Mining Minerals & Metals Share Discussion Threads

[1waving] 24/6/2009 12:14

Who do I trust Macquarie Bank and couple of stooges - or Hugh McCullough and the existing Directors/team who are known and trusted and deal from a straight deck ?

No explanation by Macquarie of what they would do.

I hadn't voted as I had no form with my shares being in a nominee account. Have just emailed GEX to see about voting at this late stage.

[spaceparallax] 24/6/2009 12:06

Looks to me that MacQ are trying to manoeuvre for an increased holding at a discount.

I don't like it - HMcC has always struck me as a straight player who I would trust ahead of any bank.

[bongo bwana] 24/6/2009 11:56

Not terribly surprised at this development.

Mc's will be pushing GEX to ensure that, as far as it can, GF applies itself diligently to exploiting the Komana deposits ASAP.

[1waving] 24/6/2009 11:49

RNS out all need to read urgently --- Macquarie bank trying to spoil the party.

[1waving] 23/6/2009 22:14

From Greg McCoach of Gold World:--

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bullish Outlook for Precious Metals and Junior Miners

The market is building a foundation for the next major wave higher in both the precious metals and junior mining stocks. Things may remain quiet with the junior sector for the balance of the summer, but I believe we are seeing the spot prices solidify because the fundamentals for this super bull market are not only alive and well but getting better by the week. Just look at the facts...

The U.S. dollar is in a major bear market, the US Government debt levels are completely unsustainable, and the geopolitical front looks tenuous at best.

On top of that, demand for gold is very strong. It's being sought as a monetary asset, and as more central banks of the world add gold to their reserves. This trend will continue to grow.

Identifiable investment demand for gold was up almost 250% during the first quarter of this year, compared to the first quarter of 2008.

Meanwhile, gold supply is not increasing but looks very stagnant. Mining companies cut exploration and development budgets as a result of the global recession, which has now put them behind the supply/demand curve. And it always takes a long time to bring new supply to the market.

Overall, gold mine production was only up 3% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same period last year. And demand is expected to outstrip supply for at least another five years, probably longer. These factors will push gold up for years to come.

We continue to bob in the swells looking for value and exercise patience knowing that the next big wave for the precious metals and junior mining stocks will soon be on its way!

Good Investing,


Greg McCoach
Editor, Gold World

[bongo bwana] 23/6/2009 11:47

Wise sentiments Wispa.

Im really impressed with the degree of sophistication (to me ) apparent in the Komana and Asheba deals. Probably based on business risk management models developed and employed elsewhere to good effect in recent times.

With Uganda and Ghana now almost tidied up GEX can focus its acknowledged and growing expertise in locating and exploiting the Birimian geology which appears to host a considerable number of commercial orebodys in Mali.

[wispaman] 23/6/2009 11:11

In my opinion.
gex is too small (at the moment) to operate on too many fronts.
It is a good deal in my eyes, whereas somebody else does the work (The Asheba Prospecting Licence) and foots the $$outlay, and gex reaps some of the profits (if achieved). If no profits then gex would have lost out big time, going it on their own and soaking up the costs.
If all goes well then gex ends up with a few million shares in adu and 2% of profits, and that could be anything. The more the profit the higher adu share price (if gex needs to sell).
I see this as a win win situation also to get value of gex up with Known Assets.
wispa
added: if there is any profits to come including shares, would that be about 2 - 3 years down the line, just when gex might need them!

[haydock] 23/6/2009 10:56

The view from the other side:

[bongo bwana] 23/6/2009 10:05

Oh well said Haydock.

The current GEX story is all steady (almost inevitable) long term and probably highly rewarding stuff for those holders with the patience of Jobe or are our successors in title, LOL.

This story may be embellished with shorter term glory in Solona, thats my sincere hope.

Looks like I will be attending the AGM on Monday.

[haydock] 23/6/2009 09:46

l waving
That sounds like the agressive action we wanted & the deal shows an interesting leval of sophistication.
I like the section where GEX has a 2% royalty on production, very APF as I said last week about the Mali deal.
This seems to be a company that minesite feels is going places, with the contacts & experiance, & the gold all ready to start moving up to production.

