Member Info for desertjoe

Mickey Mouse was born December18, 1928. (quite a few years before me) so I guess he is a "wrinkly " too! .

Hi Balanced. Thanks for the pointer to Zak but when " the knowledgeable" gives you a good tip....it's too late 'cos the horse has already bolted and the price has skyrocketed. But, as always it never seems to affect Ariana. I'm not complaining though over the years we have steadily (but somewhat lethargically, increased our SP) but wouldn't it be great if a fantastic RNS really motivated our PR bloodsuckers to tip AU for a 50% rise.

Good to know you are still around, raredragon2U, but I just don't go along with all the various gurus and theories which abound in " gold" . Rather like reading candles etc..I don't even go there. To me the only motivators are political changes or maybe some fantastic news like Pepsi Cola will cause you to live another 100 years .Right now Biden has a lot to sort out " at home", Boris is " mini me", Xi & Uncle Vlad stay rather inscrutable and Macron would very much like to be " the dog's whatsits" when Angela Merkel bows out. Meanwhile gold price (having just fallen slightly since your comment) and Ariana SP just bobs up and down slightly....oh and the GBP vs US& has moved down a little. You think there will be money movement this Summer? Hell no - everyone just wants to put Covid in the background , go out again and have fun. 2022 might be another matter.. Cheers, DJ

Yes, PAUL1D, I accept that Charles Schwab has UK branches and British (residents) as clients but it can get sticky for US residents if they look to brokers overseas (or similarly Brits resident in the US). TD America is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Charles Schwab Holdings At least Schwab had the decency to put out this info when Brexit started to loom...

https://americanexpatfinance.com/news/item/298-charles-schwab-telling-clients-in-europe-accounts-must-move

Barclays just cut off my access to their sharedealing service and also their Barclaycard with no warning. Since then the dimwits continue to advise me the credit facility is closed to me but I'd left 70p in credit so they still regularly cough up the UK postage to send me a statement! Woof-woof!

Initially my UK sharebroker was Barclays until they decided to drop US clients at short notice (they immediately pulled my high-rated Barclaycard too!). It soon seemed that nobody your side of the pond wanted us (probably because our Treasury causes them more work!). Eventually the French Societe Generale took me on via their acquired UK subsidiary , Selftrade, who subsequently the baton onto Equiniti ("EQI" ) who have now moved selective clients (which includes me) to Interactive Investors (II). My understanding is that I have only crept in because I have had a longterm existing UK Bank Account. It also works the other way ...for example TDAmeritrade doesn't accept resident Brits in UK.

Anyway...any of ya'all enjoying a " good experience" under Interactive Investors or should I be concerned? Regards DJ

Agreed, John, unless AAU extracts itself somehow and makes a " hit" on its own accord. I am into Sandstorm but currently about 20% down on my investment. However they have set a lot of things in motion which could well pay off handsomely later this year (or next) apart from their long term interest in Hod Maden royalties.

My further thoughts, gwm121 , center on the fact that with a one-off divi our greatest share holders will immediately become a lot richer ,Dr K and Michael de Villers for example and also some of the other Board Members and longtime Company personnel may also hold shares. Who knows where they may choose to work now that AAU is " amalgamating" with two other larger entities but a future large dividend by AAU may not happen again ? Equally, a larger partnership with more capital could be a route to greater profits for shareholders, especially if say development of Hod Maden/Salinbas led to an excellent regular income for many years. Such would properly and rightly produce regular annual dividends for shareholders - which I gather you are specifically seeking from investments. .

Incidentally I am bound by the US Tax regulations which are somewhat different. No SIPP option for me. In general terms I reckon things are cheaper this side of the pond and probably as much as 25% less. You pay 20% VAT to HMG. We generally pay only State tax which is usually around 8% on goods bought. We fork out around 60% less per gallon for petrol and the fuel is taxed at about 25% of your levels. However we kinda dip out on Capital Gains 'cos we don't get a tax free starter. Not even a dollar! Uncle Sam jumps straight in. Generally we cannot deduct more than $3000 losses off our tax bill in any year .(although losses to date can be carried forward thru future years...but at $3000 pa.) Furthermore the tax is calculated on either short term or long term holdings and different rates are applied for companies represented (or not represented) on the American stock exchange listings. Thus...gains say on Lloyds Bank (UK) shares sold would be taxed less than on Ariana shares sold (please get. AAU admitted onto the NYSE, Dr K !!)

Finally, a light-hearted follow on to Paul 1D's mention of Durex. Many moons ago I was enjoying a visiting comedian at a night club in Southampton (Hants). However some real d-head persisted in constantly interrupting the act to demean the performer, who finally politely asked the client if he was aware what a Durex was used for. " Of course" was the incredulous response. " Pity your Dad didn't " was the comic's reply.

