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Perhaps you don’t remember the sh rebellion against the crede deal.That was when RY lost any interest in pi’s
No spin,just my opinion
MD
MD
Leave it to you to spin it that way thats not what RL was saying and you know it you plumb
Well what a shock for all that RY worked to get a better price for Crede’s shares
MD
Hi RL
Likewise the MOU with Jinchuan a couple of months later although I think your “...... the idea was to try and protect shareholders against Crede” is being a bit generous. The only thing the LOI and MOU did was help Crede to shift their shares at a higher price than they might have otherwise.
The idea that Russian Copper and Amur might conclude some sort of mutually beneficial deal was a bit fanciful on my part. At least the idea might have lifted the doom and gloom on this BB for a brief period.
TDT
The LOI RNS of 5th. September 2016 with IGC said this.
"Amur Minerals Corporation ("Amur" or the "Company"), a far east Russian sulphide nickel copper explorer, is pleased to announce the signing of a non-binding Letter of Intent ("LOI") with IG Copper LLC ("IGC") to investigate potential synergies in processing the companies' respective sulphide concentrates. The LOI was executed on 3 September 2016 at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia."
A fairly significant event and one you would have thought would find its way into the Northern Miner article on IGC dated 9th. December 2016. The only thing they had to say on the issue of of their concentrate was this:-
".....assessing the economics of shipping the copper-gold concentrate to Asia via the closer Vanino port, instead of to a processing facility in Western Russia."
No mention of any discussions with Amur on processing their respective concentrates.
TDT
".....but Bowens, like Robin Young, is in his 60’s......"
Correction he is, I believe, 58.
TDT
Hi RL
No I hadn't seen the video and the article so thanks for posting. As with so many things to do with Amur and Russia they generally tend to raise more questions than answers. The one thing that jumped out at me from the Northern Miner article (which I need to read again at least twice to get a decent handle on) is this:-
"Asked if he would sell Malmyzh, Bowens says that “selling it now … would be stupid, because I wouldn’t make nearly as much money. I’m not young, but I plan on being around long enough to spend whatever I get out of this.”
The article was written end of 2016. Less than two years later a sale was concluded. He’s now involved with Amur Minerals yet this was his position over 4 years ago!
“…….I’m not young, but I plan on being around long enough to spend whatever I get out of this.”
You can take comments like these with a pinch of salt but Bowens, like Robin Young, is in his 60’s. He’s not onboard at Amur, IMO, to do anything other than help find a buyer.
When you look at the size of the resource at Malmyzh, its apparent further potential, the proximity of infrastructure, the fact that its shallow open pit, the decent/reasonable grades, the sale price seems awfully low at $200m. Was a sale forced through by Freeport who, by all accounts, were strapped for cash at the time and/or by EMX who stood to trouser a significant wedge from a sale?
"Close expects that a large Asian entity or Western multinational company might be interested in a takeover." An Asian entity or Western multinational buyer didn't happen and the project went to Russian Copper. Surely if any project was going to attract foreign interest and a bidding war it should have been Malmyzh?
In this game timing is everything. In 2016 copper prices were low, averaging for the year circa $2.25/lb., but rising. Prices then went on a run up to $3.25 peaking in 2nd.Q 2018 before falling again. Not exactly the best environment in which to raise billions to develop a mine or for selling a mine for that matter. The sale price, nonetheless, seems a give-away considering the size of the asset, its location and the apparent relative ease to mine.
Miners don’t make decisions on the present but on what they expect to happen in the future. Having said that I have an article where the president of Codelco stated in March 2016 that the copper price would stay around the $2/lb. level for at least the next two years. He ruled out copper prices rising above $3/lb. Within 9 months copper was over $3/lb.
Projects are overlooked or jettisoned by the majors only to be picked up by a junior and successfully developed or in some instances sold back to a major at a later date. For that reason I’m not sure you can take much away from the Malmyzh disposal given the information that’s out there. One would hope, however, that if Tom Bowens has been brought on board to help negotiate a deal for Kun Manie the outcome will be a good bit more than $200m.
TDT
MadMat
This is how far IGC took their Malmyzh project before selling it to Russian Copper.
"IGC’s outstanding accomplishments include the early-stage exploration work leading to the discovery of the Malmyzh district, the completion of demanding work programs that advanced the project according to the requirements of the Russian Federation, as well as western reporting standards, and the execution of the process that culminated in the sale of the project to RCC."
Not a lot of information on what milestones were hit before the sale.
Bowens profile on the IGC web site is interesting. Posted before but worth looking at again.
Thomas Bowens, President & CEO, IG Copper
"Thomas Bowens has over thirty years of international mineral exploration experience. After working in Mongolia with Harrods Minerals, Ivanhoe and later Lundin Mining, he then moved to Russia as Vice President of Exploration and Chief of Operations for Fortress Minerals Corporation. He led the Svetloye project exploration that led to a sale of the deposit to Polymetal. He later established IG Copper LLC and successfully organized a management buyout of Fortress for their 51% in the Malmyzh Copper Gold Project where Freeport McMoran was the 49% non operating partner. Malmyzh, under the IG team, became one of the largest copper-gold deposits in the world with 7.2 million tons of copper equivalent and was sold to Russia Copper Corporation in 2018. For Svetloye and Malmyzh, Thomas E. Bowens was twice the recipient of the Russian Federation’s Discoverer Medals, the only non-Russian to achieve this distinction. Mr. Bowens has reinvested his resources into the next generation of exploration successes in the Tintic district of Utah as well as projects in the Russian Far East which are currently being advanced under the IG banner."
