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I am the same with the 3 Birdie Companies and ARCM plus JLP. If I had sense, Ivanhoe would probably make more sense but never mind. Obviously now we have Kobold and others in the mix so at least plenty of news to come.
Price of Copper isn't playing ball though !
It was important to drill the bit in middle, the main reason being to establish if there was enough continuity of viable resource to join RC and Ascot up. It was these subsequent grades that was the main disappointment as it meant that Ascot was required to now be standalone as a separate entity for its resource to be exploited. As we have now seen will need a further extensive explotation programme to increase and establish a viable resource there now as it would not be viable to be reached through a series of push backs from RC. This down to the grades being just too low and outside of the stripping ratio tolerances that would allow it to be mined once the CapEx payback phase was completed.
"Due to CB's suite of companies in the Zambian NW corner I have spread my investment in XTR, AFR & Galileo"
I've done the same, and for the same rationale I've also added ARCM so my portfolio.
I take the view the more lottery tickets you buy then the more chance you have of winning :)
It look like CB takes the same view !
Due to CB's suite of companies in the Zambian NW corner I have spread my investment in XTR, AFR & Galileo. I figure that if the geological trend crosses the border, and the evidence sugests it does, then any one of these making a good find will inflate the value of the others. Could be that they are all sitting on a goldmine (coppermine) and the NW corner becomes the next big thing in terms of copper production.
As to Howezap's comment about the gold at Ascot, it never did sit well that the drilling seemed to focus on the bridge between Racecourse and Ascot (which did not produce good results) rather than on Ascot itself. If the effort had been focussed on finding the Ascot crown then we might be in a very diferent situation now.
Hz. Agreed. In normal situations discussing other companies on a bulletin board is unwanted. But in the case of the Birdie stable of companies they are using the same geologists etc so all have relevance to each other. And in the case of NW Zambia it is all the same geological region . As Colin likes to state, geology does not respect boundaries.
A point of interest.
A comment Martyn C made whilst speaking about another of the groups projects, may explain why those high gold grades from Ascot drilling of 14m at 1.96g/t Au and 2m @ 15.5g/t Au were not followed up.
MC….“Can’t lose focus on their goal by chasing narrow high grade veins as it would be far more difficult to put a resource together, with the main focus concentrating on the bulk tonnage.”
This would so easily be the case for the work that was required to build the BR resource. Makes good sense now and could explain why, as at the time it was so frustrating that it wasn’t investigated further with a hole or two at the end of phase 2, choosing instead to test mineralisation at depth below hole 35 If I recall.
Sorry bit random but I’m sure others may have had similar thoughts at that time. 🤷
No need for apologies Analytical, input which is both relative to NW Zambia and informative is very welcome if is helpfull to build the overall picture for shareholders and ‘generally’ should not under these fairly unique circumstances be seen as any kind of cross ramping
Thank you for sharing, is all helpfull information if encourages much overdue quality dialogue. 👍
(I’m not invested in GLR)
As a junior explorer with income I expected a little more progress on the exploration front since the JV announcement in August. The August JV RNS stated:
"Exploration is expected to commence in September 2023, and will comprise both physical activity within the Licence boundaries (including but not limited to mapping, soil geochemistry, geophysics and drilling), and desktop studies, laboratory analysis and interpretation of data and results."
It would appear that based on the latest update all that's happened is they've acquired a database from Anglo. Is that it? Have they done ANY of the physical activity they said they would?
Also, what on earth have they done at Kakuyu? Has literally any exploration work been done in the last 6-9 months?
It is a bit of a nit picking of an argument to me. GLR will receive a significant cash sum in April and has shares in Afrimat and Sandfire which can be sold. But MC of GLR, in a recent podcast said GLR hasn't yet decided which 1 or 2 projects to prioritise. For GLR it would probably make sense to concentrate on the Kalahari and Lithium for quick (er) sales and let others prioritise NW Zambia.
My take is (if there is a big copper find): AFP would be sold job lot and all money returned to shareholders. GLR will focus more on exploration and early stage development so will joint venture/sell. XTR will go all the way or at least as long as possible and become a mid tier miner. The usual IMHO applies.
Well, I cannot argue against your logic and evidence !!
I can only assume that CB's quote in the recent RNS refers to the fact that all other juniors in the NW zone ( except GLR it would appear) have deals with a major - Rio, Anglo, Ivanhoe or FQ in the main - whereas XTR will be financially independent albeit there is a form of partnership with CooperLemon ( they being a sleeping partner).
Deal with the majors in the NW zone - Anglo, Rio, FQM and Ivanhoe - mean the junior partner gets funding, sure, but at a cost in terms of the level of control over progress and newsflow. This is often a big frustration for the smaller partner.
Interesting that the biggest land holder in this highly sought after NW copper belt is AFP - another CB company of curse
Given that CB is Chairman of GLR you are not seriously suggesting he would make that mistake in an RNS ? It is probably because the GLR property in NW Zambia is JV'd or shared in some way. The £5M is a real stretch by the way and not audited.