All excellent points VanVan and thanks for the Sandstorm reference too.

Sorry, John, I thought you were aware I was moving as there were suggestions at the time that I should change my moniker on here. Anyway all is fine this east side of my country and I am about the same distance from an Atlantic coast
beach that I was from the Pacific Ocean. On just one day here in South Carolina we received as much precipitation as our whole desert year in 2020. We had one traffic light in 100 miles. Now I have to put up with maybe 5 in one mile and roads and driving standards are truly diabolical. But everything is GREEN and the soil is like Devon's red and not just brown sand & gravel. Unfortunately many of my new " locals" still revere Trump and the Confederate flag..... sadly all of them " losers" imho so right now we are rather wary of socializing within the Republican/Evangelical environment . I was sorry to leave Nevada but the bottom line is my wife was getting very sick and depressed in the 125F regular heat waves and yearned for her former happiness this side of the US. Additionally, our national news has reported that the water level of the United States biggest man-made reservoir (Lake Mead NV) has fallen 140 feet since year 2000. With global warming and lower annual snowfalls that does not bode well for large cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix and the prime agricultural lands in the West. So we were offered a very good price for our old home and we took the money & ran! Our new home is very pleasant and twice the size of the last one....but, of course, no mountain views anymore.

Anyway, coming back to AAU (Ariana) and both your own and VanVan's recent comments it does seem that info has gone " off the boil" somewhat. However if you put yourself in Dr. KS position...He has gone from a Uni student in Southampton to a comfortably wealthy entrepreneur. Ariana has evolved from a Company quite heavily indebted and a " minnow" in mining to a very respectable Company, virtually debt free, and clearly with an extremely competent BoD and technical staff. Kerim ,I
believe, is probably at his happiest and best when he is into geological assessment and exploration. That's probably where his heart is rather than plunging into admin trials and tribulations. Additionally he clearly likes his homelife....
" No Worries" as they say down in Oz. With AAU generally in safe hands and the greater facilities and expertise in Company Management on tap from both Proccea and Ozaltin, Kerim is free to indulge, at his own pace, in the theories he has expounded for quite a long time that precious minerals follow a pattern around the northern part of the Aegean and the southern Black Sea. But what can we really expect to hear other than drilling results? In my opinion what we await...and it maybe some time coming...is sp increases and regular dividends...and all that will really come together when Salinbas is developed. Regards DJ

"forced coprographia " ?. Better wipe ya chin, matey, using words like that. (You've even made Flashheart almost hit a mountain searching for his maps) . Trumpy won't be around in 2024 but it seems we have worse crackpots crawling up out of the sewers. Hopefully the Federal & NY Attorney Generals will be the ultimate Pest Controllers if our Nancy (or even Moscow Mitch himself) doesn't push them back down their holes. Tally Ho!

On a serious note, Paul, I'm rather pleased that you've recognized PALM as being worthy of investment.

Let's me clear about this deal, gwm 121, I would hate you to pass up a chance to make some good money from AAU's future. Fresnillo has done well but kinda " peaked out" somewhat since last autumn but right now AAU is static mainly because there are a lot of plans which we know are likely to materialize in the future but many have not happened yet. It might prove to be a better bet than FRES in a few years,

It's not as if AAU has diluted. Far from it...It has been mining very successfully, much cheaper costings than others in the trade and has great assets in good places. This JV will mean that AAU will get a smaller piece of the pie (about a quarter of its former entitlement....but the pie itself could be much, much bigger because of what the JV intends to do. AAU itself will have become " flushed" with money from its new partnership agreement so, apart from the " one off" divvy we are about to receive, it will have capital to take on new ventures as itself and possibly without too much borrowing to accomplish such. Hope this makes things a bit clearer for you. There is, of course a further angle on this. PaulD, though somewhat " flippant" at times is within a younger bracket than many of us so may have a few more years to accrue future wealth. I have already reached my target for my investment in AAU and happily enjoying my retirement. But if this Company continues successfully under Dr. S, I can think of many material things to purchase which would add to my personal enjoyment! Enjoy your weekend. (It's going to pee down with rain here for the next few days, it seems).

What is it with AAU share price? Damn near every time we get good news in a buoyant RNS...down goes the sp. So far today it's - 7.65%. Gold is up, sterling is stable against the US$. It's not a Wall Street Friday....so who's behind all this?

