Solgold Share Discussion Threads

[mirabeau] 23/11/2018 05:34

zeus - I agree. He's open to an offer, but at the right price.

[mirabeau] 23/11/2018 05:33

11 more to come?

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23 November 2018

Nick Mather: 'We've got 11 more where that came from'

SolGold has just arrived in the mining elite with its new mineral resource estimate at Alpala, which is 2.95 billion tonnes at 0.52% copper, with a 0.2% cutoff. The kicker is the high-grade core of 420 million tonnes at 1.47% copper.

Mining Journal caught up with SolGold CEO (and major shareholder) Nick Mather in London this week following the doubling of the resource.

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It's subscription article so can't get access to the interview...grrrr

Is this type of hubris normal for a CEO? Mather's saying SOLG have '11 more where that came from'? That's a pretty bold or a pretty stupid thing to say.

What's Mather's game here? I am most intrigued by his strategy.

[zeusfurla] 22/11/2018 21:40

Mirabeau I liked this quote - 'For us to sell it (entirely to BHP), the price has to be right. There has been no discussion about that," Mather said.' In other words he hasn't ruled out further discussion, he is actually encouraging it and welcoming it. The signs are there for all to see where we are going with SOLG imho.

[mam fach] 22/11/2018 20:16

Thank you for the article. Very much appreciated.
Seems like Solg is being bombarded with reviews, updates & company presentations.
All falling on deaf ears or perhaps only shareholders are reading.
How much longer can Solg languish @ this ridiculously low price.

[mirabeau] 22/11/2018 19:59

Pob69 - you find some top stuff fella. Thanks, appreciated. I've posted your CEO.ca article on L-SE. I hope you don't mind

[pob69] 22/11/2018 19:23

Cannot say fairer than this from Chris Parish National Investor Newsletter $SOLG.L Solgold $SOLG #ECUADOR $CGP

It was only a week and a half ago that I passed along the latest impressive assay results from SolGold's ongoing aggressive drilling campaign at the monstrous Cascabel concession in Ecuador.

A bit ahead of expectations, SolGold this week released the eagerly awaited
upgrade to the initial resource estimate on the Alpala prospect area. And suffice it to say, it was the latest big step in the evolution of this world-class asset; now, to official "Tier One" status.

Keep in mind that the HUGE resource at this now Tier One asset continues to grow; yet is just one central target of many at what should be a multi-generational producer of Cascabel.

The biggest takeaway of this week's news was the growth of the high-grade "core" area at Alpala. Now, the overall, growing resource is anchored by a larger highgrade indicated resource of 400 million tonnes of 1.49% copper
equivalent. That breaks down to what will likely be an initial development target (as of now) containing 3.6 million tonnes of copper and 11.9 million ounces of gold.
Said President and C.E.O. Brooke Macdonald of Cornerstone (the initial discoverer and concession owner at Cascabel), "We are pleased that the increase in high grade resources has been added within or adjacent to the previous high grade envelope suggesting a robust target for early extraction of higher grade material. We are also confident that continued exploration on other Cascabel targets will add to the total mineral inventory."

That the core is now far larger is a step in the overall de-risking of
the project, and revealing it as one that could be developed at an acceptable cost given these high grades. Further, with the entire resource (albeit some of the rest right now at lower grades and still inferred) now totaling 10.9 million tonnes of copper and 23.2 million ounces of gold, it is additionally the "Tier One"-sized asset that majors will want to have.

RECOGNITION GROWING ELSEWHERE
Happily, our Members got in on the ground floor here, when both SolGold, plc (TSX-SOLG; LSE-SOLG) and Cornerstone (TSXV-CGP; OTC-CTNXF) were selling for a fraction of their present valuations. Now, with Ecuador generally and Cascabel particularly bursting to the front of the line of the consciousness of the world's mining industry, belated coverage is appearing elsewhere at an increasing rate. And that's especially true following this week's resource upgrade!

It's universally expected that the many outstanding assays still here from 2018's drilling will ultimately add further to the overall resource, as well as converting still more of it from the inferred to indicated categories. It's uncertain as of now whether that all will manifest itself in yet another upgrade, or maybe first in what is an expected upcoming PEA in the first half of 2019.

