Member Info for DASUT

Ken I thought I was up to speed with the fleet and can see that I am as far as Capital are concerned but missed the Centamin introduction of the 6040 shovel and now that is a big beast.
Thanks

Ken if Capital are up and running by the end of the month it will be limited to a few machines because it is a long job assembling this size of machine on site and if there are 20 plus machines and there will be a limited number of cranes etc. Unfortunately even though they are at the smaller end of mining machines they still need well trained engineers and mechanics and a lot of them to assemble the fleet. A very long job is welding truck bodies together let's hope Capital bit the bullet and paid the extra freight which is significant cost given added volume.
Not sure if the whole fleet arrived in one shipment which I suggest would be highly unlikely but if my old colleagues are involved then they have the experience, but must also bear in mind they are not just around the corner from the dealers premises or a production line.
Good news however is that the plant arrived from the US remarkably quickly, wouldn't surprise me if the dealer didn't have some machines already on order.

Ken interesting I wasn't aware that the LHDR was left in a blast zone and if so that is most unlike Barminco as they have an excellent reputation. As you will know it like all mechanical pieces of equipment they break and it can be the case that it is the most unlikely part that causes the issues. The issues being that the best engineers advise on what parts should be held on site and it is the one that wasn't thought necessary that screws you. Not only isn't on site but the manufacturers don't hold it as a stock item.
I have been involved in airfreighting a "component" for a machine larger than the 6020 to Ghana when there wasn't planes going to Ghana that were large enough to take the weight, you guessed it someone had to pick up the cost of a charter.
Also had people authorising taking components off the production line to satisfy a breakdown and that isn't a decision taken lightly.
Short of having a standby machine for every piece of equipment which isn't cost effective and can you imagine production walking past a machine standing idle because it is supposed to be only a standby, these are risks of the business.
If every mining contract indeed supply contract had a penalty clause paying compensation for lost production there wouldn't be any business done.

Ken the only problem is that the waste removal isn't producing any ounces. OK it is a necessary evil got to be moved otherwise not exposing the ore body but Cey are spending a whole lot of money on Capital moving the waste. Far better than Cey moving the waste and having to use equipment that would otherwise be mining the ore.
I honestly like the idea of introducing a mining contractor my only reservation is that Capital's expertise is in drilling, however as I have previously mentioned this is actually more like a construction bulk earthmoving job than mining.

Tibbs, Ken first of all the 785 size truck is Cat's smallest mining truck at 150 short tons (US tons) or 136 metric tonnes and the 6020 shovel in Backhoe configuration if it has a bucket payload of say 22 metric tonnes then in very rough terms and not going into swell factors, bank and loose cubic metres, weight of material etc we are looking at 6 passes to load a truck (but swell factors etc might dictate less passes because truck is full based on volume rather than weight) and I would like to see a 5 pass load especially in waste where there is no need for selective mining, so more along the lines of the 6030 if based on weight, also not sure if this is available in a backhoe configuration however front shovel arrangement might also be better for waste movement.
As to why Cey didn't buy the fleet unfortunately I have no idea maybe management looking to concentrate on mining and can't justify the capital outlay for a fleet of equipment for a 4 year muck shift project? Maybe this is the way to introduce a contract miner in the longer term? Bear in mind I doubt it will only be the 17 trucks and 6020's they will also need Dozers to clean up around the shovels and spread the waste at the dump area and graders to maintain the haul roads and water tankers to keep the dust down , operators mechanics plus the supervisors, project team etc (considerable unbudgeted expense). Cey will now I would suggest be paying for tonnes moved so Capital incentivised to move as much waste as possible to generate the income so all good as the sooner the waste is gone the sooner Cey will be into the ore body.

Cowichan this brings back memories of my first meeting in Perth with Josef which kicked off our involvement with then Pharaoh Gold and our discussions on a fleet of equipment required to achieve their production over the predictions of the life of mine, working off the original mine plans.
Working with their engineers we presented what we saw as being the truck shovel match with a fleet of additional support machines such as dozers, graders, loaders etc.
Great that our proposals were accepted and a delivery schedule agreed and Josef called us when the major part of the fleet arrived on site saying how proud he was that they had reached this stage.
Great to see that our initial proposals have lasted the test of time and the new equipment is of the same make and sizing is along the same lines and the contractor is also going with a consistent fleet.

