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there are areas where industrial mining just can't work because of the number of years small artisanal mines have been operating in the areas. case in point is yengema in sierra leone where there was once a large diamond mine that i visited many times back in the 70's when i lived in freetown. then the area was very well managed and a major employer until the civil war broke out and it was abandoned and never reopened because the rebels took over and over the years the area has become an area of 1000's small mines. yes there is some structure but totally inefficient.
fascinating place and from the air it looks like a massive ant hill with thousands of ants (read people) moving around. the last time i visited in 2005 i met a group of ****ney lads in the guest house bar and they had bought a few licences and were working to see if they could make their fortune. talk about a throw back to the wild west.
difficult to criticise because the area whilst inefficient it is still an employer and there is life after what was a major war where many people were killed by the rebels spilling over from liberia.
one of the guys who worked on my team was previously a mining engineer working at the bauxite mine in sierra leone and he was kidnapped with others and made to walk hundreds of miles through the bush before being released to the red cross. he can tell some stories.
easy to criticise but whilst chaotic it is organised chaos and people can feed themselves after the years of strife.
The unfortunate thing is that Illegal Mining exists in areas that are lawless therefore easy to corrupt/ involved in conflict/ suffering extreme poverty and all that comes with such problems.
We all understand that it is wrong but how is it stopped?
My wife also likes gold but she is now like me of an age where it stays in the drawer rather than getting shown off like it did when we were upwardly mobile also when bought it was far more affordable. Especially when I travelled so much and places like Ghana produced unique pieces.
Steve, Fortunately my kids like silver guess it is the way of the younger generation as gold is difficult for them to afford but I see silver doing as much if not more over the coming year so maybe not a bad shout for early pressies.
GLA definitely a time to keep the faith.
Tibbs very much off topic and if you think any of the other parties can do better talk again in 3/4 years, regardless it is all about politicians who know only politics.
Say something and do something else, say nothing and do something that needs changing because it shouldn't have been done in the first place.
I thoroughly agree and have been following the GP closely today since topping $2300 and pleasantly surprised that it is resisting the drop below $2290 and wouldn't be surprised now if we see it pass $2300 again by the close.Major players now more invested in maintaining a high gold price namely the worldwide banking fraternity.
Doropo was privately owned at the time Centamin made their move so not something that would necessarily be on the Chinese radar. They like to work within government circles without getting involved in tenders. As for the court case I don't think much would have been done about it as it came from left field or on the blind side. There wouldn't have been any share holders so nobody would have heard about any inefficiencies or an unstable area.
I have never been on a Chinese run mine but I have visited a dam and road contracts hence knowing something about how they work.
Gnome, Chinese have been active in developing markets for many years and are prepared to go in low and where angels fear to tread. They work at Government levels build a stadium as an example, supported by a protocol agreement and gain credence for future developments.
Work with Chinese labour seldom if ever develop the locals so basically extremely competitive primarily because subsidised by their government.
So no surprises that they take advantage of the years of such investment to gain advantages in the now metals markets.
Nickel so dependent on a low cost of recovery and transport to market is a massive cost but if you have a government support then it is a massive advantage.
Rebess, Horgan didn't volunteer the information about the soft 1st quarter it was as a result of a question from one of the corporate investors and then I followed up to understand more and asked about the production tonnes.
Tibbs sorry what report are you looking at because what I read and what I heard during the call in they have delivered and delivered bloody well. GP down and SP up seems others are thinking the same. Yes Horgan admits first 3 months slightly behind personally this doesn't surprise me because 4th Qtr 2023 was bound to be a good one given the carry over from 3rd Qtr but no change to year end target.
I am expecting the times to start looking good at end 3rd Qtr when the waste contract ends.
Hi m yes definitely more to it so I did ask him the question and he said, lower grade oxides at Cleopatra area and also development work related to the underground reducing tonnes/ounces so a combination of things. Slightly softer than 4th qtr 2024 and slightly lower than 25% of the annual target. Don't find that a surprise unless you know there is something more sinister!
Paul, Thanks for your words and as I have just mentioned I did ask for clarification on the soft start to the year and Horgan did give some detail but this doesn't worry me because the reasoning is basically sound and following plan and helps to pave the way to the full year numbers. The good thing was that he was prepared to answer what was a pretty detailed question.
I sat through the presentation and to be honest nothing really new but certainly some excellent slides showing the how and why. 1st qtr will be a softer month due to mill work/maintenance but when I asked if this meant tonnes delivered also down Horgan said it will be a combination of factors lower grades as they remove oxides at Cleopatra and also some underground development. So don't expect anything special in April as far as production ounces but didn't touch on how this might be offset by gold sales at increased GP levels.
Worth a look/listen when it is posted on their web site.
Steve thoroughly agree no major surprises other than more positive than I thought it would be so steady as she goes, and sounds like the foundations are set and "consistent 500 thousand ounces at Sukari" is a positive. When I bought in there were no dividends so any dividends are a bonus.
OK you have to realise Horgan is a Mining Engineer not a public speaker also he is used to addressing people in the Industry and I don't have any problem understanding or following what he is saying and like his enthusiasm.
I once attended a mining presentation and soon understood that they talk a different language to the guys that up until then I dealt with like Civil Engineers, muck shifters and Plant Hire types.
Miners believe it or not are far more detailed and cover the whole gambit and from the mining presentation it became obvious that I needed as least one mining engineer on my team and never looked back.
I also attended a presentation where they employed an actor to deliver the presentation and to be honest it lost the passion and fortunately I was told that the presenter was an actor after the presentation because I was far from impressed. The reason for the actor was because the author of the presentation wasn't confident in presenting to the people in that specific audience as it consisted of politicians, dignitaries, bankers and also government consultants. The presenter didn't answer any questions and passed questions to other members of the team.
They were successful with the project and most of the audience went away happy so guess it is horses for courses.