Member Info for Cowichan

On July 3, the company said it had issued about 4.51 million shares to La Mancha for $100m. This was in terms of La Mancha’s right to preserve its stake in Endeavour following the issue of shares to shareholders in SEMAFO with which Endeavour merged.

La Mancha is the investment vehicle owned by Naguib Sawiris, the Egyptian telecoms mogul whose activity in the West African gold mining sector has been significant since he bought an initial $500m foothold in Endeavour in 2012.

La Mancha now has a 24.1% stake in Endeavour, down from its position 31% position.

The offer price has made at a price of C$30.27/share – a 44% premium to the share price prior to the announcement of the SEMAFO merger on March 20.

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My Thought's
I never prized Endeavour's holdings in West Africa but each to his own. It will be interesting to see if Mr Sawaris gradually cashes out some of his chips to reinvest in Egypt - not that he's short on gambling money!

https:// www .miningmx.com/ news/gold/42531-endeavour-locks-in-10-year-future-of-burkina-faso-mine-hounde-after-mining-grant/

Hi Rebess.

I can't find any info on Allied other than they are hooked up with Capital in Cote D'Ivoire as well.

It has me conjuring up unpleasant thoughts. You'll remember a few weeks back Egypt released a statement regarding a 'million ounce discovery' in the Eastern Desert. How does that even happen out of the blue? Who is drilling? And they have apparently already run an analysis of extraction recovery rates!

'Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Molla has, in a commercial disclosure, announced a new gold discovery of over 1m ounces reserve in the Eastern Desert’s Eiqat region.

The reserve, which has a 95% recovery rate, has one of the highest rates of extraction, and with a total $1bn investment over the next 10 years.

The new disclosure is located in the Shalateen Mineral Resources Company’s concession area. The Wealth and Resources Mining Company undertook the exploration services in the region in accordance with its contract with the former.

The new commercial disclosure is the result of Egyptian investment in the gold exploration and exploitation field by the Shalateen Company. It has witnessed successful partnerships with a number of state sectors, including the Egyptian General Mineral Resources Authority (EMRA), the National Service Projects Authority (NSPO), the National Investment Bank (NIB) and the Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources (ECMR).

A new company will be formed by the Shalateen Mineral Resources Company and EMRA to carry out operations in the exploration area once the required procedures are completed. The new company will be set up to extract gold and accompanying minerals.'

https://wwww.dailynewssegypt.com/2020/06/30/petroleum-minister-announces-new-gold-discovery-of-1m-ounces-reserve/

I suppose the announcement could all be smoke and mirrors to gain publicity and draw attention to the ongoing concession bid round which has been extended. However if it is legitimate I'd like to know which non-government run companies are currently involved.

Hey goldgnome,

You sum it up nicely.

I suppose I'm most interested in who Allied Gold is and if they have indeed started drilling inside Egypt with the help of Capital.

Given Egypt hasn't awarded new concessions we should have been aware of other companies exploring/drilling (and as far as I know Aton was the only explorer currently poking around.)

Capital might be a sound investment in its own right but I would prefer Centamin utilize it's own crews and/or employ a drilling company without a possible conflict of interest.

Cheers!

'Capital Drilling, which has made a strategic investment of US$3 million in Allied, will assume management control of Bonikro's heavy mining equipment fleet and perform drill and blast, grade control, load and haul, and dewatering services (Cote D'Ivoire)'

https://www.mining-journal.com/stocks-market-insight/news/1373346/capital-drilling-wins-bonikro-contract

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My Thoughts:

If it's true Capital is now directly competing with Centamin in the gold mining space in Egypt through Allied Gold, management should dump them forthwith... ughhmm.... FORTHWITH!

PS Anybody with better connections to/with management might want to ask about Capital's disclosure re: Allied Gold tie-in in Egypt...

With a mystery company named Allied Gold -

Considering Centamin utilized these blokes at Sukari I wonder what they are drilling and for whom exactly...

Search Allied and you get a possibly defunct Aussie miner...

Did I mention I don't like or trust Capital ?

https://www.***************************/capital-limited-performs-strongly-in-the-first-half-of-the-year/412842801

Maybe it's just a typo and the reference to Egypt is a mistake...

"New contract awards include Allied Gold (Egypt), Altus Strategies/Glomin (Mali) and Barrick Bulyanhulu (Tanzania) (previously announced), together with a new two year long-term contract with Hummingbird (Mali)"

because there is this article from 2019...

'Mining services company Capital Drilling has secured a five-year contract to provide a full range of mining services at Allied Gold’s Bonikro gold mine in Côte d’Ivoire.'

https://www.mining-technology.com/news/capital-drilling-bonikro-mine/

Hell if I know what's really going on...