GEX is showing the right type of action now. The market has not caught on at all.
Alive & kicking nicely, but treated still as the living dead of Aim!!!

[haydock] 23/6/2009 09:14

Hey up, fancy that happening!!!!
You couldn't make it up could you, sods law in operation yet again.

haydock - 19 Jun'09 - 09:55 - 4826 of 4836 edit


Lights ,camera , action from what has to be on the map the very near next door neighbours.Minesite:

News

June 18, 2009

Adamus Gives The Green Light To Development At Its Gold Mine In Ghana: The Next Step Is To Raise The Funding


By Charles Wyatt



A lot has been going on at ASX-listed Adamus Resources in the last few weeks – all good – and chief executive Mark Bojanjac will be in London later this month to bring investors up to date. The main thrust of his message will be that Adamus is going to get into production at its Southern Ashanti gold project in Ghana now that the figures in the original feasibility study have been improved vastly by a very effective optimisation programme. As a result, the board of directors has given the green light to develop a mine and Mark will doubtless be going over in his mind the problems he faced when developing the Boroo gold mine in Mongolia back in 2003 just at the time when Cameco was taking control of AGR Resources, the then operator of Boroo. It is a long and complex story which Minesite covered at the time, but the point is that Boroo did get into production, and it is always worth backing a winner. Mark also points out that at that time Boroo was the first gold mine to be developed in Mongolia.
This time round Mark is operating in a country with a well tested mining legislation and a government that is friendly to miners, provided they stick to the law. Gold mining, after all, has gone on in Ghana for hundreds of years, hence its previous name of Gold Coast. Adamus also has its major project on the prolific Ashanti gold belt with neighbours such as the big Tarkwa and the smaller Abosso gold mines, both of which are operated by Gold Fields, and further away on the same greenstone belt is Anglogold Ashanti's huge Obuasi mine. At one time Adamus took a bit of flack from commentators because it seemed to be taking a long time to get anywhere. Mark is ready for this one: "It has taken a bit of time, but quality does", is his comment. He stuck to his decision to get the gold reserve over a million ounces, and this was achieved in April this year when he announced that the latest estimate put 854,000 ozs gold in the proven category at a grade of 1.96 g/t and a further 214,000 ounces was delivered as probable at an average grade of 2.21 g/t.

This meant a total increase in both categories of 31 per cent when compared with the previous estimate of 815,000 ozs gold, assuming a gold price of US$900/oz - which looks entirely reasonable in light of the way the US is printing money. As Mark pointed out at the time, the achievement of the magic million was another major milestone towards development, as all the permitting needed to start mining had already been obtained. Optimisation of the feasibility study had also helped, as metallurgical testwork had been re-evaluated, and this had shown that improved recoveries could be expected in the oxide zones of the Salman deposit. Improved metallurgy meant that the open pits could be redesigned to reduce waste movement and allow for the mining of more oxide ore at a greater profit, meaning that cash flow would be boosted in the early years.

The new estimate for the resource at Southern Ashanti, which included the new reserves, has concluded that there is a total of 1.75 million ozs in the measured and indicated categories grading 1.8 g/t and a further 362,000 ozs inferred. Everything therefore seems to be moving in the right direction. Good support came from the inclusion of the first of the satellite mineral deposits, Bokrobo, which lies just to the south of the main Anwia deposit. More can be expected from Bokrobo, as only surface mineralization has been calculated at this stage, but the higher grade of 3.64 g/t should boost economics. This message was confirmed by the results of the optimisation study released a week ago which demonstrate that US$100 million in cash flow will be generated for the first two years at a gold price of US$900/oz. Ore throughput from open pit mining should average 1.9 million tonnes a year to produce 100,000 ozs gold over a ten year life, at an average cash cost of US$489/oz.

