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The official inflation figure is a convenient government measure to add to their "delusional package", that has little to do with what it costs to live an ordinary life. Been that way for many years now.

best

...

However, obtaining a licence for exploring and mining these tenements involved conducting heritage surveys and making Indigenous land use agreements with the prescribed body corporates of the native title rights holders. In the case of FMG’s tenements on Yindjibarndi Country – some of its most lucrative in terms of projected iron ore – this involved negotiating with the Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (YAC). Enter Woodley, a lore man who had left school in grade six, later worked for Rio Tinto, and had become YAC’s chief executive.

The machinations of the mining company to obtain the necessary land use agreements to proceed with its Solomon Hub are as hard-edged as you would expect from any company eyeballing an asset worth around $US5 billion in revenue per year.

Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Michael Woodley.
Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Michael Woodley.CREDIT:JUSTIN MCMANUS

An early working relationship between YAC and FMG is abandoned when the mining company bulldozes a sacred freshwater spring after assuring traditional owners the site would be protected. When YAC demands a stronger heritage agreement, FMG begins to manoeuvre through provisions of the Native Title Act that effectively enable the company to gain access to land despite the objections of traditional owners. The shortcomings of the act are exposed early in the account and reiterated throughout.

Tensions rise again when YAC asserts a human rights-based approach to a new negotiation protocol it proposes to FMG in 2007. FMG then finances the establishment of a competing traditional owner corporation to the YAC, which in some instances had the effect of effectively pitting family members against one another. FMG subsequently backs the second Yindjibarndi traditional owner group – the Wirlu-murra Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation (WMYAC) – to replace YAC as the organisation responsible for settling land use agreements with the company.

Working through the WMYAC, FMG orchestrates a seriously compromised members’ vote to replace the YAC executive, handing out $400 shopping vouchers and sitting fees.

Of course, none of this chicanery and the non-disclosure clauses that surround it would shock anyone who has, over the past year, followed the hearings of the parliamentary inquiry into the destruction of Juukan Gorge. That committee heard numerous submissions of a similar nature, including one in October last year from the Wintawari Guruma Aboriginal Corporation that alleged FMG was withholding $1.9 million in royalty payments to the Eastern Guruma people until the traditional owners agreed to the company’s request for nine mining leases.

...to be conitnued

chpt 2

...they kept calling me ‘uncle’. I’ve done a silly thing,” he told journalists.

When asked for comment on this account of events, Fortescue’s current chief executive, Elizabeth Gaines, who joined FMG in 2013, said: “Through our seven Land Access Agreements and many dozens of heritage agreements, we have developed extremely strong working relationships with native title groups, including the Nyiyaparli people, providing significant benefits to Aboriginal communities including vocational training, contracting and business development opportunities, together with the identification and protection of important Aboriginal cultural heritage.”

Cleary says the Nyiyaparli episode was an early demonstration of the tactics that would mark FMG’s next bid for agreements for lucrative prospects on Yindjibarndi land and involve an 18-year saga that pitted the company against a thirtysomething traditional owner named Michael Woodley.

Divide and rule

It is 2003 and the Yindjibarndi have received disappointing, though useful, preliminary findings for a Native Title claim they submitted in 1994 in partnership with their neighbours, the Ngarluma. The Western Australian government of the day oppose an aspect of the findings that recognise the Yindjibarndi’s enduring connection to their Country. When final determinations are made in 2005, the Yindjibarndi will hear their native title rights have been extinguished over four-fifths of the area in their claim, a consequence of pastoral leases issued by the state over the previous 150 years or so.

In the same year, the Yindjibarndi make a second, individual claim over land just beyond the first determination area. This claim is considered to be much stronger as it covers areas of unallocated crown land. It is an area Rio Tinto has explored for iron ore previously but passed over. By this stage, FMG has entered the frame.

The company’s anticipation of the “awakening” iron ore markets in Asia, particularly China, in the early to mid-2000s is well documented and often celebrated (by the Chairman of FMG?). FMG enterprise caught the big iron ore miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton, on the back foot in supplying the demands of the hot new market.

By late 2005, the price per tonne of iron ore had climbed from around $US30 a tonne to around $US60 and the upstart company was flying.

...continued

ESG is something to watch, and for Insto investors like Sprott is a first question!

You proabbly havent read one of the interesting ESG stories in Oz....lot to it, no more comments

Victory in an unfair fight: Pilbara traditional owners v Fortescue

Early in his new book Title Fight, economic policy journalist Paul Cleary recounts a 2005 episode which, long before the blasting of the Juukan Gorge rock shelters, showed the levels to which big miners could stoop in pursuit of profit.

Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) was pushing to rake upwards of 40 million tonnes of iron ore per year out of its “Cloudbreak” tenement in the Pilbara’s Chichester Ranges. This involved making agreements with five First Nations communities, including the Nyiyaparli.

The Nyiyaparli had lodged a promising claim over an area of their Country that enveloped a number of FMG tenements and the expected result – registration of the claim by the National Native Title Tribunal – would hand them a minor leverage over the mining company in negotiating a land use agreement.

