Goldplat Share Discussion Threads

[kimboy2] 01/10/2017 17:41

The beauty of the project from the Ghana government's point of view is that they can solve a serious health crisis at no cost to themselves, if the gold grades are good enough.

I would have thought that the mercury extraction by the artisanals is pretty inefficient so the gold grades may be pretty good, but we shall see. I expect that GDP will have the results of their 'extensive sampling programme' so will know something of the gold and contaminants.

It would be interesting to know how big this 'pilot plant' is.

IMV this could be a major development for GDP. There is a hell of a lot of artisanal sites in Ghana, let alone elsewhere. I presume that they will have mobile plants, and have no idea of the capex involved.

Perhaps they could have several mobile plants running, who knows.

[sea7] 01/10/2017 12:57

Re-iterating what we know...

If successful, this project will not only be profitable and contribute to growth in GRG, but it will pave the way for once again processing artisanal tailings and for processing by-products with contaminants such as mercury – both from within Ghana as well as from international sources

[kimboy2] 30/9/2017 10:17

The cleaning up in Ghana of arisanal mines is clearly a big project, possibly exported to several other countries, and could be significantly bigger than the rest of the group combined if successful.

One of the things that I thought may be an obstacle was that this material would have to be carted to the Tema works limiting it to an area around the main plant.

However in the Q&A GDP said;
A mobile pilot processing plant is being built in South Africa for installation
and commissioning on the test site before end of December 2017.

This suggests two things, firstly they have a process sorted that will do the job. Secondly that they may be able to use a mobile processor. This would perhaps allow them to produce a concentrate which could be transported a much larger distance.

They also say;
Other in-country initiatives are being explored to assist with the economic viability and overall scope for growth which this project potentially presents.

Don't know what this means. Could it be a return to tolling that was very lucrative still it was stopped, or could there be some mining opportunity in Ghana?

Any ideas?

[1rodson] 29/9/2017 18:34

Come on guys it's GOLDPLAT what do you expect? Surely not honesty........punters beware.......MUCH BETTER AND SAFER VALUE ELSEWHERE.

[kimboy2] 29/9/2017 15:44

What do we think of the eps calculation. Not that it is really material but it looks as though the auditor has said that options which are out the money (Lammings) do not count as being dilutive.

The calculation of diluted earnings per share at 30 June 2017 was based on the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders of £336,000 (2016: profit £946,000), and a weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding after adjustment for the effect of all dilutive potential ordinary shares of 172,932,186

Not really sure why Lamming's options are not potentially dilutive beacause he has to pay 12.85p for them.

It may be something to do with the NAV calculation but I would have thought they would be dilutive to eps.

[russman] 29/9/2017 15:27

I presume the prelims were not signed off by the Auditor.The Auditor made the adjustment before publication of the Annual Report.The Auditor did not notice the error on calc of eps exc minorities for how many years.

[sea7] 29/9/2017 12:46

stock price is weakening at this time.

I can buy for 6.039p and sell at 6.01p

Looks like dropping down a notch based on these prices.

[camerongd53] 29/9/2017 12:20

The auditors should have got diluted eps right as well - they have less excuse that somebody who last studied this probably 10 years ago. GDP should ask for a discount on their fees!!

[sea7] 29/9/2017 11:46

shareholder, no one is indispensable. If someone with specialist knowledge is taking the p""s and not doing the job, there are others with the same skills who will take the job on. There is a succession plan in place, as people arrive, depart and retire from time to time.

[kimboy2] 29/9/2017 11:44

I seem to think that they had an agent in South America so I presume he was on some sort of commission.

[shareholder7] 29/9/2017 11:36

Kimboy you can't fire them as they have specialist knowledge that's my point You fire the guy that carries the target on his or her back

[sea7] 29/9/2017 11:27

Morkel had been sourcing for Ghana for three years and did well at it, as there was never any shortage, plus the fact it was a very profitable operation until the issues showed up, coupled with a slow down in availability of material caused by obuasi being closed as one example. This is why he agreed to go to brazil last year. They are already receiving trial batches in Ghana from morkel's efforts and they are profitable. So his in depth knowledge in mining and metallurgy is allowing him to bid well for the feedstock and to be able to choose the right type of material goldplat needs for its circuits in Ghana.

He heads up the team there and they also use a local company to assist in this process, as they know the players locally.

[kimboy2] 29/9/2017 11:24

Sea how are the sourcing team incentivised?

They will be replaced if they are not effective.

[sea7] 29/9/2017 11:21

that Is just it shareholder.

sourcing and selling are not the same thing. The sourcing team are buying feedstock in, therefore they are spending company money on procurement of raw feedstock. Those selling are bringing money into a company for their efforts.

In Ghana and south Africa, mining companies are legally obliged to dispose of their waste in an environmentally safe way. Goldplat provides this service. They do have competition for waste, however, it is a small market and goldplat has a large part of it.

