Member Info for DASUT

If anyone expected to hear anything positive regarding the end of year 2018 results then I am not sure where they have been looking and to me that is history and it is now time to look forward BUT don't make any promises that can't be met as that is exactly what happened last year.
Positive news is in the report you just need to read it thoroughly but to summarise we still have considerable money in the ground and it has appreciated over the last 6 months.
The drop is way overdone BUT look on the bright side now a cheap buy.
I do agree that it would have been useful to hear more about Burkina.
However the exploration and additional reserves are seriously encouraging.

Interesting comparison but currently Cey are a single source miner but suggest Acacia has less proven resource and higher overheads given the number of plants and fleet duplications.
Would suggest Buzwagi is not far off closing as when it started production in 2009 it had a life of mine of 10/12 years.
Bulyanhulu is quite an expensive operation as underground and narrow seams would suggest grade control issues will be common place.
North Mara will have another 8/9 years LOM so as I say Centamin better placed and the CC is nowhere near as punitive as the issues Acacia has been facing in Tanzania. I do hope however that they sort out the issues as good bunch and have spent enjoyable trips to these mines.

Deal7 I thoroughly agree with RazorsEdge and will be very disappointed if the SP doesn't move through £1.50.
The response to the production blip last year was in my view only a blip and nothing unusual on a mine and the reaction way over exaggerated.

Deal7 I thoroughly agree with RazorsEdge and will be very disappointed if the SP doesn't move through £1.50.
The response to the production blip last year was in my view only a blip and nothing unusual on a mine and the reaction way over exaggerated.

All gloom and doom at Christmas/New Year when financials delayed and new resource update postponed to 25/2. Well so far new resources added in WA and last year the shortfall of ounces will I am sure be made up this year and rather than sell at $1250 should now sell above $1300 more than enough to pay for the additional LHDR.
Certainly a long way however to get the SP back above the 180 level where it should be given the GP so here's hoping we hear some really positive information on Monday.
Tibbs appreciate the court case etc not settled but reckon it has been filed somewhere along with many other old artefacts in the Cairo museum.

Not sure why any funds would be converted into GB pounds as see very little need other than some costs of premises etc in Jersey.
Suggest they may have various currency accounts offshore to cater for expenses with majority in US Dollars as see no reason to play the currency risk game.

Gnome Interesting I haven't heard anything about divesting.

It may not take several years it will depend on the ore type and what needs to be done to extract the gold economically.
You will have seen the mention made at Sukari to adding low grade ore to the heap leach pads.
An early start up could well involve doing just this if the ore is weathered oxide ores and doesn't have to be low grade ore, albeit yield may suffer marginally but the start up costs are far lower than introducing a full on processing plant.
A junior mining company might well choose such a start up as they get into production and revenue to support additional exploration, growth etc.
Also could use a mining contractor to open up the infrastructure, prepare the leach pads and then move on to the mining and the contractor would be responsible for providing equipment and personnel etc to do the work.
Contract mining is common place in WA so both equipment and experience is available.
Does however look as though Cey are still very much in the exploration phase with additional allocation of funds.
All good news and interesting that information such as this not supposed to be available until 25/2?

Gnome I completely agree and hope 25/2 will answer the questions BUT this presentation is for analysts who are visiting when the company is supposed to be "closed" so what's the point?
OK I always gained a great deal from site visits as it tells you a great deal about how a mine is run so if the analysts are able to ask the questions we would ask and get answers then all well and good BUT if they are "closed" then not sure of the timing of the visit.

They are closed until 25/2 yet they have analysts visiting today and tomorrow who can from the sound of it only be fed old information.
Must however say that the presentation that the analysts will be receiving is very good and well put together.
Hopefully what we hear 25/2 is consistent and the reserves update brings us some welcome news including something positive from WA.
I think we should hold back on commenting regarding the heresay because a little information can be misleading.
The company that I worked for were criticised on placing a Nigerian into a senior role in East Africa, a Ghanaian also into a senior role in Nigeria but this was a strategy that reaped benefits as we were able to get government departments on board with cross fertilisation of knowledge and skills, opening up people swaps for given periods of time. This unlocked and improved promotion opportunities and the transfer of skills.
I don't know how Cey are playing this but wouldn't be surprised to hear that some West Africans are working at Sukari, if this isn't the case then they are missing a trick.
Looking forward to 25/2? I hope so.

Cowichan I totally agree and having visited many of the mines you have mentioned and bearing in mind I have been retired for 10 years the West African Mining sector is well developed with knowledgeable people in geology, mining, contractors and other very important support areas.
Mining laws have been in place for many years and Tibbs it isn't easy to bring in a local guy to fill senior positions as all of the limited number of good experienced people are working for other miners who are already producing.
What you do is bring in local graduates and train "them" repeat "them" with an experienced expat which is all important because at the end of the day expats are expensive.
Centamin have an excellent track record of employing local people in Egypt and I have no doubt over time we will see the same in West Africa.
Also Tibbs I am not sure what you are saying about the terrible job they are doing in WA if you mean the time it has taken to bring a mine to production then I don't agree because they have vast areas to make sense of and it is so important to get the start up right and where do you locate the processing plant or plants and what type of plant (s).
I would suggest whilst I agree WA is risky then so is Russia, China, South America etc, however risk does spread when a company has more than one resource in more than one country and it wasn't long ago that people were asking if Sukari was at risk of being nationalised.
Looking forward to hearing what Cey has to say later in the month.