The company, on the other hand, was already highly leveraged and desperately needed to start digging, having already assured investors that FMG had favourable relations with the traditional owners and could fast-track these projects.

The Nyiyaparli had become frustrated with their legal representation – provided by the Pilbara Native Title Service – due to drawn-out negotiations with FMG over establishing a land use agreement. Some important provisions had been discussed and nominal “settlements” made, but certain sticking points remained, such as financial compensation.

Their meeting would conclude with a “revised” land use agreement in place, one that removed the cultural heritage and environmental provisions “settled” between the Nyiyaparli and the company in earlier meetings.

Two days after signing the revised agreement, the Nyiyaparli elders returned to the Pilbara Native Title Service’s lawyers and asked them to have it voided.

They also spoke to journalists, explaining they didn’t understand the agreement and had felt pressured to sign it. The chairman of the elders group explained that when the group requested legal advice at the meeting before adding their signatures, they were told there had already been far too many delays and that the company would next take the matter to the tribunal – a course that historically favoured the interests of miners and pastoralists.

Another Nyiyaparli elder, David Stock, admitted to not knowing what was going on at the meeting. “I feel like they made me sign, they kept pressuring me ....

...next chapter ...

SPOT ON BOB ABOUT NED'S

Very subtle way to win people's confidence and open up on how things really were.
ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL, ..TRUSTING THE CEO IS OFTEN A LITTLE CONFLICT OF INTERESTish, and dereliction of duty (see below)

It would be interesting to know when and at what time CEY non execs visited Sukari!!!!
I THINK THIS IS A DISCLOSURE MATTER..who cares how many board meetings they fell asleep at! did they ENGAGE, DECIDE, BOTHER TO INFORM THEMSELVES, HOW...
...saying he told me so and I believed him is not good enough. Multiple sources, multiple viewpoints...

NED 1. NO SITE VISITS, ATTENDED ALL BOARD MEETINGS, AND DRANK ALL CUPS OF TEA
NED 2. NO SITE VISITS (COVID), ATTENDED ALL BOARD MEETINGS, AND DRANK LESS CUPS OF TEA THAN NED 1
NED 3. NO SITE VISITS, ATTENDED ALL BOARD MEETINGS, AND DRANK COFFEE - TO STAY AWAKE

AND SO ON...

Directors’ Duties (to be informed at all times AND SEEK TO BE PROPERLY INFORMED ...)

• Statutory duty to manage or supervise the management of the business and
affairs of the corporation, including 3 primary duties
o Fiduciary duty of loyalty
? To act honestly and in good faith with a view to the best interests of the
corporation
? Exclusively owed to the corporation
? May also consider the interests of shareholders and other stakeholders
of the corporation
o Duty of care - to exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonably
prudent person would exercise in comparable circumstances
? Exercise common sense, practical wisdom and informed judgment that
is commensurate with a director’s knowledge and experience
? Objective component requires the standard of a reasonably prudent
person in comparable circumstances
? “informed” and unconflicted business judgment
? Business judgment based on diligent inquiry and consideration
appropriate to the situation

o Duty of compliance - to act in accordance with governing law and the
articles of the Corporation

Business Judgement Rule

• Directors’ decisions are not to be judged in hindsight
o Measured against the facts as they were understood at the time of the
impugned decision
o Courts reluctant to interfere and to usurp the Board’s function in managing
the business and affairs of the corporation

• Focus on “process” in making decisions
• Interest of the corporation is paramount, but also consider interests of
stakeholders

Decision Making Process

o Use of Internal view and expert assistance
o Mitigate conflicts of interest
• Statutory good faith reliance defence
o Rely on opinions of third party experts (does not include or imply blind belief of the CEO!)
etc...

It is intereting to know how many directors do NOT know what they are legally liable for! nor relevant Corproations and related business law, especially technical people....

BEST THE GNOME
(CARD CARRYING MEMBER OF THE HSOL CLUB - HERETICS, SKEPTICS AND OCCASIONAL LUNATICS CLUB? LOL)

An Inde NED Director in my view would

1. make themselves conversant with the all inhouse key geotechnical, reports as well as reports concerning ore reserves and resources, geomet and exploration

2. make themselves conversant with any expert external opinions on the above

3. note any key concerns and area of possible significant failure which would lead to major commercial impact, in their area of expertise and experience

4. travel to site, to address concerns, including review with key management to ascertain competence and management process and prowess, as well as state of play.

5. major areas of concern would be in effect one of the Inde Directors "KPI watch", an the inde director can insist on being informed at each board meeting about issues related to "KPI watch".

CEY has unfortunate form in the board level especially in the area of NED
https://www.glasslewis.com/musical-chairs-centamin-director-voted-off-board-reappointed-immediately/

The board sets the RISK CULTURE, and determines appetite and assessment of principle risks

There are various committee's and you can see the make up and responsibilities of the committees in the annual report

You can also see on p139 the NED gets GBP65,000 per annum, and an additional GBP10,000 per annum for being a Senior.
https://www.centamin.com/media/2384/centamin-plc-annual-report-2020-web-ready-secured.pdf

The Annual Report is a good read on risk mangement. But great to have process,and lovely narratives, but you mnst make them work 24/7 in a mine.

