Ryan Mee, CEO of Fulcrum Metals, reviews FY23 and progress on the Gold Tailings Hub in Canada. Watch the video here.
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Contrary to what I hear from other people who contribute to this chat I don't see any issue with developing a couple of mines in West Africa. I would prefer they were in Ghana but Ivory Coast would be my second choice over BF and Mali for example.
I like the fact that Ivory Coast isn't land locked and mining companies, contractors and service organisations are experienced in "how it works".
If we were talking Nigeria then I would be one of the contributors saying No to a West African venture but thankfully this isn't the case.
I haven't made a film in either West Africa or Egypt like Sotolo but I have lived and travelled both markets and would be happy to see Centamin develop Doropo and ABC. I also see no problem Centamin funding these projects using Banks, Export Credit Insurance organisations etc like most other companies looking at growth to develop these resources as this will strengthen their credit rating and hopefully their SP.
CENTAMIN ANNUAL INFORMATION FORM
for the Financial Year Ended 31 December 2014
31 March 2014
Metallurgy
Ampella have completed a metallurgical program at Konkera as part of their PFS study program that was on going at the time of this report. Composite diamond core metallurgical samples from the three main prospects of Konkera Main/East, Konkera North and the Kouglaga area were tested at ALS-Ammtec in Perth and HRL-Testing Laboratories in Brisbane.
The testwork indicates that the Konkera Main, East, North and Kougala oxide and transitional mineralisation and the Kouglaga fresh mineralisation is amenable to treatment using conventional gravity and CIL leaching with a modest grind size of P80 of 106 m. Indicative recoveries range from (88% to 98%) for these deposits and mineralisation type. They also have recorded gravity recoverable components of greater than 30%.
Testwork suggests that the Konkera Main, East and North sulphide mineralisation would require treatment involving sulphide float, regrind of the concentrates to 8/10 micron and then cyanidisation.
Recoveries from these deposits and mineralisation types using this processing route vary from 71% to 91%.
Tibbs the reason I asked about the expenditure of $100 million is that I understand that there has been a considerable amount of money spent in West Africa but I think it was quite early on that the geologists and their mining consultants determined that Batie West in particular was a complicated ore body. Whilst the mining of refractory ore isn't unusual it does involve complicated processing albeit not unusual. There is an extra risk and if Lycopodium saw it to be complicated and marginal then best out and concentrate on other resources in the initial portfolio namely Doropo where the ore bodies seem on the face of it to be far less risky.
Sorry if I was not clearer. No quite the opposite, am not at all ok with Centamin buying Endeavour, just if other investors want exposure to W Africa they can buy endeavour or other W African mining shares, I don’t want this so don’t but I have the choice. I wish Cey would stick to improving and adding to Sukari which is why I own it. Thank you so much for holding the board to account on this. Yes I know the area and where Burkina Faso is having filmed extensively in Ivory Coast, which is partly why I am not keen on investing in this area, I also think it stretches Cey management and takes capital that is then wasted. So I wish my Cey money to be invested in Egypt, where I also filmed, and the board concentrate on getting that right, and will diversify myself if I want to ie Hoc in S America
Sotolo -
You're okay with Centamin buying Endeavour which now have roughly 60% of their gold production in Burkina Faso
But at the same time you want Centamin to EXIT their vanity projects in West Africa
Just where do you think Burkina Faso is located ?
If you have nearly a million shares in Centamin you ought to be glad there are people willing to hold the BOD to account no matter where the exploration dollars are spent
Allowing concession after concession containing proven multi-million ounce gold resources to forfeit back to the state in West Africa is not a mistake or oversight Endeavour's board would permit - in that they definitely have Centamin's BODs beat
It's time to point that out - and change it
The bottom line - exploration dollars can just as easily be wasted in Egypt as in West Africa - the Cleopatra decline and the HiSeis 2D seismic survey being two good examples
Thats about right with B/F.
The other could be argued over,but why bother ,just liquidate it and use in Egypt.
I am sure others will disagree ,but thats my opinion.
