questions regarding Providential, contact Antonella
Montagna or Frank Hawkins, Hawk Associates, at 305-451-1888, e-mail:
Providential.Holdings@hawkassociates.com or visit
http://www.americanmicrocaps.com or
http://www.hawkassociates.com. To sign up for free e-mail notification of
future releases, visit http://www.hawkassociates.com/about/alert.
Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements that are
subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to
differ materially from those projected on the basis of such forward-looking
statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based upon
management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information
currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.