The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
I'm willing to hold for 5 years. Maybe more. I have a significant tranche in and its a slow burner project for me...
I hope this posts. Local paper 9 Dec 1891 CLOGAU GOLD MINING The result of the clean up on Saturday before last was 84 oz 10 dwt of gold, the quantity of quartz treated being 20 tonnes 15 cwt, officially certified by the Crown Agent. Continues re dispatch to assayers.
This equates to 2399g of actual gold with a yield of 118g/tonne of quartz.
My understanding is the World Gold Council has an industry standard of g/tonne of ore. In this case pure gold metal in quartz ore. I see no reason for Alba expressing it any differently.
It is obviously stupid to send a tonne of ore to a lab so a significant weight will have been processed in the pilot plant to form a concentrate. That small quantity will have been sent off for assay. With Alba knowing the original tonnage they can calculate the g/tonne easily.
For example...and this is hypothetical...If Alba processed 1 tonne of sample rock from Grandfathers Stope to yield 0.768kg of concentrate that was assayed at 461g/tonne then one assumes the lab produced 461g of gold. In reality I am assuming the original sample was far less than 1 tonne but have no idea.
Correct me if I have anything wrong here. Regardless this is EXCELLENT news. We should be flying.
To your second point I suggest you have never installed and commissioned heavy plant nor taught yourself how to run it on the fly and trust operatives when you go back to the office. These are early days.
Two points here Yanis. You seem impatient. This is a long haul project. Tell me why the pilot plant is a **** up. It has done everything it was supposed to do so far including proving out extraction of samples to nothing. Are you confusing research .v. production ? The plant may be able to rxtract waste gold from the spoil, but it has to be proven as reliable first.
Your implication of the SP 'not rotting by accident' is serious. Give reasons for people deliberately forcing the price down and rationale too....or pipe down.
Totally agree. Clearing the decks of dross to focus on core activity. No distractions and little outlay. TBH letting Horse Hill go too woudn't be a bad thing either. Having oil in the portfolio doesn't give the greenest look. On a much bigger scale DS Smith offloaded it's plastics arm to focus on recycled packaging and has been thriving ever since....
That's a much bigger exercise than I was expecting. I was thinking more tent and wheelbarrow. Good to see a proper bunch of ecologists in tow as well, working in parallel withe the drill team and at the right time of year where natural local and migrant breeding populations are at their highest. That's a big tick in itself. Plenty of cynical UK homebuilders slip in an EIS having studied a site in autumn or winter.
I don't feel gloomy. I detect a lot of 'instant gratification' frustration though. Why does everyone need results immediately. We are in for the long haul here and anyone invested should realise that. I am heavily invested and am averaging slightly down but unconcerned. I can wait a year or two or three. Look where we were 12 months ago at 0.06 or worse....
Elir
I'm not an expert in panning or shaker tables but understand the physics as a scientist and mechanic. In terms of what can be seen, look up "Shaker Tables For Gold Mining, Fine Gold Recovery, Black Sand Concentrates MBMM" on You Tube to learn how they work then compare that with what you can see from the Alba tweeted film of the pilot processing plant in action on 28th May . Freeze the frame at 2:13 and look carefully at the chute on the under-tray heading into the left hand bucket.
The whole thing could be photoshopped but I doubt it. Is that a line of yellow to the left of the black sand?
Just saying....
An excellent up to date synopsis Elir. Yes, I agree timely information is useful, especially related to exploiting the existing mines and infrastructure.
I'm not expecting early news on the DGB but several years of compounding the knowledge. Scotgold are engaged in similar exploration in are area beyond Cononish. It is all at a field/lab level still as you say.
I have no idea what your timescale for exploration to extraction is but it's obviously very different to mine. There are 3 phases roughly to what's going on. Drilling above and below ground at the Clogau and Gwynfynnydd sites and dewatering to enable mining to recommence when and if approval is granted. Secondly, unearthing the quartz veins by trenching off top soil. So far successful. This will require a new drill campaign to assess any economic benefit then further permissions. Thirdly more and more expansive soil sampling to indicate whether there is more suitable geology out there and whether it has any serious value.
Be realistic. Some of these goals may be 5 to 10 years off production when you consider the economics of exploration and the difficulty of obtaining permissions. I'm in for the long haul, not jam today.
If there weren't historical mining successes or a Royal connection I doubt the National Park would even accept an application to explore. The power of the Crown Estate still holds some sway so be thankful.
Don't be silly. Alba are all over the historical mine sites drilling to follow the quartz and prove the immediately mineable resource in renovated tunnels. They are also trenching topsoil from unexplored and undrilled quartz and sampling based on previous soil sample studies that successfully predicted unknown veins. They are in addition soil sampling wholly unknown areas they hold a licence for in the hope of extending productive unknown geology. Each process has its own timescale. Patience. These things don't happen overnight.
I kind of knew you'd come back with that Elir. Chwarae teg. Rock densities do vary but let's leave it there. We're on the same hymnsheet.
Elir. Not wanting to be a smartar8e because I rate your posts highly. A dumpy bag or as some call them "1 tonne" bag measures 860mm in all dimensions, volume 0.64 cubic m and is safety rated to carry 5 tonnes without breaking. 1 m3 of water weighs 1 tonne. The density of sand is roughly twice that of water and rock about 3 times. Hence a dumpy bag holds approx 1200kg of sand or 1900kg of rock.
My estimate of 1/2 to 3/4 full dumpy bag is based on those calcs. Just saying.
One tonne is a very small volume....perhaps 1/2 to 3/4 of a builder's dumpy bag.
Yanis. Yes I fully understand this and agree on each of your points.
Yes. I take your point Yanis. All good. The only thing we don't know is the % of tailings and the industry standard for reporting yields. Presumably it would be grammes of gold per gross tonne, not net tonnes of concentrate less tailings.
Yanis....I re-read your post. Yes I agree, sorry. We are just looking at the problem from different angles.
The key unknown is what proportion of the raw ore is represented by the concentrate. I havent seen figures for that. Your example used 50%. It might be much more or much less. I dont think we know. If the concentrate was only 10% then the gold is less but there would be massive savings and less traffic in retaining the 90% tailings on site. The reverse applies if the tailings are a small proportion of the total.
Yanis...are you sure of this? You are a much wiser man than I but I question the maths. If you have 1000kg of raw ore, crush and process it to yield 500kg of concentrate, then you will have 500kg of tailings containing no gold nominally. The 500kg sent to the lab yields 100g of gold. The 1000 kgs of raw ore also yields 100g of gold surely. Hence the yield is always 100g/tonne of ore or 200g/tonne of concentrate if you process 2000kg of raw ore. Just my take on it.
Excellent read thank you...
I can see it every night my friend if we are not under cloud..... and it always points North.