SP Angel Site Visit Analysts report12 Nov 2015 14:22
I thought holders and others interested may like to see this report from recent site visit:
Shanta Gold* (SHG LN) 5.625p, Mkt Cap £26.3m – Site visit highlights longer term potential of open pits combined with high grade ore from underground mining
We have just returned from an analyst site visit to Tanzania, these are our initial thoughts on the company’s progress
 Shanta Gold is entering a third phase of its metamorphosis into a larger-scale gold mining company.
 The company is now evolving to create a more sustainable and lower cost business with significant ability to
continue to expand its resource base and feed its recently expanded gold processing plant.
 Bauhinia Creek: The team are currently pulling high grade ore out of the Bauhinia Creek mine following the redesign of the mine earlier this year. This has enabled the plant to beat all previous gold production rates by a margin and to reduce operating costs to new low levels
 The forthcoming development of underground mining at Bauhinia Creek should enable the company to continue to feed around 50,000t/ month of blended high-grade and low-grade gold ores to feed an average of around 8g/t through the process plant on an ongoing basis.
 The plan is to produce around 462,000oz of gold over the next six and a bit years equating to around 77,000oz pa, at the higher end of the company’s 72-77,000ozpa gold production target.
 The development of a relatively shallow underground mine at Bauhinia Creek should avoid the need for the more expensive expansion of the existing open pit.
 This higher grade ore will be mixed with near surface lower grade ores from New Luika, Elizabeth Hill, Black Tree Hill and other pits to be developed.
 Costs: Efficiency gains have lowered cash costs to $452/oz and AISC costs to $608/oz for Q3 ‘15 from the US$850-900oz expected this year . More work is to be done on reducing costs offering potential gains.
 If grades and ore throughput rates are maintained then Shanta should maintain costs at around these levels going forward, though we would expect some variability depending on the ability to consistently feed higher grade ores into the plant.
 Power: Power generation cost are still outrageous despite the use of HFO heavy fuel oil for primary power generation at some 28c/kWh and the company should move to connect to the Tanzanian grid for non-critical power supply sometime soon. It is also trialling a solar plant and may consider a small hydropower plant when the new water dam is complete.
 Power is around a third of most mine costs and is probably higher given the cost for Shanta indicating the significant savings can be made in this area.
Please, see disclaimer at the of this document
S.P. Angel, Prince Frederick House 35-39 Maddox street, London W1S 2PP, United Kingdom www.spangel.co.uk
&