The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
That's exactly what I was thinking chas. Hopefully we have a new class of stickier hands onboard now.
I don't like making predictions but I envisage some consolidation around here until the first RC results come in. I'm expecting these in December and hopefully first half thereof. I am not expecting Shaun and his Bunnymen/women to disappoint.
GLA!
Greetings all, I rarely post here these days but was a regular a few years ago.
I read comments below and agree with most people about Turkey. I think it is a decent, supportive jurisdiction for gold exploration and mining. Ariana has proved this already - not sure why this needs to be proven again?
Looking at the lastest and previous drill results from Salinbas/Ardala my thought is that they're OK but it's not exactly Hot Maden is it? (Hot Maden nearology was something which Kerim used to capitalise on).
When I met Zack in 2017(?) Ariana had just completed the aquisition of Salinbas/Ardala and he described the terrain. It is one of the steepest, most mountainous, remote and inaccessible places one could imagine. This is a significant headwind for both exploration and eventual mining/production. I applaud the skill and determination to get drill rigs up there but I can't help thinking the mineralised intercepts thus far do not make a compelling economic story.
At the time of the Ozaltin deal I expressed my disatisfaction at giving away so much of Kiziltepe, Tavsan, etc compared to what we got in return. There were just one or two other dissenters at the time and some hostile characters amongst the majority opinion holders here. It seems that many of the old names are still here.
Tavsan looks like a commendable success but Ariana now owns less than a quarter of it
Western Tethyan would appear to be the next Salinbas. I think this is now the main hope for shareholder value.
GLA
Century's 30% free carry is just as far as development according to SB. He said this at the Shard presentation 2 weeks ago. Not free carry to production.
SB was asked why Century have such a generous deal and he said words to the effect of 'otherwise there would be no deal'
IMO the guys at Century stand to get fabulously wealthy on the back of Pitfield and with hindsight they have struck a great deal. EEE also has a fabulous and enviable opportunity at Pitfield. SB stated that when Pitfield reaches development (shovels on ground) then the Century guys would have 3 logical options
- sell their share
- buy-in to the development with their own cash
- get diluted
SB stated that Empire buying Century was an option but it did not make sense right now. He said that the Century guys were very useful as gelogists at Pitfield and it is a good relationship.
That is my understanding. Any others here who were in the room that evening to correct me or add anything?
Indeed I saw that post also - it was me who asked him/her if they were still in ZIOC. Today EEE has given me my biggest up day in my 25+ year investing history. When the next big EEE news event comes out I plan to liquidate 20% and bring more to ZIOC. Hopefully the timings will be fortuitous but even if not my £3.25 ZIOC target will be sweet enough :-)
GLA
The guys who got in on the 4p placement shares are now 100% up in just a few weeks. That's pretty impressive and I imagine many of them are tempted to take handsome profits here around 8p and stall the SP rise for a while.
EEE is still under £50m market cap and I believe we have a long way to go yet. Our patience has already been rewarded and there is plenty more to come IMO. I'm not selling a bean for a good while yet.
GLA
Seeing Bunny's interview on Crux reminded me of another part of the conversation I had with him at the Shard do last week.
The jist of it was that Empire could spend years drilling out Pitfield and still not get close to determining the full size of the asset. It would always be significantly greater than however many billions of tonnes they write down in the resource estimate. Jokingly I suggested adopting a corporate logo with the greater-than mathematical sumbol in it. ">"
With that I will love you and leave all you Bunnymen and Bunnywomen for the weekend. ChEEErs everyone! :-)
PS - SB told me he would be doing another Proactive interview as well as today's Crux one
Professor1.
'Professor'- that's irony right?
How about the '1' though? Braincell count? Pennies to rub together?
RE: DO NOT WORRY ABOUT LOW GRADES
Let me start digging in next door's sand pit and find some super low grades of something. Then maybe I'll get as rich as you LOL.
Is somebody
Mt Rawdon produced 53,685 ounces of gold at an AISC of $2,409 per ounce in FY23.
Evolution is LOSING $400 for every ounce mined.