Aside from that, I'm especially interested in two possible looming developments:
1. Any new satellite discoveries away from Alpala, especially any that are nearer surface. Such a thing would provide further attraction to the idea that the overall Cascabel concession is its own bona fide mining camp in the making; one that could produce for generations.
2. The next moves by BHP Billiton, Newcrest (and/or others?) to get their own bigger piece of this monster. These latest numbers have prompted analysts covering SOLG to significantly up their price targets on that company; on average to more than double its current market price. And no doubt chatter will be increasing as we move toward the day when one or more of these global mining giants steps up in a bigger way to make sure IT will at least have a major hand in developing this deposit some day soon.

In the case of Cornerstone, it's overly simplistic to expect that its
shares, too, should merely keep up with SOLG, given that CGP owns--
both directly and indirectly--some 23% of Cascabel. As I have explained previously, it conceivably could be the key to eventual majority control of Cascabel for another company.

Already, some were speculating that either Newcrest (which presently owns 14.5% of SolGold) or BHP (now up to over 11%) could just as easily buy Cornerstone as anything else to increase their stake. Now that the growth of this world-class resource into a Tier One asset is confirmed, this talk may well increase.

I'll repeat what I said the other day: Things should continue to
get ever more interesting here!

[mam fach] 22/11/2018 14:49

I accept that as long term holders we may have rose tinted spectacles.
Perhaps others see that actual mining is fraught with uncertainty.
We will all have to wait to see how this pans out.
Whether as shareholders or as watchers on the sidelines.
Choice is yours.

[gold panda] 22/11/2018 13:48

Best Drill Interceptions In The Metals Mining Sector For The Week Ended 18 November 2018

[arcadian] 22/11/2018 13:43

Selling on the MRE news can look and feel quite smart until, that is, the next unexpected news when one has to play catch up. With such in demand assets and brokers all agreeing that the share price should be c. 80p, I agree with you Mam. I wrote previously that any sensible predator would ensure that the share price is held down and MIRA suspects something like this is happening. The stability of the current share price is unnatural given the prospects for the assets and the firm, so that at some unexpected point the savvy sellers will regret their short sighted opportunism.

[mam fach] 22/11/2018 11:24

Why would anyone want to sell now.
It's like waiting for Christmas.
We know it's coming.

[lefrene] 22/11/2018 11:20

Unless you badly need money to solve a problem elsewhere, then I see no reason to let go of these unless you think you can day-trade them. Alpala alone is huge, everything else is in for free.

[5070481] 22/11/2018 07:52

LOoks like some large sellers are going to put a cap on this at 39.5 maximum. There was an inceberg sell on 38 all afternoon yesterday as well

[mam fach] 21/11/2018 21:49

Looks like Onward and Upward tomorrow.
But you can never tell.
This is way, way undervalued. IMH

[trev1223] 21/11/2018 15:31

I notice that the spread % has narrowed down to o.394% which is another good sign.

Edit: now 0.263%

[lefrene] 21/11/2018 14:59

This a game for global players, the biggest hitter gets it, unless of course there is some kind of inside deal between bidders, an old fashioned auction ring. In which case NM might reject a low ball bid and approach those Canadian bankers to get the funds to start production using Newcrest technical help?

[mikalan] 21/11/2018 14:53

Would it be a reasonable assumption that BHP took their 11% as a 'Blocker' to other potential suitors while they assess the assets and prepare a bid?

[lefrene] 21/11/2018 14:43

We see more and more reasons to hold now, I don't see any reasons that would prompt me to sell.

[pob69] 21/11/2018 14:32

Cormark's comments on MRE update $SOLG.L Solgold $SOLG #ECUADOR $CGP just tweeted by Solgold

‘High-Grade Core Doubles In Second MRE’ TP raised to C$1.40 from C$1.20

[mirabeau] 21/11/2018 13:50

BHP going shopping

Today 13:46




RBC: BHP going shopping

BHP (ASX:BHP) outlined a detailed plan on how to not waste a whole lot of shareholders’ money again this week, and RBC Capital Markets analyst Tyler Broda thinks the plan looks good on paper.

If Andrew Mackenzie can stick to a plan that will see short-term pain, he might get another tier 1 project

Broda said BHP could get "first-mover advantage into the next cycle" if it sticks to its new framework.