I agree with you RazorsEdge, Trump's handling of the pandemic has to be a disappointment to even his most loyal supporters. I'll stop at that because there is too much that can be said of Trump without resorting to expletives... love reading all the commentary you and our fellow Centaminarians post - cheers

It is good for gold MrBond - I am just as selfishly invested here as you! Onward and upward for Centamin, cheers

While it may be tempting to say the world is shot and going to hell let's remember there were gloom and doomsayers in every generation... we are just the latest to predict the end of civilization. Here's a quote from one of America's presidents - who yes was probably not free of bigotry or vice but aspired to learn and grow as an individual and refused to give up hope for his nation.

'America will come into the full light of day when all shall know that she puts human rights above all other rights and that her flag is not only the flag of America but the flag of humanity.' Woodrow Wilson

Jim Rutherford, Chairman commented:

"This AGM marks an important juncture for the Company, with the longstanding Chairman and Director, Josef El-Raghy, stepping down from the Board, together with two other directors, Ed Haslam and Mark Arnesen. Thank you to all three individuals for their hard work and dedication building a remarkable gold company.

Josef has led Centamin for over 20 years and has been responsible for overseeing the transition of the Company from a small explorer, through to the development and construction of the Sukari Gold Mine, which has now been producing for ten years. Centamin is well positioned for the future, with a strong management team and Board who will sustain the legacy and values of its founders.

I would like to reaffirm our commitment as a Board and management team acting on your behalf as shareholders, to continued effective corporate governance and regular shareholder engagement. As the new Chairman, I look forward to helping guide the Company forward to continued success in the future."

https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/press-releases/1041-tsx/cee/79459-centamin-plc-announces-result-of-2020-annual-general-meeting.html

Barrick once parceled out its African assets and we know how that ended. Perhaps if we were talking about complex conglomerate the idea would be worth pursuing but to recreate a new board and management for two or three mines in West Africa would be superfluous. Surely we have more than enough experts and management currently to handle several more mines.

Of course I entirely agree with your assessment of the lollygagging - I suspect there have been a few reasons for the delays - some of which are not so up and up - hence the revolving door of key personnel.

Bottom line there exists the potential for Centamin for become a multimillion ounce producer in far less time than any industry watcher might predict because the drilling successes have been building for years and years.

Like you say all we need is an executable plan.

who is this newcomer disparaging our long time friends ?

we has a sayin round here it goes... be nice, think twice, don't act like a pile of lice... yep - you'd be needin to learn it

Board and management additions

To strengthen the Board’s west African gold exploration expertise, the Company is pleased to announce the
appointments of Mr Andrew Pardey as a Non-executive Director and Mr Chris van Wijk as an Executive
Director.
Andrew Pardey has over 30 years in the mining industry with experience in exploration, project development,
construction and operations. Between February 2015 and December 2019, he was Chief Executive Officer of
Centamin Plc which holds the Tier 1 Sukari Gold Mine. Andrew also served as General Manager Operations
at Sukari before his previous appointment as Chief Operating Officer in May 2012. He was a major driving
force in bringing Sukari into production, having joined during the mine's construction phase, and was
instrumental in the successful transition of the operation through construction and into production.

http://www.graphexmining.com.au/

Interesting they point to his experience in West Africa - a region which he never saw any projects through to completion - only a failed coup!

Cairo Egypt June 16, 2020

Ali Abdel-Aal, Speaker of the House of Representatives, called for attention to the file of mineral extraction, especially gold in the southern valley of the desert, and said that this resource could be a huge resource to support the state budget in a hard currency with regard to gold.

"the interior of the land in the desert of southern Egypt is storing a lot of minerals, and there are companies that have made many investments that have not been decided on the requests of this company until now,"

but unfortunately this file is managed by government standards, "a lethal and deadly routine", indicating that there is a well-known profession called "Dhuhabbah", a person who extracts gold from this region with very primitive tools, yet they find large quantities.

https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/1988757

My Thoughts: Centamin is going to announce they reached a mutually beneficial deal to expand production under the new mining terms... the government of Egypt is desperate for revenue - oil & gas prospects are down in the dumps - a cash generating project needs to be fast tracked and Centamin are the only ones in a position to make it happen

Barrick Announces Partial Monetization of Investment in Shandong Gold and Continuing Strong Partnership
Barrick today announced that it has sold 79,268,800 shares of Shandong Gold at a price of HK$20.50 per share for gross proceeds of approximately US$210 million. Barrick purchased the shares in the fourth quarter of 2018 at a cost basis of HK$10.50 per share.

https://www.barrick.com/news/news-details/2020/barrick-announces-partial-monetization-of-investment-in-shandong-gold-and-continuing-strong-partnership/default.aspx