Just to say it is interesting that so many here were so annoyed over my posts of the last couple of years saying the price should be lower as it sadly turned out, and more recently have been poo pooing the stock and management while I, going the other way again, posted a turn and buying more last month and have kept accumulating at the end of the tax year to use cgt gains elsewhere, plus a £20k in the isa on Apr 6th so somewhat madly I have put six figures where my mouth is, and am back up to 567k of them, so just hope I am second time right. There could be one more bad result but the market should begin to look forward to steady improvement I hope….!. The THS I originally sold Cey for, and added to at same time which I also posted, have done even better having started sooner and are up 70% since November and up a third since start of Feb and 15% since start of April. Meantime Hoc has also got going, up a third, so time for this laggard to begin methinks. Moreover I am heartened that the management are writing off useless vanity projects in W Africa, I really hope the company sticks to its knitting as the best way of mining management having fun and destroying shareholder value in my book is by aggrandising exploration projects that are holds in the ground. If we want W. Africa diversification we can buy Endeavour, I do hope Cey sticks to Egypt pretty much now.
3bear,
The write down was reported as $27 million in some of the media although possibly they hadn't realised it was $35.2 million dollars which equates to around £27million
I was referring to Cowichans information which it seems may also include some other losses, or potential losses if existing development projects are also abandoned or written off?
I hope that Cowichan will be good enough to explain his rationale regarding his disclosures and concerns?
If the $35.2 million or £27 million is only for that one abandoned/written off project and other write down's are a possibility or are yet to be announced then this may be what Cowichan is referring to?
You may recall that Dasut also queered the figures so they need clarification or explanation if possible.
According to the 2021 report (p61) the company valued Batie West as an asset on the balance sheet at US$35.2million. It says there is a development and exploitation licence which lawyers tell them is valid until 4 March 2023. However the military coup and an 'inability to correspond with government' has created 'significant uncertainty' in the company's ability to develop or sell the asset before that date. So Batie West has been 'fully impaired' as an asset on the balance sheet. Which means written off right?
Major stock indexes in Europe traded lower in the premarket on Monday, as the conflict in Ukraine continues. Earlier, Ukrainian officials stated that the airport in the city of Dnipro was demolished by Russian shelling, while the World Bank commented that the crisis will reduce Ukraine's GDP by 45.1% in 2022.
On the data front, the United Kingdom will be releasing its reports on GDP, trade balance and industrial output in a few minutes.
The DAX declined 0.71% at 8:01 am CET. London's FTSE 100 was down by 0.46% at the same time. The CAC 40 decreased 0.44% at 8:02 am CET.
The euro added 0.15% against the dollar at 7:58 am CET, selling for $1.08927. On the other hand, the pound lost 0.10% against the greenback to go for $1.30217 a minute later.
Baha Breaking the News (BBN) / AY
Happy Monday y’al
Hi Dasut, sorry I didn't make it clear but I was referring to Cowichans post of 05th April below
re A New Admission re: License Tenure At Batie
$100 million re Batie West Project, Burkina Faso - portfolio rationalization, exiting Burkina Faso due to internal hurdle rates and license tenure
Above is a quote from Centamin's 2021 Annual Report - it's the first documentation that I've seen where Centamin admits? or refers to the license tenure expiring.
Wonder if this means there will be no asset sale/recoupment of costs at Batie West too?
If so another dereliction of duties by our BOD costing shareholders hundreds of millions in wasted expenses and forfeited gold resources
page 7 here
https://www.centamin.com/media/2529/cent-ar21-full-web-secure.pdf
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:ugcPost:6916998179066363904?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28ugcPost%3A6916998179066363904%2C6917144103130464256%29
Cowichan has also noticed some area's of serious potential risk that warrant share holders attention in Craig Murray's 'Risk Review' section of the Centamin report
This "Risk Review" report visually summarizes the opaque and nearly incomprehensible babble these experts have spent the last year prioritizing whilst a decade-long project that has cost many millions of dollar's in Burkina Faso fades into oblivion!
Hope this helps?
Sorry $100 million.
Tibbs where do you get the £100million spend on/at Batie West?
I can understand to some extent that some share holders may feel reluctant to express their true feeling and concerns about where Centamin is now for fear of affecting the share price or market and potential investor sentiment.
But lets face it we have been through some rough times in the past although the company is rated lower now than it was during the Arab Spring and it was still paying back AISC and profit share was still a long way off!
The Jersey BOD & NED's are banking on your fears and reluctance to challenge their professional ineptness and their failure to act in share holder's best interests!
The rewards for our further tolerance of their past professional ineptness and irresponsible squandering of shareholders money is a 60% reduction in share price and a 50% dividend cut with a promise of better times, sometime, anytime, probably, in return for taking on debt!
Do you think the Jersey potato heads are to be trusted to deliver?
The reality ,
Understanding how a billion dollar company continues to operate year after year with such glaring BOD & NED failures in oversight is beyond knowing - yet it's our reality!!