"We therefore see BHP as likely much more active in M&A going forward, especially should the target have high quality growth

The major's CFO Peter Beaven summarised the plan as looking earlier at possible big plays'..

rest is subscription..

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interesting



60 minute presentation from last night by BHP's Beaven

[mirabeau] 21/11/2018 13:01

Schodde - Mr. Richard Schodde, BEng(Hons), MBA, MAusIMM serves as a Non-Executive Director of West African Gold Limited. Mr. Schodde has extensive experience in Africa evaluating political risk issues and minimum economic target sizes for specific gold, copper and nickel exploration projects. Mr. Schodde served for 15 years at BHP Billiton and WMC Resources in exploration, strategy and Business development roles. Mr. Schodde is an Internationally recognized mineral economist and with over 30 years of industry experience.

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WMC was taken over in 2005...by BHP. Schodde's a BHP man

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I bet his opinion will be taken on board by BHP..I wouldn't be surprised if he's a BHP consultant

[mirabeau] 21/11/2018 12:21

Schodde declares a TIER 1 DISCOVERY!!



Experts say SolGold's Ecuadorian asset now deserves to be ranked among the world's best copper discoveries. Paul Jones

by Peter Ker

The Ecuadorian copper prospect pursued by BHP and Newcrest Mining now deserves to be considered alongside elite copper discoveries like Chile's Escondida, Australia's Olympic Dam and Indonesia's Grasberg, according to an analysis of the latest drilling results by one of Australia's top mineral exploration consultants.

​Minex Consulting managing director Richard Schodde said the updated mineral resource estimate published by Ecuador-focused SolGold on Tuesday night had confirmed its Alpala prospect within the Cascabel tenement was a "tier one" copper and gold asset.

SolGold told the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday that the Alpala resource was now estimated to contain 13.1 million tonnes of copper equivalent metal; a 77 per cent increase on the previous estimate published in December 2017.

Perhaps more importantly Alpala's high-grade core is now estimated to be 99 per cent larger than the previous estimate with a copper equivalent resource of 6.1 million tonnes, and that could prove pivotal as many copper mines are now built small with a focus on a high-grade core leaving potential expansions for later when commodity prices make them viable.

Mr Schodde said Alpala, located in northern Ecuador, easily met his criteria for "tier one" status.

"As part of my job I maintain a database of over 58,000 mineral deposits of all types around the world and 304 of these are classified as being 'tier one' so they are very rare and special by definition," he told The Australian Financial Review.

Mr Schodde said only 47 of those 304 top tier assets had copper as their primary metal.

"In other words Alpala has joined a very elite group of deposits, which includes Escondida, Olympic Dam and Grasberg," he said.

"In practice only one or two 'tier one' deposits are found in the world each year.

"In my opinion [SolGold's] claim of Alpala being world class is valid."

The progress of Brisbane-based SolGold has been closely watched in Australia since Newcrest and BHP made rival offers to invest with the explorer in October 2016.

Newcrest was preferred by SolGold on that occasion, winning the right to subscribe for a 10 per cent stake in SolGold, which has since grown to more than 14 per cent of the company.

But BHP has shown renewed interest in the past two months, spending $131.9 million on an 11.1 per cent stake in SolGold.

A third ASX-listed company, DGR Global, also owns 11 per cent of SolGold.

While there is no official regulatory definition of a "tier one" geological deposit, the term has become part of mining industry lexicon since BHP developed a charter that vowed to invest only in "tier one" assets that were large, long-life, low cost and expandable.

Mr Schodde said the majority of the value within the Alpala deposit, about 71 per cent, would come from the copper, suggesting Alpala would likely be a copper mine with gold byproducts rather than vice versa.

The heavier copper focus could make BHP a more natural owner than Newcrest, which is broadly known as a gold miner, albeit one that produces copper byproducts at some of its mines like Cadia in New South Wales.

SolGold's Australian managing director Nick Mather said he was very happy with the "rapid and inexorable growth of this resource".

"Alpala has got more to grow yet and we are pursuing that aggressively over the coming months," he said in a statement.

"Alpala is just the beginning for SolGold and we can see the emergence of the company as a copper gold major and Ecuador becoming one of the world's largest copper producers as a result."

Gold was fetching $US1221 per ounce on Wednesday, while copper was fetching $US2.79 per pound.