I should have added that the source of the CB quote is RNS Number : 3942C Xtract Resources plc 08 February 2024
It is not incorrect or CB is lying or mistaken. See below. What is your counter position ?
Colin Bird, Executive Chairman said : "We have recently embarked on an intensive exploration campaign targeting a discovery of commercial grade and tonnage of copper in a region of NW Zambia that is not only the subject of more intense competition than I have ever known for exploration ground but also the focus of attention for most of the world's major mining companies. NW Zambia is a proven host for large scale copper deposits and the geology of our Joint Venture ground is highly prospective. Zambia as a nation has set ambitious targets for copper production to underpin its economic progress and Xtract intends to become a part of that story initially by being the only junior company operating its own Joint Venture licences on a self-financing and independent basis"
Does feel is the right direction to go now, to focus efforts. There is an obvious and very clear advantage to having a group of companies in the CB stable, with multiple licences and ability to share expertise, and data within the group to help understand the geological trends.
Also to consider with our access to self fund, the expertise and experience of Xtract people and ability to create revenue from the opportunities that are definitely out there. Been saying for some time now that there will be countless project or small mine owners out there in this economic climate that are now unable to get their mines to final production through inability to self fund. With the added bonus that production facilities are also needing ore to process. Xtract are in a strong position to pick and choose.
I am speculating of course but the odds are rather better than 'red or black'.
The proximity of licences owned or JV'd by/with the world's major companies , the contiguous geology and the fact that we will be the only junior with control of exploration and internal funding is a rare combination. I am still not convinced by the vast shortfall in available copper that everyone predicts and I have resigned myself to Bushranger not delivering value in my lifetime , if ever, but, frankly, if the Zambian assets deliver we will soon be in very good recovery mode.
As I said - this time next year Rodney !!
What is so encouraging is that we have now had others directly involved supporting Colin’s early optimism over the Zambian venture.
In the Zambia copper special with Tolai Sikumba, the CEO of their JV partners is really positive and ‘expects’ to see results
https://audioboom.com/posts/8450336-midweek-takeaway-zambia-copper-special-with-colin-bird-exec-chairman-xtract-resources-and-tol
More importantly we hear from Martyn Churchouse, a senior consultant geologist across the group in the mining Indaba podcast who gives real credibility to the reasoning behind concentrating efforts there, to back up Colin’s earlier efforts to sell the idea to shareholders.
https://audioboom.com/posts/8454846-midweek-takeaway-mining-indaba-2024-special-umr-maru-neo-afp-xtr-atn-glr-ura-k
If shareholders are not keen on getting onboard with what Colin says, believing it to be just chasing the next big thing! it is a little more difficult to ignore MC.
It’s no surprise Alex Terry has increased his stake
I hope you're right Irish, I sincerely hope you're right.
The Zambia promotion in the socials and press we've seen in just the last week has the potential to substantially increase the value of the licences CB has bought.
What a lucky coincidence !
CB's strategy is right. Patience will pay-off and investing in NW Zambia with the proceeds of the Manica sale is a far better prospect than staying with the 23% net from a project where you have no managerial control, no decision-making input and, worst of all, no say in what is spent and who is employed. No doubt friends and relatives are already on the pay-roll and that cost comes out of our net return !!!
The certainty of $15-18M 'drip-fed' to the XTR Treasury over time to cover the costs of the NW Zambia venture means we retain 100% of the project (well net of the local partner input anyway) and can control newsflow and project advancement as we wish.
Can't be bad. This time next year Rodney ....................
He is clearly a long-game investor.
I am no disciple of the Climate Cult but the shift to cleaner energy makes sense, and I see the current trend of electrification continuing. It is therefore only a matter of time before the price of copper goes up, Bushranger is sold and those recent copper plays by Bird could really pay off. I may buy a few more shares myself, throw them in the bottom draw and makes this a long-term copper play.
I could see political reasons to delay the green movement, pushing back electric cars etc If we move now China has won, there isn't even any competition, they are so far ahead in electrification the west/legacy is playing catchup, so why not rubbish electric cars a little bit, don't fast track the infrastructure, drip feed negativity into the press and delay all your targets so that we it does happen (and it will) the west/legacy can at least compete.
Since last update on 1 June Alex Terry has again increased his holding from 56.5M to nearly 60M
Well at least someone has confidence in CB :)
https://xtractresources.com/shareholders/
Commodities live in the now unfortunately, prices are not affected by sentiment or long term outlook. Copper is falling against a strong US dollar and pessimistic industrial sentiment and macroeconomic headwinds in China. Their warehouse inventories have also soared by over 120% ytd to nearly 70,000 tonnes.
Wonder how long they can hold copper furures back so they can build up their inventories cheaply?
Good points flipper, we read everywhere the opinions of analysists talking about the impending lack of copper, zero stockpiles, an enduring commodities bull market etc.
You'd think the price would rise but it seems nobody has told the people who actually trade the stuff.
No one can accuse Colin of not putting effort into promoting his companies or Copper and NW Zambia. But the copper price continues to go down, China is looking precarious and even Labour is abandoning the climate change obsession. I wonder whether Colin will regret selling Manica at this point. In a years time the price of gold might look very attractive.