The decision now faced by Mark Bojanjac is whether to accept a proposal for design and production of the plant on an EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) basis, or whether to go for fixed cost instead. Fixed cost is more expensive at around US$95 million and EPCM might be as low as US$80 million, but the decision is not an easy one. The encouraging aspect is that there are plenty of engineering firms interested in quoting at sensible prices as a result of the recession. Once the decision is made the next step will be to raise the funds and get construction under way. Ghana has a well developed industrial base and all the services required during construction are available, which will make the task a whole lot easier than it was in Mongolia. The actual time required to construct the mine is estimated at 20 months.

Key to everything now is to raise the capex, and Mark is expected in London shortly, not only to talk to shareholders, but to test the waters for raising debt and equity. The actual fund raising exercise is not expected to take place until the 3rd quarter of the year but Mark drops a hint that it could be wrapped up earlier than expected. One of the things he will be trying to avoid is hedging as Macquarie and Standard Bank between them demanded hedging of 714,000 ounces from Boroo when it was due to produce 200,000 ounces/year at a time when gold, thanks to Gordon Brown, was no more than US$300/oz. First step down the track has been a A$3.5 million placing to Straits Resource Investments whose parent, Straits Minerals, recently announced the sale of its coal assets for up to US$355 million. No knowing how far this relationship will go, but as a first step it takes some beating.

[1waving] 23/6/2009 08:32

Looks like a well negotiated deal -- option neeeds to be taken up after the initial 6 month review period. Adamus have just given the green light for production at Southern Ashanti which should start production in about 2 years.

[bongo bwana] 23/6/2009 07:42

Nice 1 wispa - and excelent long term news this morning.

Looking forward to views on deal.

[wispaman] 23/6/2009 07:27

ADU Share Price

AUD$0.41

[bongo bwana] 22/6/2009 11:23

Didnt get in 1W - funds applied elsewhere but Im looking to replace an investment in the stockopedia competition and will add them later today!

[1waving] 22/6/2009 11:07

BB -- take it you got in, much much more to come from there -- hang in.

Anyone else get in ??

[bongo bwana] 22/6/2009 10:21

1W - well done on that tip you gave recently.

[1waving] 20/6/2009 12:25

Have just emailed Hugh prior to the AGM about Glencar's future strategy, in Mali in particular, and to urge a very aggressive approach at Solona towards a JORC resource in the coming drill season and driving the project towards production, subject to geology and economic viability of course.

Also a question on Gold Fields aggressive approach:--
'Whilst understanding that Gold Fields will develop the JV area aggressively, saying it and applying it can be very different things when the mining giant is in control and the junior partner is a mining junior. With Gold Fields operating and controlling four of the five licenses in Mali what is Glencar's future strategy there now the situation has changed ?'

Hope others will voice their thoughts to Hugh prior to the AGM and at the least push for a very aggressive approach at Solona.

[1waving] 19/6/2009 10:48

Agree with the vigorous action, Solona looks to have best potential so 3 rigs there next season may see a decent JORC resource there by the end of the drill season, geology permitting. If no JV partner at Asheba a drill programme there wouldn't go amiss, cash permitting.

[haydock] 19/6/2009 10:25

Surely with the cash flow on tap, & the situation next door it's time for vigorous action from GEX.
We can now afford to fight on this front as well?

[1waving] 19/6/2009 10:13

Looks interesting haydock -- GEX's Asheba in Ghana does have some good grades and decent potential -- but needs the long awaited JV partner to come in or for GEX to develop it further. It is in the right area but with nothing being done there for some time, it needs a JV or decision to develop further by GEX without further ado.

[haydock] 19/6/2009 09:55

Lights ,camera , action from what has to be on the map the very near next door neighbours.Minesite:

News

June 18, 2009

Adamus Gives The Green Light To Development At Its Gold Mine In Ghana: The Next Step Is To Raise The Funding