June 11, 2020
Egypt's exports of gold, jewels & precious stones during the first 4 months of 2020 increasing by almost 86 % to reach about $ 1.15 billion up from $ 617 million in the comparison period of 2019

New recipients of those highly valued exports included the UAE with $ 809 million followed by Canada with $ 239 million, by Australia with $ 46 million & by Switzerland with $ 27 million. Development is worth monitoring in the coming period.

https://www.amcham.org.eg/tas/non-tender-details/Q2x4RWpNaXpGUHM5a1BlRUhxZW1Ndz09

it does annoy when Centamin drops 20 or 30p as the wind changes direction but we'll be solidly above 4 quid soon enough

June 4, 2020

'It also allows us, with the new global interest in the exploration potential of the Eastern Desert of Egypt, to open the door to discussions with strategic investors who are seeking to enter the Egyptian mineral exploration and mining sector. We have the most advanced exploration concession and gold projects in the country, and the only ones operated to international standards. This also gives us *the opportunity to work on the legal and technical processes of migrating to the new terms and conditions* outlined in the new Executive Regulations of the Mineral Resources Law...

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My Thoughts: Aton relinquishes 25% of their concession but are convinced they are able to migrate to the new terms... I like the direct approach to negotiating with the EMRA - get it all out into the open, say what you want and let the chips fall where they may...

https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/press-releases/1485-tsx-venture/aan/78265-aton-confirms-partial-land-relinquishment-at-its-abu-marawat-concession.html

I like the way you think Rebess!

It looks like there has been lots of action going on behind the scenes .

I can understand the reasons to keep this quiet until the changes and announcements need to be made. After all we will have very stiff competition coming our way once the beans are spilled.

Egypt's new mining terms are indeed very attractive!

Anyway this is all my conjecture - pieces do seem to be falling into place after a decade of wondering and waiting...

June 15th we'll hear something

Cheers

found some interesting 'wording' in the May 27th Annual Report regarding;
a) the next mine to be built adjacent to Sukari *
and
b) satellite deposits to add to production **

(excerpt from page 49)

In 2019 a targeted reverse circulation drill programme was carried out on the V-Shear South prospect, 3km northeast of the Sukari processing plant.

At V-Shear South, gold mineralisation is hosted by a porphyry unit that has characteristics similar to the Sukari porphyry. Exploration at V-Shear South is at an early stage but the interpretation of gravity inversion modelling shows linkages to Sukari Hill that extend beyond V-Shear North.

*The system is open and H1 drilling will target extensions and resource-quality of this mine-style gold mineralisation.

Five holes were drilled at the Quartz Ridge prospect, located 4.5km from the Sukari processing plant to provide material for metallurgical testwork.

**This is a key regional target for potential production development in 2020.

Infill resource and grade control drilling, in addition to metallurgical testing is budgeted for completion of a production schedule in H2

https://www.centamin.com/~/media/Files/C/Centamin/documents/reports/2020/Centamin%20plc%20%20Annual%20Report%202019%20SECURE.pdf

My Thoughts: After ten years of stalled exploration on the Sukari tenement it's no coincidence the development of these resources coincide with the new terms & conditions coming into effect

Excerpts from Egypt Oil & Gas Newspaper April 2020

(page 14 final paragraph) 
'EMRA plans to implement a group of activities in FY 2019/2020, such as signing 86 contracts for exploration under special conditions, signing three agreements for gold exploration, and two agreements for exploiting and producing gold.' 

My thoughts: Further confirmation Centamin has bid and secured a new concession already

(page 16 final paragraph)
Q&A with Aton's CEO Mark Campbell

Q) What are the future plans of Aton Resources?
A) 'We have an area called Hamama, which is an area we have looked at a lot. It depends whether we can migrate into the new law.'

My thoughts: Sukari operations will 'migrate' to the new terms as well

Q&A with SMW Gold Holdco (page 18)

Q)What are the latest updates on your operations in the Eastern Desert?
A) One of the largest drilling companies in Russia is ready to conduct the works on good terms, at both deposits, and possibly join forces with us to organize a prominent drilling services company in Egypt. SMG Gold enjoy the full support of respective govt agencies and Rosgeo a govt (Russian) owned corporation has officially expressed interest in taking part.

My Thoughs: hmm...

Q&A with Resolute Egypt Pty Ossama El Maghraby (page 19)

Q) What is your take on Egypt's new mining law?
A) ...it is very similar to the Queensland mining code... I was part of the team that developed the stage four scoping study at Sukari... rewriting the mining code is a paradigm shift...

https://egyptoil-gas.com/publications/april-2020/