END

[mirabeau] 21/11/2018 11:45

Thanks to Hesiod on the L-SE site -




Nov 21, 2018, 06:21am

Ecuador Takes Another Step Out Of The Cold With A Major Copper Discovery

Tim Treadgold
Contributor

Ecuador has not been at the top of anyone's investment list for some time thanks to its aggressive treatment of the U.S. oil major, Chevron, and its provision of a bolt-hole in London for wanted Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, but if recent mineral exploration news is as good as it appears the country could soon be the center of a copper rush.

Ironically, given Assange's home in Ecuador's London Embassy, the copper news is appearing first in London where a small explorer called SolGold has its stock exchange listing.

Early yesterday SolGold updated the market on its work at the Alpala project in the north of Ecuador and while investors yawned it was one of the most significant items of exploration news for several years.

A Tier-One Find

What SolGold has discovered, and work is far from complete, is what miners call a tier-one copper asset, a discovery containing at least 6.1 million tons of copper and 16.2 million ounces of gold.

SolGold's target: copper-rich core. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg© 2015 Bloomberg Finance LP

If financial markets around the world were not being heavily sold off there is no doubt that SolGold shares would have done better than their 4.4% rise yesterday to 37.6 pence (48 cents).

What's happening on the London stock exchange is only one part of the complex SolGold story, starting with the fact that it is actually an Australian company and that two of Australia's biggest miners have been jockeying for a leadership position on the SolGold share register.

BHP buys another 5%

BHP, the world's biggest miner, paid $57 million two weeks ago to buy an extra 5% of SolGold, taking its stake to 11.18%, closing in on the 14.5% held by Newcrest Mining, Australia's biggest goldminer and also a substantial copper producer.

With two rival miners on its share register and what looks like a world-class copper discovery the next few months could be quite interesting for SolGold.

The company's chairman, Nick Mather, said the latest resource statement meant Alpala had doubled in size since last December.

Nicholas Mather, chief executive officer of SolGold Plc, speaking at a mining conference in Mebourne last month. Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg© 2017 Bloomberg Finance LP

"The high-grade, gold-rich core of the deposit now contains double the copper and gold at a higher grade than in December, last year," Mather said.

The be classified as a tier-one copper resource a deposit is generally required to contain 750 million tons of ore assaying at least 0.9% copper equivalent (a combination of copper and other minerals).

Alpala has now been shown to contain 950m/t at 0.97% copper equivalent.

Because Ecuador has been regarded as too difficult for most big miners it has been left to small companies such as SolGold to explore a region which is effectively an extension of the rich copper belt that runs along the Andes, through Chile and Peru.

The geological setting of Alpala also appears to indicate that the mineralization could extend across Ecuador's northern border into Colombia.

Block-Caving Likely

Unlike many other copper mines in South America where vast open-pits have been developed the early plan for Alpala is to use a bulk underground technique called block saving, a specialty of Newcrest which operates one of the world's biggest block caves at its Cadia mine in Australia.

With minimal surface disruption the proposed technique should dodge environmental objections, but it is a complex process that involves digging alongside and under the target orebody and then causing sections to collapse inside the mine before the ore is hauled to the surface.

SolGold has a long way to go before it can definitely say it's ready to develop a mine but this weeks news took Alpala to within sight of that decision.

I studied geology in the 1960s and worked for a small mining company before getting a start in journalism during the 1969 nickel boom. Since then I've covered repeated booms and busts in the commodities sector for a passing parade of newspapers, magazines and website. I am a... MORE

Tim Treadgold has been writing about the mining and oil industries for more than 40 years

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[mirabeau] 21/11/2018 11:02

I don't understand why that article sends out mixed messages? Exploration at Cascabel's been successful and BHP want ownership and control of the assets they target. BHP own an 11% shareholding in SOLG. They own a share of SOLG but they don't own ENSA. BHP want ENSA and if the choose to buy all 4 Ecuadorian registered SOLG subs then they will buy out SOLG

I have no idea how anyone can view BHP's intentions as anything other than what they are, to acquire SOLG or ENSA at their choosing

The BHP-SOLG placement gives us cash to continue to explore other areas of Ecuador and expand Alpala-Cascabel

And there are other majors out there 'watching' developments with SOLG.

It doesn't make any difference what I think. I will hold and wait to see how it all develops

Good luck all