By Charles Wyatt



A lot has been going on at ASX-listed Adamus Resources in the last few weeks – all good – and chief executive Mark Bojanjac will be in London later this month to bring investors up to date. The main thrust of his message will be that Adamus is going to get into production at its Southern Ashanti gold project in Ghana now that the figures in the original feasibility study have been improved vastly by a very effective optimisation programme. As a result, the board of directors has given the green light to develop a mine and Mark will doubtless be going over in his mind the problems he faced when developing the Boroo gold mine in Mongolia back in 2003 just at the time when Cameco was taking control of AGR Resources, the then operator of Boroo. It is a long and complex story which Minesite covered at the time, but the point is that Boroo did get into production, and it is always worth backing a winner. Mark also points out that at that time Boroo was the first gold mine to be developed in Mongolia.
This time round Mark is operating in a country with a well tested mining legislation and a government that is friendly to miners, provided they stick to the law. Gold mining, after all, has gone on in Ghana for hundreds of years, hence its previous name of Gold Coast. Adamus also has its major project on the prolific Ashanti gold belt with neighbours such as the big Tarkwa and the smaller Abosso gold mines, both of which are operated by Gold Fields, and further away on the same greenstone belt is Anglogold Ashanti's huge Obuasi mine. At one time Adamus took a bit of flack from commentators because it seemed to be taking a long time to get anywhere. Mark is ready for this one: "It has taken a bit of time, but quality does", is his comment. He stuck to his decision to get the gold reserve over a million ounces, and this was achieved in April this year when he announced that the latest estimate put 854,000 ozs gold in the proven category at a grade of 1.96 g/t and a further 214,000 ounces was delivered as probable at an average grade of 2.21 g/t.

This meant a total increase in both categories of 31 per cent when compared with the previous estimate of 815,000 ozs gold, assuming a gold price of US$900/oz - which looks entirely reasonable in light of the way the US is printing money. As Mark pointed out at the time, the achievement of the magic million was another major milestone towards development, as all the permitting needed to start mining had already been obtained. Optimisation of the feasibility study had also helped, as metallurgical testwork had been re-evaluated, and this had shown that improved recoveries could be expected in the oxide zones of the Salman deposit. Improved metallurgy meant that the open pits could be redesigned to reduce waste movement and allow for the mining of more oxide ore at a greater profit, meaning that cash flow would be boosted in the early years.

The new estimate for the resource at Southern Ashanti, which included the new reserves, has concluded that there is a total of 1.75 million ozs in the measured and indicated categories grading 1.8 g/t and a further 362,000 ozs inferred. Everything therefore seems to be moving in the right direction. Good support came from the inclusion of the first of the satellite mineral deposits, Bokrobo, which lies just to the south of the main Anwia deposit. More can be expected from Bokrobo, as only surface mineralization has been calculated at this stage, but the higher grade of 3.64 g/t should boost economics. This message was confirmed by the results of the optimisation study released a week ago which demonstrate that US$100 million in cash flow will be generated for the first two years at a gold price of US$900/oz. Ore throughput from open pit mining should average 1.9 million tonnes a year to produce 100,000 ozs gold over a ten year life, at an average cash cost of US$489/oz.

The decision now faced by Mark Bojanjac is whether to accept a proposal for design and production of the plant on an EPCM (engineering, procurement and construction management) basis, or whether to go for fixed cost instead. Fixed cost is more expensive at around US$95 million and EPCM might be as low as US$80 million, but the decision is not an easy one. The encouraging aspect is that there are plenty of engineering firms interested in quoting at sensible prices as a result of the recession. Once the decision is made the next step will be to raise the funds and get construction under way. Ghana has a well developed industrial base and all the services required during construction are available, which will make the task a whole lot easier than it was in Mongolia. The actual time required to construct the mine is estimated at 20 months.

Key to everything now is to raise the capex, and Mark is expected in London shortly, not only to talk to shareholders, but to test the waters for raising debt and equity. The actual fund raising exercise is not expected to take place until the 3rd quarter of the year but Mark drops a hint that it could be wrapped up earlier than expected. One of the things he will be trying to avoid is hedging as Macquarie and Standard Bank between them demanded hedging of 714,000 ounces from Boroo when it was due to produce 200,000 ounces/year at a time when gold, thanks to Gordon Brown, was no more than US$300/oz. First step down the track has been a A$3.5 million placing to Straits Resource Investments whose parent, Straits Minerals, recently announced the sale of its coal assets for up to US$355 million. No knowing how far this relationship will go, but as a first step it takes some beating.