TDT
Sushi has disvovered how to average down - welcome to the club!
etank
Sushi,
Good to see that you're keeping the ramp flag flying.....until, that is, the wind changes. A volatile few days, I suspect, that leaves you confused. I'll wager it wouldn't take much to do that.......... ;-)
There will most likely be russian company involved, not to forget, we’ve signed an agreement with at Far East Development Fund:
Members of the regional government signed an agreement between the Far East Development Fund and Amuragroholding for the construction of soybean and wheat processing plants and the implementation of the project for the development of the Kun-Manye copper-nickel ore deposit
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/vostokmedia.com/news/society/04-09-2016/v-sele-ekaterinoslavka-v-stroitelstvo-zavodov-vlozhat-2-9-milliarda%3famp=1
Thanks TDT. Very wise words I feel .
1.75 close. LSE not showing the correct close as usual. We had a nice flurry of buys in the closing minutes.. Nice open tomorrow
Most realistic view I have heard lately.
I am a holder to the end, truly believe in the asset and the green revolution - I.e HUGE HUGE amounts of Nickel Sulphide will be required pretty soon . They are definitely not taking this to production (Cant get a report to together, let alone set up a mine in Far East Russia!). It will definitely be a buy total buyout, timing and price is anyone's guess. But with Nickel & Batteries on everyone's agenda, I'm guessing sometime soon. IMHO
It's just guess work on my part. There is absolutely no guarantee that I'm right or even half way right.
TDT
Great summation TDT, agree with all of it.
Nice summary chaps... I think most of us would agree with your appraisal of the situation.
Does anyone know what stage IG Copper was at when they were sold? PFS, TEO, BFS... surely not in production?
thanks
M
Russian Spud, they are waiting for you to buy shares !!
We are supposed to be mining by now, we still haven't built the road, we haven't advance one iota since 2009.
TDT
As you alluded to in your post, the options are few and TB’s arrival and actually stumping up his own cash gave us that hope.I suppose now we must have a fresh hope that RY doesn’t arrive at any crucial meetings late and miss another opportunity.The long lead times for the road and mine site are not on the side of the older and less fit group of LTH’s
As I’ve said before come on Mr Young get a deal done.
MD
Hi GB33/MD
As I’m sure you both know RY has said on several occasions that his preference would be to sell KM but in the absence of a reasonable offer they’d take the project into production. I think what we are seeing at the moment is a bit of a game of cat and mouse.
If we do have an interested party how do we get them to pony up a half decent offer? In Russia large western miners are conspicuous by their absence (sanctions don’t help). The Chinese and to a lesser extent the Koreans and Japanese might be prepared to take KM off out hands but again how many examples are there of any of them getting involved in big CAPEX mining projects in Russia?
That, IMO, really only leaves the Russians as potential buyers. A Russian buyer will be only too aware of how limited our options are. If I’m correct in that assumption then how do you persuade them to make an offer that’s acceptable? I think the NRR deal and AH dropping hints about a party being interested in an off-take for the whole of KM is Amur shaking the tree to see what falls out.
TB and IG Copper were looking to combine forces with Amur back in 2016 with a view to sharing a smelter. If that worked back then (nickel $4.50/lb., copper $2.20/lb.) it more than works now. As we know IG Copper sold their Malmyzh project in 2018 to Russian Copper for $200m. TB is now on the board of Amur Minerals and has been largely anonymous since joining. Furthermore he bought 7,527,604 Amur shares for 2.17p about 18 months ago.
As much as I think maximum value for PIs lies in Amur taking KM into production (more than likely as a junior JV partner) I don’t see that happening. It seems to me that what we are likely to see at some point this year possibly running in H1 2022 is a sale of KM. I suspect the buyer will be Russian Copper and I’d expect TB to be heading up the negotiations. Amur laying out their stall; NRR, TEO, DFS, binding offtake for the whole of KM with a large household name is essentially the project being at the proverbial crossroads. Amur is saying “you either offer something we can take to out investors or we develop the project ourselves”.
That’s how its looking to me at the moment, then again I could be completely wrong.
TDT
Fully agree with you TDT and also agree about AH, he is gone and I’m sure we will get a JV with other Amur Minerals related to Tom Bowens or other Russian company.
Hi TDT
I get your point regarding AH,but why would they keep him on the pay roll,it’s baffling.Do you think that TB being vastly experienced in Russia is the only person in place to take this forward?
It seems that missing The recent targets really is an all time low.
MD
Hi TDT,
Do you see it as a “clear” sale strategy now then? AH was to organise a debt instrument for the BFS.
ARB
Hi AT
No worries. To be honest the way Amur has gone about presenting what they have and adding in the results of the 2018 drill campaign has been poor to say the least. I don't think anybody is particularly clear on what the outcome of the 2018 drill campaign actually resulted in. The least we should have had from the company was a clear description of how much had been moved from inferred to indicated as a result of the drilling in 2018 and what proportion of the drilling amounted to additional resource.
As for AH in my mind he's now yesterday's man. He's done what he was brought in to do. I think it's now over to TB.
TDT