Member Info for Kongolasse

"We have to drill where the gold is, not where we want it to be,” says Shaun Bunn"

This must be the stupidest thing I've seen a MD ever say.... (And I've heard a few stupid ones in my days...)

Can someone please tell him the purpose of drilling?....

The problem AG1989, is that they will keep drilling and spending on Eclipse, regardless. They're now committed and invested.
What is now clear is that there is no simple-fast-cheap option of open pit as this was originally sold to us PI's, but rather a long term, expensive and capex intensive project requiring more investment, higher grades at depth, proper scale JORC resources (in the 100K+) range and all this is money that they don't really have, so it relies on future placings and tapping investor credibility that they also don't have after 10 years+ of not achieving returns.
We're at sub 2p for a reason. Thankfully the Georgian funds will last a little bit longer, so we'd all do well with some spectacular news from Menzies (AKA "JAM tomorrow project #17")
GL

Maybe, but unlikely that Glen will be willing to pay anything if they're not able to sell it on further (as they would have been inclined to over the last few years considering their stance on developing Greenfield projects...)
My guess is that the stalemate will continue until RoC pulls the plug (with Glen onboard with it)
Zioc does not have the credibility (let alone the $$$) to continue holding this license.
The only alternative to this that I see is if a Chinese company decides to take a punt and manage to sway either Ziop or Zioc to part with a substantial (controlling? share)
My 2 cents.
GL

Yes, great outlook for the gold price, gives confidence.
However, here we are at 2.2p waiting for drilling results...
I have zero concern about the delays, these things happen.
However; once they do turn up they better be good.... really good.
So far the grades have been ok;ish, but it's not that clear cut if it's even viable at the current size. As Struthers have mentioned himself, the "nugget-effect" found in their initial drills can distort the true grades and size of the asset and won't even out without a lot more data-points. Once those are available we'll know if the first impressions were due to striking lucky or if there is a real volume of gold on average, not just some nuggets.
For Eclipse to go ahead we need great overall grades, and at a decent size compliant JORC asset before this is going to have commercial credibility and a subsequent re-rate into a SP over 5p that our resident rampers are touting....
GL.

Wow! someone bought at 2.33p

Morning Jacky

@jackthebear, get your £ and $ straight. ;)

Blacky, I admire your optimism. but 6700 non-JORC isn't really a resource to go boasting about. In fact, if we don't get spectacular grades back from the current assays I'm not so sure its even a go.

"So Kong-baby, your 'wee-on-the-flames' effort is a bit tame matey. I suppose you had to try. Need to try much harder. We already have 6700 oz in shallow high-grade veins at Eclipse. At $1800 POG that's a snip over $12 million. Now subtract the cost of extraction and toll milling.... still going to be a nice profit I think you will find."

So humour me; We're at $12M Mcap, right? (with $3M'ish cash in the bank) and you're pointing me to a resource currently at NPV 12M?

What I'm saying is; great, but unless they can add a zero or two on the resource numbers and preferably find average grades above 1.4g/t this isn't really the jackpot-nobrainer that we'd all hope for.
What am I missing?

GL.

8M MCAP,.... Hmm.. well IMHO it's all down to the assay results. The market doesn't look kindly on companies that have been around for donkeys years without delivering.
Now, if they really are spectacular grades we'll be off to the races... (3, 4, 5p and beyond)
-on the other hand; if they're more like ... "meh..." then no amount of ramping, interviews and presentations will help in this market and we'll sink much further, below 2p if I were to guess.
Let's see what those JORC numbers look like and if there is a clear path to early production at Eclipse and JD......or not.
Time for action, not words.
GL.