Geotech failure ranks in with Ore reserve/resource, Exploration and Tailings Dam failures in the geo area,

Many NED’s take on so many NED positions, that they cannot perform their function to any professional standard
Some NED's in companies seem to be there for the tea and biscuits, the photo shoot, and networking.

have a Merry Xmas all, and wishing you a Happy, Healthy, and Lucky New Year
and may the New Year be a great one for Gold! and CEY !!! (the English Cricket team looks like they need more than luck?)

What has been the most surprising financial event of 2021? The 20% gain in equity prices, the 40% jump in oil prices and even the fivefold leap in US inflation may all have been bigger than expected, but they were at least directionally understandable consequences of the fastest growth in the world economy for 40 years. That explosive growth, in turn, was a predictable response to last year’s unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimuli, magnified by the end of Covid lockdowns. A more surprising event than the performance of equities or energy, or even inflation, was also arguably more important, not only for financial markets but for global economic prospects.

The 10-year US treasury yield, which was almost universally expected to rise back into the 2-3% range that it had inhabited before Covid, is ending 2021 well below 1.5%. And the 30-year bond yield, which had never in history plumbed levels below 2% prior to Covid, is trading today at 1.8%. That is exactly where it was back in January, when US inflation was running at 1.4% instead of 6.8% and when much of the world economy was still in lockdown.

This time is different. We have walked past the tipping point.
Is the threat of Modern Monetary Theory on us now? And if so where does gold sit, and what invesment thesis holds for it?
Recall: DEC 9 2019
>Goldman Sachs is forecasting gold to rise to $1,600 an once, an 8.5% gain from current levels.
>A main part of the bull case is the increasing talk of Modern Monetary Theory, which says deficits don’t matter in low-inflation environments.
And what opinion does G-S have now?
https://www.goldmansachs.com/insights/pages/gs-research/reflation-risk/report.pdf

I am off to buy more gold, and gold miners ...those with no debt (still worried about the interest rate rise threat, which is now greater than geographic threats?), no royalties or streamers, solid disciplined competent management (scarce, I know) solid free cash flow, good environmental credentials as well as a sound social license, real organic growth optionality...and abilitiy to execute.

No waht I mean?

best
the gnome

I continually get a sick feeling about the leadership and actions shown by the Central Banks, and I will go for it, The lot of them!

On Wednesday, the Bank of England ended its expansionary £895bn asset buying program, only to raise its key interest rate by 15bp a day later. As a renewed Covid outbreak causes UK consumers to cower at home, investors were mildly surprised at this punchy move. In contrast, the European Central Bank stuck to its cautious script, saying it would buy bonds through 2022—albeit at a lower rate than expected—and beyond if necessary. Of the two, the UK’s tightening approach’ looks most prone to a forced reversal.

It is true that both central banks edged toward “normal” policy settings, as would be justified by an established economic recovery. At 0.25%, the UK’s base rate is two quarter-point rises away from its February 2020 level. The ECB signaled that policy will broadly return to its pre-pandemic orientation by October 2022, when bond purchases should be lowered to €20bn a month.

Yet investors were surprised at the BoE’s hike since UK public health officials have in recent days made alarming projections about the omicron outbreak, which is spurring consumers to resume lockdown-type behaviors. In response to all this gloom, the UK’s flash PMI just hit a 10-month low.

In contrast, the ECB has left itself wiggle room to react to both Europe’s bad Covid situation and rising energy prices due to uncertain Russian gas supplies. The pandemic emergency purchase program will, as planned, end in March, but the ECB has given itself the option to restart net asset purchases if financial instability returns; i.e. bond yield spreads widen too much.

Energy prices are a key worry for both central banks and explain more than half of the consumer price rises seen in the UK and eurozone in the last year. The ECB now expects consumer price inflation to average 3.2% next year, but to fall back to 1.8% in 2023 and 2024. About two-thirds of the ECB’s upward revision is down to expected energy price rises, with the other third due to other bottleneck issues. The BoE sees UK inflation peaking next April at around 6%, before falling slowly in the following 24 months.

Where the BoE and ECB really differ is on wages. UK policymakers look at Britain’s 4.2% unemployment rate and worry that rising prices will spur a spiral of wage demands and more price rises. While it is lower than pre-pandemic levels, the eurozone’s jobless rate still stands at 7.4%. In Spain and Italy, unemployment is much higher at 14.6% and 9.2%, respectively.

Supply-chain bottlenecks are squeezing Europe’s large manufacturing sector, and governments across the region have recently reimposed social restrictions to contain a fresh wave of Covid-19 cases. The yields on Southern European government bonds have edged up since the summer, putting pressure on highly indebted governments such as Italy’s.

Reality will take over from Idealism, ... and the rose c

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