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Paul Reeves now working as the CFO for Kodal Minerals, so that's where he went. Dan
open cast mining continued in pit 3b with a total of 11,400 tonnes mined at an average grade of 1.82 g/t gold (au) with a strip ratio of ore to waste of 2.7 to 1;
· the carbon in leach (cil) plant was recommissioned after the mill relining in january. feed into the cil circuit was 7,350 tonnes for the month of february at an average feed grade of 1.71 g/t. the gold recovered totalled 9,077 grams with a large portion of gold remaining in the process to build required process inventory;
· various recommissioning challenges faced and solved included power outages from the grid supply and stress testing of the feed rate which resulted in misplaced grits reporting into the cil circuit;
· pre-screening of the co**** ore fraction out of the feed improved the grade to the milling/cil plant with the oversize material used as feed to the heap leach plant, thereby progressively improving ongoing flow sheet optimisation.
RNS 4 August 2023
The AISC per oz produced for the quarter was US $1,218 per oz
With 383 oz of low - grade sold for Q2
If the production levels were maintained throughout Q3 and Q4 (even though there were stoppages)
It would offer around 127oz per calendar month for the periods.
Increasing the $1,218 per oz AISC in the process.
This is most likely one of the top reasons for cash flow problems within the company to date.
So going by the RNS's in the previous post.
The High - Grade material was depleted in Q2.
Out of the 1,645oz sold in Q2 ,
High-Grade accounted for 1,262 oz sold.
Low - Grade accounted for 383oz sold.
Leaving only the remaining low-grade material for Q3 & Q4 (NOT released)
This is also confirmed by the RNS 26 October 2023
The Phase 1 mining plan has 2,427,279t of ore mined over the 36 month period at an average grade of 1.06g/t. 529,756t at an average grade of 1.8g/t are processed through the Milling/CIL plant
RNS 7 March 2024
average grade of 1.82 g/t
Great post Zan - thought provoking
Final paragraph spot on - hopefully not too long to find out!
RNS 21 March 2023
high-grade material with average grades from 3.31g/t to 4.74g/t being processed,
At present 6 zones have been mapped, sampled and a bulk samples processed - these zones are numbered 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B and 3A, 3B. Each of these areas has then intensively sampled and the resulting information put into a mining plan which supports throughput of high-grade ore through the milling plant for the rest of March and for the 2nd quarter of 2023 (April, May and June).
RNS 4 August 2023
· A total of 38,011 high-grade tonnes were mined from the open pit @ 2,51 g/t,
RNS 7 March 2024
Open cast mining continued in pit 3B with a total of 11,400 tonnes mined at an average grade of 1.82 g/t gold (Au) with a strip ratio of ore to waste of 2.7 to 1
We could continually debate about RM etc but it's all a distraction from what's really gone on and it's the grades have dropped off considerably.
Hi JC,
Yes Rolr was a typo lol. I'm terribly dyslexic and when writing something it looks word perfect (I even re-read several times before posting), then later notice I've proper messed up so many times writing random letters instead of a word lol. My apologies.
In terms of evidence of RM knowing deadlines weren't going to be hit, I don't think its possible to state it as a fact. Actually, I don't think much can ever be stated as a fact with most posts, be they positive or negative. It is though my opinion, which I've formed taking into account certain known events, some previous history and some guess work.
In terms of the presentation, it was all dependent on the finance being sorted, I believe those timelines (roughly) still stand true once finance is sorted too. That was almost 12 months ago, so if finance was close, something else undisclosed must have gone wrong for it not to get over the line surely? Or, it wasn't close and Robbie thus knew the deadlines wouldnt have been hit.
Equally, not doing your accounts is a known cause for suspension. Given how long its taken post suspension to do them, you could make the case if they werent being worked on back in April, RM would have been aware they werent going to meet the accounting deadline and go into suspension, thus again, know he would meet other deadlines.
For me, given he has history of this (2022 they needed funding to hit 24k and we have been told it takes 6 months after money in to do that, yet in the Sept/Oct of that year stated we were still on track to hit 24k by year end in several interviews, even though he must have known we hadnt started expansion thus werent hitting 24k), my outcome is RM, in full knowledge, plays with the truth, which can mislead investors. For me, that history and event timelines speaks for itself as evidence of that, but no one on earth could prove it.
Now, as Ive said many times, you dont need to trust the ceo imo, and I do think if he had been more honest the SP would have been hit even harder, much earlier on, so I get why info is hidden at times.
Of course NDAs etc can come into play, but NDAs cant legally make you break certain laws or rules i.e., hide price sensitive info.
As an individual I totally get Robbies mindsets tbh, but as a CEO it can be more questionable. While Im not overly into trust (as I think CEOs tend to lie all the time from microcaps to megacaps lol) I know its important to many others.
I get some will defend someone no matter what, and some will lambast someone no matter what, but when the cards are on the table, I do find it hard to understand how Robbies false narratives arent apparent to all.
Is he improving? I honestly dont know yet as were still suspended so hard to tell. He was def more open in that last interview, to the point id say first time ive ever felt he was truthful and not just saying what he felt we needed to hear, but getting stuff over the line is needed now.