What gets the sourcing team out of bed, is also the same for all others, go to work or do not get paid, therefore no food in the house. As to incentives, there may be some structure here, however, we do not know it.

the targets they will have will be the needs of the circuits for continuous, profitable operation, so they will have upper limits on what they can bid for material at.

Goldplat also has a tariff, that they quote to suppliers for processing material, so there is little room for bargaining, bearing in mind that the company will only make a few percent on some deals and maybe a lot more on others.

Gerard said that most of the suppliers are on contracts and the material is delivered as and when the supplier has built up enough of it. It is not a regular thing, like once a month. It is as and when.

[russman] 29/9/2017 11:17

After the historic eps errors in respect of minorities.
The new FD cannot calc current diluted eps correctly.

[shareholder7] 29/9/2017 11:11

Sea how are the sourcing team incentivised?Sourcing and selling same thing people getting hung up on the wrong end of the processI bet their is no commission structure in place for the sourcing teamWhat gets them out of bed Where are their targets Who gets fired for not hitting themThat's what gets materialsOtherwise just leave it for people to ring up and say would you please take my waste away

[sea7] 29/9/2017 11:03

The whole mine waste business has precious little use for traditional sales people with sales structures, such as targets and commissions.

The bullion refineries deal with the sale side, so any sales team would not benefit at all and would not be needed.

On the buy side, it is a sourcing team, as they are not selling anything, hence no need for a sales team.

The sourcing team are commercially aware, otherwise they would not be in it. Being beaten by competitors is normal course of business, as goldplat beat others on some contracts. There is some material that goldplat simply cannot process at the prices quoted by others, or in the timeframes some want.

With regards to rands material, rand refinery got out of the <500g/t carbon market sometime ago, which put a lot more material on the market. This exit by rand from the lower end carbon market, dumped a lot more stock in to the recovery market, which goldplat bought a new fluidised bed incinerator for.

[shareholder7] 29/9/2017 11:02

Thanks Cameron I do but it's at the other end not the selling of gold but the sourcing I know that GDP have missed out on a number of opportunities as they were beaten to the material by other companiesAnd yes RR have a lot and are in fact competition to GDP if you read their web site, but you point is valid if you can't make money out of it then it's not worth having Sourcing of material is the life blood of GDP and it's interesting that most views on this board don't see the need for commercially aware people Interesting

[sea7] 29/9/2017 10:58

I see what you are saying Shareholder, however, the nature of the business is that the guys selling the feedstock are also likely to be techies (using your expression)for smaller suppliers. Larger entities may have one individual employed to deal with waste disposal, however, as it is uneconomical for the companies to process it by themselves they pay scant attention to it and spend the minimum on it, so as to comply with environmental obligations.

The sourcing team at goldplat make an initial assessment on what they think, however, they then take three samples, one is kept by the supplier, one is kept by goldplat and one is kept by the assaying company, which is independent of both parties.

These samples are then kept in case of dispute, such as the rand refinery issue.


Most of goldplats suppliers are on going contracts, whereby It is simply a case of taking the waste, processing it and selling the gold via the refinery. Goldplat returns the proceeds to the supplier, minus processing and treatment charges.
It is more akin to a utility than anything else. Sometime the mine want the gold back, so it is a straightforward processing, treatment, refining and bit on top invoice.

[kimboy2] 29/9/2017 10:50

Ah so you are talking about sourcing, not selling.

They have of course greatly expanded their sourcing personnel, and produced a record quantity of gold this year.

[camerongd53] 29/9/2017 10:50

S7

I think the answer to your question about how many sales people GDP should have is 0.

The board of GDP (and subsidiaries) will have assessed the market place and concluded that the cheapest and easiest place to sell a quantity of gold is through the bullion markets. Yes there are jewellers etc. but do gold producers such as GDP have the expertise to manage this??

Refiners are a middlemen between the bullion market and GDP's output. Refiners provide a service that enables GDPs output to be sold on the Bullion Market. All GDP needs to know is if there are any significant change in the market which I suggest does not require salesmen

Are you still of the opinion that GDP needs salesmen?

Regarding buying - that is a different issue.
Up until recently GDP had probably access to more raw material in SA than they could handle. Unless they decide to expand their business (which with falling SA gold production would be a long term bad decision), they would generally be happy to let things sit.

I suggest that there are not that many acceptable sources of substantial supplies that GDP do not have a relationship with in Southern Africa. I think there has been a strengthening of management in SA and because it is a technical issue they can be used to make business cases to customers. If you owned stuff that GDP wanted, would you want to be dealing with a non-techy as your point of contact?

As regards the RR issue - something is flawed here and we don't know what it is. The question that needs answered is:
'Do RR have a stock of material that needs processed on an ongoing basis and if they have are they going to give GDP enough margin for it to be worthwhile for GDP to process it?' If the answer is Yes to both parts then find a compromise solution. If it is not this answer, get our money from RR. Some people assume it is GDP that has too much ego - perhaps it is RR.
If it is not viable for GDP to process it, there is no point in being busy fools just to be seen to keep RR happy and work through a stockpile. The outcome of the court case will reveal a lot.