The recent Investor Meet presentations seemed to be a step in the right direction as far as improving communications with retail share holders, however it seems apparent that they are possibly being used as a form of censorship judging by the number of share holders questions that don't seem to be answered or even acknowledged?
If it is'nt possible for a question to be answered due to FCA or market regulations then at least the question should be acknowledged with the reason why it can't be answered at that time?
I find the investor Meet presentations frustrating because there is no telephone in Q & A session's as in the Webinar presentations to the intuitional analysts , although to be fair considering where the comapny is now must put into question just how much these analyst's really know about the true situation or to what extent are they controlled by their Institutional/Brokerage masters?
It seems that Cowichan's campaigns on social media and Linkedin have had a greater effect and have resulted in getting far more information than any of the webinars so far!
Shareholders need to also ask why are the annual meetings being held in Jersey especially when Centamin now has an office in London and also it was announced in the past that the annuail general meetings would alternate between Jersey and London?
Well done and thank you Cowichan,
You are indeed to be applauded for your dogged determination and commitment to getting some honest answers and accountability from the BOD.
Like many other long term Centamn investors for over a decade I have tried to keep the faith as it were in Cenatmin and expected that although the BOD can't get it right all the time and there are ups and downs for the main part the BOD & NED's had integrity, were professionally competent and regarded the best interest of the company share holders as a priority.
In short I was prepared to do the decent thing and give them another chance to put things right, such has been the case since 2016 when the first concerns about how the Sukari operations were being managed were exposed in the financial media.
Although in 2016 the evidence was pretty convincing that things weren't as they should be at Sukari Andrew Pardey denied any knowledge of the said problems and stated all was well, this understandably was accepted by the markets and shareholders who also expected that such a senior company spokesperson and the BOD had integrity and were being truthful!
However it is now apparent that although the BOD and Andrew Pardey weren't being entirely truthful about the state of Sukari, it would and should have been a wake up call and an opportunity for them to rectify the poor mining practice and so bring about a sustainable recovery, albeit at the expense of some guidance reduction in the short term, although this would have been more than compensated for in future years.
However as we share holders are now painfully aware instead of dong the right and prudent thing Andrew Pardey and Youssef El Raghy continued to gloss over the cracks in Sukari operations and carried on with poor mining practice whilst making what they knew to be unrealistic claims of future guidance in the Egyptian and other financial media!
Now were the Jersey BOD & NED's complicit in this deception,or so ignorant of what the true situation was at Sukari that they allowed it to continue until the next wake up call of 2018, whichever it was the recent forced admission's and the near ruination of the Sukari operation with the 60% share price hit makes it apparent they are unfit for such high office in Centamin!
However if that were not damming enough then the wasting of over $100 million on the now to be abandoned West African projects , the recently announced write down of $27 million,a 50% dividend cut and the decisions to now take on debt to acquire new assets must surly be "The straw that broke the camels back", certainty it is as far as I am concerned!
But before anyone suggests me selling out, no I don't see why I should because then they win and I lose, so instead I shall do whatever I can by whatever means to assist Cowichan in bringing to account this unfit for post Jersey BOD!
Agree with you 100% Cowichan, the professional ineptness and the self serving nature of the Jersey Centamin BOD beggars belief and yet they are still trying to cover up over a decade of deception and lying to the shareholders by blaming the former inept senior members of management they appointed and were responsible for by bringing in a new CEO and taking on debt!
Yes certainly puts into context the fact that after eight years there is still no ruling by the court, now even allowing for the time it takes to progress cases through the Egyptian legal system and taking into account all that is required is a final ruling doesn't it seem strange that Centamin is still in limbo?
Now why is that?
Remember Sinnerthesaint I wonder if they're still watching progress on this because their suspicions /concerns seem to have been justified?
These funds don't really carry out sufficient due diligence but just gamble on the movements of the market indices!
Much of the debt is held by BlackRock and Pimco, and through them, it's held by pension funds or mutual funds. We all — you and I — probably have our retirement accounts in institutions that hold this stuff. It was highly rated, safe government debt.
I: What have you found most interesting about this debt crisis?
MG: I study bond contracts, that's really my specialty. These are the worst-written contracts I have ever seen on the international markets. They give so many advantages to Russia.