Mitch984, isn't that just semantics though?
The real issue is that -at least- a couple of billion USD is needed to move this forward. Part of it is directly needed by ZIOP, but there is significant infrastructure needed as a precondition to Zanaga being viable; SEZ backers, SEZ expropriation $$$, new Port constructed and financial/operational backers, Rail modernisation, or slurry pipeline, power, etc etc

And right now, there is NO one ready to sink BN's of USD into the hands of Nguesso&Co. Sure they talk about PPP and shared risk and all that, but unfortunately their credibility is sub zero.
I guess that what I'm trying to say is that there is not ONE party stalling, but rather; not ONE party left in the market willing to play Russian roulette with a few billion USD.
The only party I can imagine playing this game eventually, is President XI, and you can be sure that if he takes the reins/risk of dancing with Nguesso&Co its not going to be to pay minority shareholders of some AIM outfit sitting behind Glencore, but rather China to take the lion's share of all Iron in RoC. We're too insignificant to register in the big picture, and Glencore is unlikely to fight tooth and nail for anything related to a landlocked greenfield project beyond extracting marketing rights or debt repayment for their Oil business. None of the above will benefit AIM punters even remotely.

Same as Sooty I've reduced my holding reluctantly and painfully to low six figure holding from seven a year ago. This has always been a binary bet, and might still come good, but after almost 8 years of waiting I've had enough and left just enough in to keep an eye on it, but no longer putting my hopes for a 10X payout.
GL, Kongo.

Great info Extrader.

I note that the refinery is in a separate SEZ geographically speaking, so not related to Pointe Indienne's progress , or lack of.
Also, interesting to see that there is now a $ number on expropriations remaining, and might explain why COIDIC walked as they were asked to stump up the money but ownership remained with RoC.
We all know that RoC do not have 140M so lets see if that new "Investor" steps forward not just on the land subject but also in bringing the parties together....
I'm not holding my breath any more.
this one is staying in the bottom drawer for me.
GL, GT... Kongo.

Finally some Excellent news from Georgia. Not the 7M CAD, but at least Cash in hand.
Chapeau Mr Sturthers.
Chapeau.
Onwards and upwards.

BlackHopper, yes, its a very good interview and I liked how he tied Eclipse together with Menzies through Mel Dalla-Costa. It makes it look like an expansion of ambitions rather that replacement of project. Makes it sound very positive.
Didn't like how Georgia was completely absent from the questions, but there you go.
I'll be popping the champagne when -or if - Georgia $ or shares is realised. Same for actual production in Eclipse.
GL.

The problem warnz is that each time they jump from one project to the next there is a new placing and new expenses incurred.
The numbers speak for themselves. Rinsing and repeating for over a decade now.
How long do you propose is a reasonable wait?

From that excellent GTA chap elsewhere;
Sooty;
I don't think you'll get very far with those type of questions as things stand... (not saying you're wrong to ask.)

1. Trahar likely has no active part in negotiations -IF- there are any ongoing.

2. Coidic has walked away from SEZ due to ownership disagreement with ROC so any conversations with Zanaga/Jumelles ended with that.

3. No private company is likely to fund the port, SEZ or Zanaga on their own. (as these projects are huge Capex and RoC is uninvestable from a credit rating/ country risk perspective.)

The above leaves the possibility of direct conversations/agreements between i.e. Chinese leadership (Communist party Bigwigs) possibly with an entourage of Chinese engineering/banking/trading companies behind -but not ahead of!) and on the other hand Nguesso, his Son Cristel; the "newly appointed PPP man" and their various ministers nodding behind them.

For Xi+Nguesso to agree there will likely need to be some big concessions on the Congolese side, such as infrastructure and land ownership and exclusivity to China, and for China to control investment through its own companies and structure to avoid it disappearing into Swiss black hole accounts quicker than you can say "IMF!"

In that big table negotiations (IF it is happening behind the scenes, we PI's don't know)Glencore might have a seat on second or third row behind the big ones, and only as long as there is a chance they can help Nguesso and/or China to better execute and grease the machinery they're putting in place.

Now, IF Glencore's position with trading, loans, Jumelles can add to the mix, then happy days, perhaps there is a chance of Zanaga to become relevant and be sold or invested into, but unless all of the above lines up perfectly, and as long as China and Nguesso do not elect to just re-assign the licenses to China.

This is why I think Trahar is not even bothering trying to come up with answers anymore. It's so far above his and Elphick's heads that they're not even trying to pretend anymore.