Not sure think I might have told the story before but in the very early days of Tanzania opening up the current mines I was doing some fact finding involving driving into prospective areas, basically looking at what might be necessary to support such mines, should we be successful placing our equipment.
I met interesting people and on one occasion my local man took me to where a mine was likely to be developed and in addition to visiting geologist camps I visited a small village where on the outskirts there was what can only be described as a hole in the ground, with wood shuttering.
There was quite a bit of activity with young lads climbing in and out of the hole, we took the opportunity of having lunch out of our cold box which we also filled with ice and the melting ice could be tapped for drinking water. A few of the young lads came over to chat with us and they were covered head to toe in mud and dust. We offered to share our lunch but they were only interested in the water. One little lad of about 8 after drinking tried to pay me with a small piece of gold that he had in the palm of his hand.
This I was told by my local guy who translated the Swahili is how life goes around and how the lads survive as other villagers in the area provide the food and more importantly water and the lads pay in gold.
As we drove on we saw several people on bikes with a plastic bottle tied on behind the saddle.
Quite an early experience and highly unusual as very seldom did I ever see a piece of gold at any of the mines that I visited.

Siko it isn't your fault that Youssef 's reports tend to be somewhat ambiguous and we rely greatly on your input and always will so please don't stop because information is always important.
Stay safe

Yet again I have no idea what Youssef is talking about is he saying there is an additional concession making two if you include Sukari or is there two new concessions with one being an extension of Sukari.
I think Centamin discussions will be more complicated than the newbies because to take ore from a new concession and process through Sukari plant then how is this treated as far as rules and regulations and how do you know what gold is applicable to which concession?
When I was involved as an example when Barrick had 3 separate mines in Tanzania it was like dealing with three different companies in three different countries as each had different import licences for their duty free status, each of their expats were covered by different work permits and as such transfers from one mine to another was complicated and time consuming.
If I was involved in the negotiations I think I would also be bringing the court case into the discussions as it would be an excellent time for a clean up of the agreements.

Tibbs I know David Netherway well or should say I used to know him as I have been out of the business a long while. My dealings with him were back in the 1990's when he was among others in the early vanguard of mining people and companies getting involved initially in the opening up of Ghana.

Tibbs yes interesting how a company with no assets little funds and only registered in December can be taken seriously and bring in a gold mine. As I have said previously nothing unusual to see juniors/exploration companies coming out of the woodwork but who is funding them (in this instance sounds like Sawiris) in the long run, who will come in to buy into the company as they develop (or not) a resource?
In the past I have seen a single geologist with a tent and a small generator living in the bush representing a company and gone for weeks/months, checking out the area talking to locals to get an idea of any local history , taking samples and mapping prior to any sort of investments.
Interesting times ahead in Egypt.

Altus are a fascinating company but not a mining company as such. David Netherway is also a very experienced mining engineer who is very quick on his feet and doesn't stay around long if the prospect doesn't yield results. He does however have his fingers in many companies and as I say a very experienced player. So Sawiris seems to work with interesting individuals and guess another player called James Askew won't be too far away once we see more about the AKH Gold structure. Seems all of the early days of West Africa gold rush players are getting involved in Egypt.

Siko many thanks excellent news that at long last contracts are being issued albeit not yet seeing a name that is big or even known to me in the world of mining. Nothing unusual however to see new names or even newly formed companies involved with such new mining areas. It will be interesting to see the companies entering the fray as concessions develop, because funding and expertise will be needed to bring in a mine if indeed the exploration companies have the abilities to discover gold.
Nothing is going to happen in the short term we only need to look at Cey and West Africa to see it is a long process.
Early days but at the same time encouraging.