If I were an investor, I would just be like, "Oh, my goodness. How is it possible that I have a debt contract that says Russia has the option to pay me in rubles? I didn't mean to agree to that."
https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/russia-poised-bond-default-could-090000665.html
For context 24 April 2014, 10:33
Centamin Court Case Share Price Discount
https://www.sharesmagazine.co.uk/news/shares/centamin-eyes-end-of-legal-pains
Gold producer Centamin (CEY) implies a new law in Egypt could result in the dismissal of a legal case questioning its right to operate the Sukari gold mine. Investors understandably like the news, sending the share price up 9.3% to 61.17p. It is very encouraging but this remains a risky stock as the legal matter is not yet concluded and political instability is still a problem.
Centamin has been fighting a court case since October 2012 brought by Hamdy El Fakharany, a lawyer and former Member of Parliament who has had previous success with similar asset ownership challenges in the property space. He has challenged the Egyptian government over the way in which the original licences were awarded for Sukari. This Q&A from Centamin provides further details on the court case.
Today's announcement highlights a new investment law which restricts third parties from challenging contractual agreements between the Egyptian government and investors. The new law appears to apply to both new and respective legal cases. Effectively that should free Centamin of the legal battles that have weighed heavily on its market valuation.
While the signs look good for Centamin, hence the big share price movement today, the matter has not officially been concluded. Nonetheless, analysts remain optimistic.
Stockbroker Numis says: 'While by no means certain this could well squash the legal case and remove the stone around Centamin's neck.' Goldman Sachs comments: 'The overhang on Centamin (regarding the ongoing challenge in relation to the Sukari concession agreement) has been removed. We see today's announcement as a big positive for the stock.'
Westhouse Securities says: 'It is obviously positive news for the company, and reinforces our belief that the company is likely to win its appeal. However, until the challenge is removed we are retaining our 18% discount rate on the stock.'
At least we're not mining in Russia
We all love out pets!
Situations like this really put things into perspective and help us appreciate what the really important things are in life!
25 March 2022
At several border crossing points along the Ukrainian-Polish border, refugee welcome centre's have been set up.
Every day, thousands of refugees come in who need a place to stay overnight, before continuing their journey into Poland and from there to other neighbouring countries. Our team has visited several of these border crossings, supporting the local veterinary teams and distributing water, pet food, harnesses and carriers to refugees who have fled Ukraine with their pets.
https://www.ifaw.org/uk/news/support-animals-ukraine?ms=KONDF220320853&cid=7013k000001a9di
Friday 8th April Seeking Alpha
Many of the recent sanctions leveled on Russia have power because they're based on the U.S. dollar, which is the most widely used currency in global financial markets, trade and central bank reserves. However, some are cautioning that weaponizing the greenback in this fashion could erode its dominance, stoking fears that smaller currencies like the renminbi could gain a bigger role on the international stage. China is already buying Russian energy with the yuan, while India is looking into a rupee-ruble trade arrangement. "Wars upend the dominance of currencies and serve as a doula to the birth of new monetary systems," cautioned Zoltan Pozsar, analyst at Credit Suisse.
Snapshot: This time around, the U.S. went ahead with unprecedented sanctions on Russia's central bank, which has roughly a fifth of its $630B of foreign reserves in dollar-denominated assets. Many central banks across the globe have dollars in their "rainy day funds" given their longtime markings of continuous stability, but data from the IMF shows that reserves have been coming out of the dollar and trickling into other currencies. There was $12T worth of foreign reserves held by central banks around the world at the end of 2021, with the dollar accounting for about 59% of the total, down from 71% in 1999 (the year the euro was launched).
"This is the beginning of the end of the dollar's monopoly in the world," declared Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian Duma lower house of parliament. "Anyone who keeps money in dollars today can no longer be sure that the U.S. will not steal their money." While the ruble this week recovered all of the losses seen since the invasion of Ukraine in February, many caution that the rebound was due to severe capital controls imposed by the Kremlin, a doubling of interest rates and foreign traders being barred from exiting their investments. "Sanctions cause the U.S. to lose its credibility and undermine the dollar's hegemony in the long run," added Zhang Yanling, former executive vice president of Bank of China.
Outlook: While the decline of the dollar has been predicted many times before, the U.S. has been through many turbulent periods with its currency still reigning supreme in global markets. America is also coordinating its sanctions with major allies, meaning other key currencies that can be used as an alternative (like the pound, euro, yen) are also off the table. Moreover, countries may be hesitant to diversify their reserves to currencies like China's yuan, which is still not fully convertible and mixed into added geopolitical risks associated with the country. On the other hand, the U.S. market offers a level of liquidity that is not seen anywhere else in the world, backed by free markets and strong financial institutions
Rebess I'd trust them as much as like I would trust a rattle snake in a lucky dip!