The Mission Share Discussion Threads

[giant steps] 12/10/2007 20:56

Mon, 08 Oct 2007





Extracts from CEO Peter Steenkamp

"We want President Steyn to continue as a going concern and that 340kg will at least cover their operational costs," Steenkamp told Miningmx.

"President Steyn has been under a lot of pressure lately and we want to make sure they get to that 340kg but it shouldn't be a problem for them. It's not a strenuous target," he said.

"There is huge potential there to improve production. There's a lot of optionality on the B Reef in the north, which is what they mine at Harmony's Tshepong and Masimong," Steenkamp said. "There's also an opportunity with blocks of ground that without too much capital we can get into."

"There's quite a lot of gold locked up in those shaft pillars and if we are clever about it, we can mine those pillars," he said.

[bbbb] 12/10/2007 08:33

if it still has a roof!

there's a story on the news today about above ground 'mining' in the west midlsnds of metal ore of such a high grade that almost no refining is needed. seems to
be 'work' for the informal sector which sees no need for education of the young in
roofed establishments, doing their bit for the spread of ignorance.

[katsy] 12/10/2007 08:19

I need to go back to school!

[giant steps] 12/10/2007 08:16

tim -> i suspect bbbb had close historical ties with thistle, and now writing on
this thread is a risky pursuit (mine manager ?)

[bbbb] 12/10/2007 07:13

'Writing some mumbo jumbo about mine plans, prolonging resource extraction etc etc completely misses the bullseye, in fact it's nowhere near the target.'

competent decorators understand the concept of 'painting into a corner' which is a limitation on the way in which they can work.

inclusiveness has disadvantages on threads such as this.

[tim00] 12/10/2007 06:16

cga unchanged today. Fair enough after a strong run.

[tim00] 11/10/2007 22:16

looking forward to posting another nice rise in cga tomorrow morning!

[tim00] 11/10/2007 22:15

the point bbbb is that there is a well understood relationship between price and marginal cost which drives production in all markets of capitalist economies, not just commodity markets like gold. That is not simplistic, it is fact. Writing some mumbo jumbo about mine plans, prolonging resource extraction etc etc completely misses the bullseye, in fact it's nowhere near the target. I suspect you were not a lawyer but an english professor or some such in a past life.

[bbbb] 11/10/2007 21:14

'that means no one understands a word you say!'

Lawyers are not the only people to understand language fully,
and some of them might not like the idea of being thought to be 'no-one!'

[giant steps] 11/10/2007 21:05

tim ->

i suspect the legalistic comments by bbbb have not been helpful to most readers

shame, as he clearly has useful knowledge and experience to share with juniors !

[tim00] 11/10/2007 21:00

bbbb, you're the most enigmatic poster I've ever come across. Deconstructed, phrase by phrase, like the lawyers, that means no one understands a word you say!

[bbbb] 11/10/2007 20:54

deconstruct it phrase by phrase, like the lawyers.

= take the sentences to pieces, say three words or so at a time.
use a dictionary.

some ideas need to be expressed conditionally to avoid
risk of misrepresentation. or possible libel.

[tim00] 11/10/2007 19:43

....and in english?

[bbbb] 11/10/2007 18:35

a simplistic idea of costs ignores the mine plan management function which has
a legal mandatory aspect in rsa to prolong the resource extraction to the maximum, including obtaining maximum payback on the infrastructure, particularly the most expensive items, shafts over the amortisation period.

wage cost increase and production shortfall would include any possible slippage from less tightly managed labour under contract mining and increased health and safety overhead.

[simontemplar] 11/10/2007 17:06

A significant breakdown and a long way down until the next major support! I'm afraid to say that this could lead to another deal breaker but I hope not!

[tim00] 11/10/2007 17:06

st, costs haven't increased: costs per oz mined have increased (obviously cos ozs mined have fallen!) I took that as read.

[simontemplar] 11/10/2007 17:01

I was under the impression that the majority of the costs were related to the work force wages and if so I find it a tad odd that the costs have risen so much given that, as far as I'm aware, there have been no sudden wage increases! Awe well, Our hopes are on CGA.

[tim00] 11/10/2007 16:42

Katsy, re your post 870. TMG is in effect the world's marginal producer. It is not entirely a coincidence that TMG's costs rise in line with the rise in the pog (though the causation is the other way round: higher production costs force up the pog). One of the reasons why the pog is rising is that production in South Africa is declining, resulting in a shortage of gold in world markets. In theory, the rise in the pog should be just sufficient to offset the increased costs of marginal producers such as TMG. In practice that seems to be happening. No one in this scenario is coining it.

[katsy] 11/10/2007 15:37

zarus now 6.72! be nice if it went even lower. Assuming Pamodzi still pay the 250M rand.

[giant steps] 11/10/2007 13:50

"Sum of the parts" : these may include positive and/or negative components

do you think the debt has gone missing ? !

[bbbb] 11/10/2007 13:09

not to mention minus of the missing parts.

[giant steps] 11/10/2007 12:41

Yes Katsy, i find it hard to believe as well.
However this chapter may well be coming to an end.

"Sum of the parts" makes for interesting times ahead

[katsy] 11/10/2007 12:37

GS I just find it difficult to believe that total cost always seem to track POG on the way up. Personally think somebody is coining it.