Tibbs on a mine of this size there will be numerous contractors from cleaners to caterers to security to drillers and in this case an underground miner and now a muck shifter. I have no issues with Capital and the contract isn't overly difficult if anything the most difficult bit is the drill and blast and as primarily a drilling company they should pretty much have that covered. They then need the discipline of fully loading their trucks in the shortest time and then travelling back and forth to the dump area in the shortest time within hopefully strict safety rules and regulations . There are other difficult bits and pieces such as haul road construction and maintenance and the all important ensuring the dump area is well managed and maintained. I don't however know the extent of their contract so don't know whether it is their responsibility to construct and maintain the haul roads and dumps. If they are using existing haul roads already being used by Cey plant then could be interesting. It is important to keep equipment fleets similar to have consistency of parts and service experience and it does appear that they have a very similar fleet. Could be great news in the future as Capital could actually become a contract miner with experience of the mine's protocols and will still have a youngish fleet if properly maintained and already on site with little or no mobilisation delays. Who knows could be the way to quickly open up another concession area or satellite mine in the future and not being tied to old gear that they don't actually own.
To answer your question I wouldn't have minded seeing another contractor on site if it was a full on mining contract as it would have opened the eyes to management of how slick mining contractors are. They have to be because at the end of the day they are basically as near as damn it paid by the tonne moved and don't have the benefit of gold sales, yet they still have to cover all of the costs of their operation including the mobilisation costs which is not an insignificant amount of money before they have even put a shovel in the ground.

Tibbs I love your confidence and hope you are right BUT they will have an additional not insignificant cost of paying for a contractor removing waste and whilst important to the long term this contract doesn't produce any revenue, unlike a contract miner.
It will be interesting to see if this frees up the owner mining fleet to concentrate on ore, this I doubt as it does look as though the waste removal is in a different area and the existing fleet will still have waste to remove to access ore in the normal way.

Sotolo I think whilst annoyed with the situation that Cey have found themselves at Sukari I am thankful they turned in a small profit as I was expecting to see a red number for the 4th Qtr.
I have no idea what the profits are likely to be but reckon they have conservative targets and that they will reach high side which will be enough to provide a gradual increase in SP if the gold price behaves.
The bonus will hopefully be a 3rd Qtr announcement of a new mine scheduled in West Africa and an earlier announcement of additional concession(s) in Egypt.
A good time to keep the faith.

Steve If the numbers are correct I thoroughly agree they did better than I expected so lets see a positive spin why talk down the achievements with negative verbiage that has already been reported?

I still don't get why numbers get leaked and also the same negative spin that we have already seen should be no mention of what has already been reported we should now be hearing about remedies and positive moving on by the CEO and Chairman. Uncle Youssef yet again !!!

Gnome I so so agree with the Cey summary and picture you paint BUT they need someone to treat it as a mine not a cash cow.
Chasing grades never works in the medium to long term and if you can't access the grades then you are up the creek without a paddle.
Is the issue with the waste a natural void or is it a man made void caused by underground workings creating the lengthy period before they can get back into the face??
In using a contractor to perform a cut back they free up more trucks to work what ore they have which is good news but will be interesting to hear when the contractor envisages full on mobilisation because takes a while to get a fleet of machines to the mine assembled and ready to work, also bringing together the right team and to my knowledge Capital don't have a contract mining team.
There are a lot of questions and hope we get some answers soon from the guy who I hope will focus the company on good mining practices.

Exactly gold can go up but if production is below target guess what Cey gets hit and not just hit, hit hard. Reason is Cey is currently a single source mining company and therefore a blip is emphasised. Barrick, Newmont and other majors are operating at numerous mines and a movement at one of their mines and no slip has taken place will get a mention in the internal individual reports with a stabilisation remedy, but hardly noticed in the Executive Summary. Cey are dependent on individual mine faces (rather than mines) to give them the grades to make the production at a cost that provides a profit.
So forget charts, trends and logic and hope the up coming reports tell us they have met or beaten the amended targets for 2020 coupled with positives for 2021.
Hopefully this coupled with a strong gold price and we will get a SP improvement but for how long it is difficult to say but suggest a good price hike will follow an announcement relating to a timeline involving a new resource moving forward to extraction. If this is coupled together with an announcement of a new concession in Egypt then who knows the wait and not cashing in when we saw above £2 might well have been worth it?