It's taken so long because RM has been finalising the numbers.
Gold production from the open cast mining is approximately 6,062 grams.
There's been no record published showing for any gold sales for the last 9 months, including in the latest update.
The gold sold in the upcoming financials, is already known.
Sw10000, I share your views except that my investment is a small % (1.7%) of my PFolio. What I find 'astounding' is the amount of effort for a business Cap'd at c £6m to complete a set of Accounts !! They have now added an African chartered accountant, presumably because records aren't complete due to bad systems, and a CEO of the Kili mine, both requiring salaries !! Will there be another "questionable" fund raising, maybe another loan to GCAT by Robbie at stellar interest rates ?!!
I see their RNS says 11,400 tonnes mined at 1.86 g/tonne. Does that mean 11,400 x 1.86 = 21,204 grams of gold resulting because it seems a lot ? Great if it's true and an answer from those who know more about Gold than me would save my time googling it !!
Fingers crossed we have a happy ending , I invested over 2.5 years ago now and been through the ringer with this.
They have had some misfortune but I also believe that Robbie has been less then honest in certain situations, the example being the interview just before suspension when he have a rather over optimistic view of the audit being completed and funding. Being honest and in hindsight I wish I sold out prior to suspension as I could have put my money to better use.
Being candid, if another company turned up where Robbie was the CEO I wouldn't touch it.
I have a lot tied up in GCAT and hoping we get out of suspension pretty soon and start to deliver on the plans and roadmap i.e. funding , expansion, vim rutha and Tanzania .
At the moment these seem further away then ever, I'm hoping the recent RNS was to let us know they are close on the admin stuff and tidying up ready for funding. I'm not expecting any good results due to downtime, what I do want though is results delivered in a timely manner.
Anyway, fingers crossed 24 is the year for GCAT . At the very minimum lets get back on the market so we can all make our decisions.
Let's hope Robbie proves me wrong, I will gladly eat humble pie when / if he delivers on his promises.
For me, RM was definitely overly positive in his interviews.
Overly excited
Overly optimistic.
Did he promise things, no he didn’t, but he definitely gave the impression things were going much better than they turned out.
Could he have known this, no he couldn’t, but in hindsight I’m sure he looks back at his comments on various points and wishes he’d said things differently. Container his enthusiasm and been a bit more realistic.
I believe he’s learnt from these interviews.
He definitely didn’t have a clue about the funding collapsing, no one could’ve foreseen this so out of his hands completely.
But for me, I invested based on my own research initially but the invested more based on his interviews, his passion, excitement, figures he was mentioning and more. I still believe, in time, this will come good and he will deal with things a lot better. More so with a new CEO, a new CFO, new board members from the financiers and especially when funding lands and we have (hopefully) Empress on board as they are hands on and want to help, advise and grow the company, it’s in their best interests too.
I like Robbie, clearly he’s a bloody hard working lad who wants Caracal to succeed, I think he got a bit carried away with some of his comments for sure but his passion and enthusiasm cannot be faulted. He’s put his own personal money in too and we have HNW’s stumping up cash so for me I’m comfortable sitting here with my holding and looking forward to 2024 and beyond.
Tweets showing progress also give us comfort and confidence things are moving and work continues apace.
Caracal, will, eventually, be a good story to look back on in my opinion.
Not pontificating (hopefully) - more reflecting
Thanks Zan
Great logical post as always - good discussion points
I had completely forgotten that the interview was around the time of the suspension. I do remember thinking that the explanations given at the time were plausible but still struggling to remember the Vim comment - which is a pity - it might have sustained me better over recent months!
Not sure whether rolr in your second sentence was it a typo or if it is an acronym I have not encountered?
Can we have evidence of RM setting targets that he knows can't be achieved? - I certainly think that the targets have been overly aspirational in hindsight. Was the presentation (thanks - I was looking in the RNSs initially) untrue at the time? I'm personally not sure we can state that as fact. Overly optimistic - looking back yes
I think you are referencing p23 for the timeline and as you say all the milestones require financing but at the very start of the timeline it is clear that the financing itself is the prerequisite. So given there are no time lines for individual components of the plan but an obvious end date - did Robbie know at the time of writing the presentation that the funding would be so protracted? Dealing with a third party and a large sum involved - how much he is controlling the timeline here or the conditions? We were given hints in tweets about on site consultants so clearly in-depth due diligence which also costs (normally borne by the company - not financier) - I think in hindsight maybe there should have been some more formal RNS statements about progress and conditions but then again, would that have been appropriate during sensitive funding negotiations? Great for us to know - but is that great for the company or even allowed by the financier? Unknown.
In terms of the accounts - this is an interesting one. We know this is a cash strapped company juggling priorities - what is the right thing to do? Announce to the world that it's struggling to afford the required team of accountants months before? They did that and went into suspension with prior notice to the shareholders as we know and therefore the question is moreover in my view is when should that announcement have been made. What we don't know is what else was happening at the time regarding production and cashflow in the background and what the potential impact might have been on the creditors terms - in business confidence in the supply chain is everything and 90 day terms can turn to COD very quickly and can potentially bring a company down. Also what impact on finance discussions?
