TORONTO - Adex Mining Inc., the metals explorer that listed on Toronto's TSX Venture Exchange in July, plans to develop an abandoned BHP Billiton Ltd. mine in Canada as prices for tin, molybdenum and metals used in consumer electronics gain.

The Mount Pleasant mine in Charlotte County may hold more than US$3 billion of tin, molybdenum, indium and tungsten, Adex Chief Executive Officer Kabir Ahmed said in an interview. Adex has raised C$12 million in equity financing for Mount Pleasant, he said.

Demand for tungsten, indium and tin, all of which are used in computers and consumer electronics, has increased as global economic growth gives more people disposable income. Molybdenum helps oil exploration and extraction equipment tolerate high temperatures.

"There is long-term, cyclical demand for all of the metals hosted at Mount Pleasant," Ahmed said. "There will be other projects, but we have a past-producing mine and we're closer to production than some of our competitors that are purely exploratory in nature."

Molybdenum's price has risen to US$33.38 a pound from $2.83 a pound in November 2002, according to Metal Bulletin. Tungsten has gained to $165 a metric ton from $38.50 a ton, and indium is trading at $685 a kilogram, up from $110 a kilogram.

Tin futures for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange reached the highest price in more than 18 years on Nov. 14.

"Cost overruns, metallurgical problems and falling tungsten prices" prompted BHP to shut the mine in 1985, after producing 1,400 metric tons of tungsten, mining consultant Watts, Griffis & McOuat said in a March 13 report. "The underground workings were allowed to flood."

The Mount Pleasant ore body has at least 100 million pounds of tungsten and 60 million pounds of molybdenum, the firm said.

A new study by the consultant to be completed by mid-2008 is expected to prove the Mount Pleasant deposit has at least 64 million pounds of tin and 400,000 kilograms (880,000 pounds) of indium, Ahmed said. The company aims to have a mine development plan and government permits within two years, he said.

Thompson Creek Metals Co., the molybdenum producer whose shares have more than doubled in the past year, expects to produce about 17.5 million pounds of the copper byproduct this year.

Adex fell one cent today to C58 cents. The shares have declined 54 per cent since they were listed on July 16. The company has a market value of $39.5 million.

Adex is competing with Geodex Minerals Ltd., which is developing a tungsten and molybdenum mine in New Brunswick that it expects to begin production by 2011. The Sisson Brook mine may produce 3.3 million pounds of molybdenum and 8.1 million pounds of tungsten for 31 years, Geodex said Friday.

Geodex shares, up more than fourfold this year, rose 16 cents, or 14 per cent, to $1.33 Friday on the TSX Venture Exchange.