Great example of a low-grade gold mine running at a loss. In fact Mt Rawdon mining operations will cease at the end of FY24.
"DO NOT WORRY ABOUT LOW GRADES"
What other gems of wisdom do you have?
Rob, the latest Apple phones do indeed have a titanium chassis. From a technical design perspective a phone has the added design requirement of heat dissipation from the processor, battery and RF power amp. The multi-layer PCB can help in this respect but it is very helpful to have a good thermal path to a mass of metal. Metals such as aluminium or titanium allow for a heatsinking to be built-in to the structural form of the phone. Carbon fibre would be hopeless in this respect. EMC requirements are also be a factor with metals being able to form effective electrical screens where needed. There's probably only about 50g or so of titanium in an iPhone so the metal cost is not as significant as in a 2kg bike frame for example.
I don't believe that Ti offers significant technical superiority over Al in a mobile phone application but Apple have managed to create a perception that it is superior. In marketing it is perception that counts - reality is of secondary importance. So probably the main reason why Apple chose titanium over an aluminium or magnesium alloy is marketing sexiness. They have seemingly found a new way to differentiate and create preference over their competitors to persuade people to part with £1000-£1200 for a smartphone.
I think that if titanium metal alloys were cheaper then it would find applications in more areas (price elasticity rules apply). But I think titanium falls well short in terms of price competitiveness versus steel.
Iron ore is typically above 60% grade (compared with circa 4% thus far at Pitfield). So you have to excavate and process a lot more rock and dirt to get a kilogram of Ti versus steel. Add in the considrable supply of scrap iron/steel and titanium has a greater cost disadvantage with titanium. SB told me that titanium dioxide is highly refractory so the energy required to smelt Ti from Ti dioxide ore is considerable.
My understanding of titanium metal alloys is that they are hard to machine and are not suitable for most precision engineering applications (think precision milled and lathed surfaces, bearings, etc ). I knew a guy who made orthopaedic aids and he worked with both stainless steel and titanium because humans tolerate both materials very well. He said that it was very challenging to machine a smooth surface on titanium and that he could feel the difference in machined surfaces just with a thumb nail.
Titanium alloys are light, strong and resistant to heat. The skin of Concordes were notably made of a titanium alloy to resist the skin friction heating caused by prolonged flights at mach 2. Adding heat into the design criteria is where titanium wins but otherwise its applictions are limited. There are some exotic bike frames and other bike components made from titanium alloys but they are notably expensive and offer no strength/weight advantages over carbon fibre which tends to be a bit cheaper. High performance gliders (I used to own one) use carbon fibre , not titanium. Ditto the latest generation of airliners, F1 cars, etc.
I have seen some tools coated with titanium nitride for hardness so there is another application.
What I'm saying is that titanium will always be way more expensive than steel and has inferior strength/weight/cost versus carbon fibre but wins when temperature and hardness are thrown into the equation.
It is no wonder therefore that Ti metal accounts for a small percentage of global Ti output. TiO2 being used in paint, pigments, UV inhibitors, etc.
5.8p - as far as I can see this is actually the joint highest SP close of the Pitfield era. Nice indeed.
In between the diamond drill RNS's I'm expecting to see more pullbacks like today's but when the RC results start coming in I have little doubt where the SP is heading.
GLA
Thanks for the message cyberiachas - yes I do remember you at the Shard presentation - I am pleased that you got in touch.
Yes, I think this is real deal and probably the most compelling story I have ever known on AIM. Good luck everyone
Yes, I think the RC campaign will be the source of the real excitement. When I chatted to SB he seemed most excited about the high gravity anomaly on the eastern edge of the magnetic anomaly. This region could be where the big surprises lurk and dare I say the elusive copper.
BTW, looks like we still have some sellers. I'm hoping these are the last of the spivs brought in on the 4p placing. Once these short term flippers are out I'm hoping we'll be off to the races. GLA
Indeed, need to bust resistance at 5.1p then I suspect the recent high close of 5.3p will be up for grabs. I think with the newsflow coming between now and Christmas, 5p should be a distant memory before long