Otherwise all is fine in my new location, John and we've enjoyed a few consecutive 90F days recently but much higher humidity this side of the country.. Ongoing battles with squirrels eating new plantings. Coyotes can't climb trees but they have killed most folks' cats. Can't get used to all the greenery after my desert living. It's been an exceptionally mild winter (according to my neighbors). A couple of light snow showers and maybe 2 weeks of car windows frozen overnight. However the hurricane season approaches.

gwm121 - There has been considerable discussion about dividends by many contributors over the years on this site and you will need to research all that. Basically there were two schools of thought. One was to use production income to fund future development of Ariana's assets. The other was to hope regular dividends might enhance share price and attract investors. That changed somewhat with the establishment of this new JV with Ozaltin (and our original partner Proccea). The simple explanation is that by going into this partnership Ariana will acquire a big chunk of money and the decision has been taken to distribute some of this to our shareholders (some of whom would prefer that money to stay in the Company on the basis that the share price could advance further as the JV successfully develops assets...Salinbas area in particular). Regular divvis are not " on the cards" at the present time. We are going to get a " one off" but it is not ruled out that a successful future development could lead to regular divvis...although imho that may be perhaps several years away and meanwhile, as you see from to-day's RNS, there are new plans announced for the Balkans. So, gwm, I would respectfully suggest that you forget about divvis and trust that this Company will enrich you instead with a much-improved share price in the fullness of time. Regards, DJ

I suggested , before last Christmas, that AAU was going to be on a roller-coaster for sometime. I could see Salinbas bringing home the bacon rather a long time in the future and meantime it would be bits & pieces of current smaller explorations/developments which might keep our sp up (and down). Cyprus seemed a potential route to some quick riches but Willowman's concerns about a certain existing director seriously made me wonder what the hell KS was doing associating with it. Much as I value Willowman's views , some of them specifically (and in hindsight) fortuitously directed at me from time to time! I nevertheless did a little more personal research into the Cyprus thing and decided to avoid it at the present stage.. I do however think that Kerim is geologically very sound in linking the prospects of Turkish metal values with Cyprus and most probably a continuation under Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria and ultimately back to the Hod Maden. Imho my northern neighbors have apparently not endeared themselves to either the locals or the Authorities in the Balkans and I am confident that Kerim's personality would be far more welcomed & significant...perhaps at some future time & choosing if he wants a change of home from Oz..

Additionally, as EvenKeel suggests, Kerim has to some extent split his positions. Why nor...first and foremost he loves the geologist role. He has successfully established himself in a monetary and presumably very comfortable position and can afford to indulge himself wherever he chooses. Australia, and the Americas (with a few exceptions) most be damn nearly magnetic now for a guy with his interests and contacts, far outstripping his earlier " struggles" with little Red Rabbit. Instead of Cyprus I have invested modestly in Panther Metals and so far so good.

Then we have VanVan's views here, evidently for my friend John. VanVan, hardly surprising to me, has clearly put his finger on so may important and undoubtably negligent matters which Ariana and its now amply paid professional advisers should have addressed. VV is absolutely right here in every respect and as the Late HRH was suggested...someone needs to " get their fingers out!" . I'm all the more concerned since I'm invested now in Panther Metals and our Doctor is its appointed CEO now.

Lot of Covid-related " what ifs" there, Mister Mullins, but overall the article is complimentary. So far the Biden Administration seems to be going imho in the right direction and the President is choosing a team of experienced and sensible people to repair the damage of the last lot. However what your article does not touch on is whether " big business" and similar interests are going to accept the taxation levels and environmental rules & restrictions which must now surely follow or whether such will be too much for the " insurrectionist" factions we have recently witnessed and, of course the so-called "WASPS" . Will $ billions be donated to changing the voting and lobbying to reverse the new direction and get rid of the
potential " social repairs" now sorely-needed but very much in their infancy. Trump made my country an " enfant terrible" across most of the world and it may be some time before we are forgiven and our economy and exports recover,

Quite right, Bugarov ..i meant astrology, sorry. Wrong ass, I guess - must be 1Deano's influence! lol.

I'd sooner consult Mickey Mouse than seriously believe in charts. No offence but what comes next.... astronomy?

Quite simply....Masterman ain't Mastermind and I can go right back losing money to his time (and promises) at Caspian.. Thank goodness I got off this carousel spinner, imho, a few years back

My condolences on the Passing of HRH Prince Philip. A powerful personage and I had the honor of once meeting him.

Great Easter Cheer, Alfaspider ...just what we all need after the Covid winter and....dare I say....absolutely "Bang On" .

Paul1D. Your mention of " Pet Shop Boys" is of a time rather later than my disco days (although Dusty Springfield was quite a Belter in her day!). However researching in that direction introduced me to the word " felchmonger" , which I previously had no inkling of. In the circumstances and in view of your regular appreciation and references (woof-woof) of the oversexed Blackadder character " Lord Flashheart" I think it even more preferable that I limit any response to you, Dear Boy!