GCAT is a PLC though and expectations are rightly high for the need for transparency. The question I keep coming back to in my mind is whether we would still have an operating company if all issues were made public all the time and where the line is drawn? Arguments can be made for and against - hindsight is wonderful. The good thing is that the company is still operating.
Not ramping or making excuses here. Pontificating
Zan, it's a big ask to get any CEO to discuss anything they don't want you to know about.
I've no idea about the interview but it would most likely revolved around known questions for good reason.
The bottom line is that after suspension, they'll be looking to raise funds via placement from prospectus, so they certainly wouldn't say anything that would trash the SP (like the true financial muddle).
Secondly,
Shareholders with significant investments (publicly) would rarely say anything negative about the company and would always look to riddicule those that do (in order to stop a snow ball affect of disgruntled shareholders).
Privately, the same shareholders would have many sleepless nights, knowing that they believed in being cunning buying way more than they should have, only to find themselves in a total fix being on the wrong side of the trade.
That's basically what's happened here and it happens a lot with small caps, some win big but they also get wiped out sooner or later.
Hi JC.
The April presentation was a corporate booklet presentation which contained a yellow fancy timelime of expected events between that April and Dec 23. It included first Vim MRE, Tanz MRE, Killi MRE update, upgrade commisioning etc. All of those required the funding to come in.
For me, I feel it is giving to much credit to the rolr to simply brush off as "ceo is a tough job" type of thing.
FCA are useless, always have been, so the chances of being struck off are slim to none as they are opinions, not facts. A timelime, as you say isnt a certainty, just a set if targets, however, RM repeatedly sets targets which at the time of setting them must know he wont hit them.
The TG interview was done with stockbox, 1 day before suspension. At the time you discussed on here. I appreciate time dulls the memory, but overall, Robbie came over well, was very open and his explanations of why things were as they were made sense, but then he dropped"his view" in response to a question about Vim that was very over the top, which is where he goes wrong imo. It was just his dreamy view, but given suspension was 1 day off, Im not sure it was a wise comment.
Accounts wise, again, thats my point. Im not questioning the why, Im questioning the hidding of the fact they werent being done, while outwardly putting out presentations and doing interviews as tough all was well.
Again, I dont think thats a case of "ceo shoes".
To be frank here, using the walk in there shoes or damned if do damned if dont lines lets basically every company leader off everything.
Accountability surely only comes from allowing blame, not covering it up.
The fact is, there will be investors who put in decent money on the back of his untrue presentations and comments and that to me is why you have unhappy investors on here, which, the more you try to find excuses for Robbie for, prob just get wound up more. Thats not me trying to be harsh, but rather, logical.
Its possible to feel he has done a bad job, without wanting the company to do bad. Its also possible to think things will improve while still thinking the ceo played his part in past failures.
I remember a time when it's you was a big RM fan, decent researcher and eventually changed their opinion of the company/CEO
I'm delighted they've filtered me, so I've no need to engage in their BS.
Shame they got under itsyou's skin and then showed everyone their true colours.
This is a win/win situation for me, if the company does well I'll make money and if it doesn't I'll lose money and have a front row seat watching them being taken to the cleaners.
Expecting a decent amount of dilution with the prospectus, if it comes.
LOL Hodgeyd and Folio.
I though I'd won...see VAR !
SHG was my only share holding until recently after going into safe funds after making a killing a few years ago, although I gave a small amount back with a few loses including GCAT. So i'm not in this game anymore and have tried not to post, but it got the better of me on this BB as it was so easy to reply to the rampers.
You guys continue wasting your life monitoring this BB and trying to make your fortune; I have and spending time on here is a waste of the good life!
Signing out :-)
It's a knockout blow from JC .
Remained calm through out , while others raged, now say someone is never posting again .... best news so far today .... thank you itsyou.
Wooohooooooo lol
P.s, not going to ever post again. It's not healthy the time I'm spending here when life is too short. Plus it's spoiling it for everyone else this two way disagreement.
Ciao
Haha sw1000.
Totally valid point!
As we wait I will try and make sure that if posters are posting accounting information that they quote numbers correctly.
Itsyou
Are we in a playground now?
OK - I'll play - you have given the GL - I'm not giving it back.
Let me see if I can help you marshal your own thoughts -given you know a lot and mean a lot...
Try starting with the opening statement:
The interim consolidated financial statement for Caracal Gold PLC as at 21/12/22 included a total liability position of £15.537M.
Now take it from there - expand upon and make your point or points. If you chose to use financial ratios such as Market Capitalisation divided by Total Liabilities perhaps you could give some explanation behind the relevance.
Lol I don't know why you're all squabbling over liabilities, when you only have to look at the retained earnings in the interims, from negative $25m to negative $29m, for the six months period to 31st December.
Consecutive accumulating losses will be here for a while, it's just a question of whether the company can stay afloat.
Does any of this really matter unless GCAT come back on the market .. That's all I care about at the moment, then we all have a choice if we buy / sell or whatever