The problems that are currently being reported in BF are absolutely tragic and unfortunately this isn't uncommon in developing countries.
I worked for many years in Africa and it was always the case that you had to be very careful. Strong Security is always a must particularly at mines hence the comment made by Mr Ellis of Global Risk
Assessment.
The problem is where do you go to expand your resource at this time because it isn't just gangs it is organised terrorism.
We have seen Nairobi attacked yet again, Tanzania have suffered, Nigeria constantly having security issues, people killed in Egypt by fundamentalists/terrorists, (OK Sukari good as located in a military zone) not sure how safe other mines are in Egypt?
I could go on by moving around the world where there are opportunities to develop mines but trust you get my point and I totally agree by the way that BF and Ivory Coast are risky BUT with the likes of a Mr Ellis and his type of organisation much if not all of the risks can be reduced, however as always will come at a cost.

Thanks Tibbs I had a listen at 1 pm and not a lot over and above the report as the questions were somewhat sparse because restricted to what they have achieved nothing about what is likely to be happening.
Must admit I am a little disappointed at the market response to what was an impressive 4th quarter performance and the GP has spiked nicely over the last hour.
Lets hope we see some improvement to the SP over the coming hours/days and the February report a positive start to the year.

I missed the 10 minute window this morning and would be pleased to hear from anyone who did listen to the conference call as to anything interesting on 2019 predictions particularly in areas of additional resource.
I was relatively pleased with the prelim production numbers it proves that they can move material and multiply the tonnage by higher grades (I hope) and all looks good.

gnome I reckon KD second report was posted when he saw the production shortfall and this is him trying to justify his first vague guesswork.
Do you like his suggestion that plant working on the surface will likely fall into voids caused by their underground workings. If he was a Mine Manager at some time in his past it doesn't sound as though he has much regard for the competence of his fellow Mine Managers.
I am not sure a visit by KD will do much good as he quite obviously has a need to justify and defend his views.

Tibbs Not sure that I would have been overly happy had I got out after reading his 2015 report when it was first published as he acknowledges in his most recent report.
I am still not convinced by his most recent report as he takes no account of the WA resource and as far as I can see he doesn't take account of the cost of the WA acquisition or development as maybe one (not all) of the reasons why cash has reduced from $400 million.
Also not enough detail on cause and effect 2nd/3rd quarter 2018 and annualised 2018. Talks about waste being treated as ore not sure where he gets this from. OK there will be low grade ore placed on the heap leach pads and long may this happen as it is far better than placing on the spoil/dump heaps or through the plant which will be expensive.
At the same time even when mining through the transition they were still pouring gold which is impressive.
The above said and I have said previously I am also not in anyway convinced that Pardey and his Geo colleagues have a handle on the mine grades particularly on the surface. What I do however hope KD has got right is that the grade gets higher the deeper the pit becomes. If this is correct and they are through the transitional ore (low grade ore) then happy days.
From the very strange report advising of a 2% drop in ounces 4th Qtr, it is mentioned that this is because of lower grade ore from underground so hopeful this means they are through the transition.
There are many things that I agree and respect with KD reports and one is that we are currently invested in a single source mining company so every imperfection will make an impact.
Happy New Year and here's hoping Pardey and the board prove Kees Dekker wrong.

OK I fully appreciate he is a knowledgeable analyst BUT there have been regular analyst visits to the mine over the years and not sure if he has been one of them?
There is nothing like walking a surface mine operation looking at how the mine is organised and high grading will be spotted as will other bad practices if you know what you are looking for and know the right questions to ask.
I will ask a question has anyone considered the delay until February being something of a positive nature like an announcement relating their WA resources?

Tibbs thanks and whilst an excellent report in many ways there are too many assumptions from an outsider looking in. The results predicted in the 5 year plan forecast 2018 achieving 488,000 ounces and 507,000 for 2019.
As I said production isn't necessarily the issue more the subsequent over the top forecasting maybe based on some over confidence at end of 2017 start of 2018.
I am not a mining analyst or an accountant but based on the findings of the report by now the mine would be looking at some bottom line red numbers and this hasn't been the case as they are still funding exploration and capital expenditure without borrowing.
Agreed however that profitability of open pit mining or surface mining is really grade and efficiency dependant as any grades below 1.5 are marginal.

Tibbs where do you get the information on the high grading on the surface as we have seen the "transitional ore" wording more over last couple of years which I read as the opposite to high grading.

Thoroughly agree and compounded when working with equipment/plant that is mechanical and therefore breaks especially with age and operators who are human and therefore can't work at an efficiency of 100%.
This is why I am somewhat confused by an announcement that is focusing on being up to 2% down on production.
Is it that they feel they are under too much pressure to keep us informed but they MUST know such an announcement will have a negative impact on the SP even though this isn't quantified in relation to the financials?