For the record; I don't thing that ZIOC/ZIOP is dead in the water, but rather that we're not able to influence where things are going, due to things happening (or not) 2-3 levels above our heads, and I wish AT just said it rather than pretending that they're doing anything that will influence the project. (Hence EPP, Floating port, Cold pellets etc has just been a monumental red herring smacking of irrelevance)

Having said that, I do think that all the stars are aligning on the global level and I really hope that the new leadership within Glencore will give us more hope. Glasenberg really did **** away the opportunity of making billions by not pushing this forward.
Maybe Glencores new leadership will be more in sync with the times;

Https://www.theepochtimes.com/china-begins-targeting-african-iron-mines-to-eliminate-dependence-on-australia_3820337.html

GTA.

Blackhopper, as happy as I am with the new MD (really good news!) we're not yet at "Lots of profit at Eclipse"
It really needs proving up well beyond 6K ounces before you can say the P word....and it needs expanding double-quick in my view as we're haemoraging SP the longer it's silent.
If Georgia cannot be concluded with a cash payoff, then we need to start generating money very soon from Eclipse.
Yes, the drilling programme is fully funded, but as we all know; not an inch more. For every day that passes we're one day closer to a placing, and at this SP it's painful, (hence the downward pressure on our SP).
As soon as there is a hint of actual production that changes instantly.
Waiting patiently.

"1 chance in 10" I meant to say! (if the context didn't give it away!!)
Good luck all, we're going to need it....

So, smithusm, as you surely try to balance the Greed/Fear factors, the flip side is that If there ever was a moment to hold these in the last 10 years now is that moment, beyond anything we've seen leading up to 250USD/65%FE...

I think the odds are somewhere in the region of 10 to 1 that they will pull it off and deliver, so compared to playing the lottery it's pretty good, and possibly compared to AIM too (as the rotten market it is) so also pretty good odds.
If they do pull it off I imagine it will be incredible as it really is binary. Jackpot or nothing...
GL.
(for the record, I'm still in ZIOC with a fraction of previous years holdings, enough to make an early retirement if it comes good, but not more that I can live with if it's lost...)

It really does stink...
however, at 250USD per tonne this story does have wings......
Even at 100USD+ per tonne its not a IF but a WHEN. This is a screaming opportunity
It's a no-brainier any way you look at it and the Chinese will be all over it no doubt. (and everyone and their dog that knows a thing or two about Iron Ore.)

Now, the real question in my mind is who is the actual owner of this project?
Yes, Zanaga Iron Ore has the piece of paper and some (most?) of the permits...
However, at 7P the market would suggest that ZIOC is not even close to owning anything of value, and perhaps not even ZIOP (Jumelles, MPD etc) since Glencore has done exactly bugger-naff with it for the last 7years.

As all of us here might have guessed the real negotiation is likely held between Supreme leader Xi's Strategy-minions and a desperately incompetent, greedy and short term eyed Dictator Sassou-Nguesso&Clan.
Not a good mix at all I'm afraid.
Is Glencore strong enough to hold onto ZIOP and extract some value vs Nguesso/Xi or will they use it for other leverage and fold....?

Either way, after years of half-hearted studies and cold pellets AT and Elphick have made themselves about as relevant as the fish swimming next to the cargo ships or any of us here. (not very),,
Nguesso is likely to nationalise/ take back /commandeer any project of value, so whatever happens I'd not be expecting this to stay in the status quo for much longer.

Place your chips gents.....

So the real question any ZIOC investor should be asking is:
WHAT, -if anything-, is happening in SEZ/Port? - as without this we can speculate about Zanaga (and all the other landlocked projects in Congo/Cameroon) until we're blue in the face.

Hint; COIDIC have left the building since a while back now, and AT knows it full well.

here is some sobering reading:

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&u=https://www.makanisi.org/congo-la-zes-de-pointe-noire-recherche-developpeur-et-investisseurs/

My view is that Glencore has the full control over this, and it's squarely in the deepfreeze section of their portfolio. AT and Elphick are totally passive and working on their dayjobs, not spending any cykles on Zanaga for the time being. As for the supposed skeleton crew in Congo.... well, have a look at MPD/Jumelles employees on Linked in for example... not much to write home about.

Lets face it, ZIOC is a shell company, no executive management and no tangible assets,.Granted; 1 fantastic resource -on paper-, in a country where papers are ripped up as quickly as any of us can shout "Sundance!".

On the flip side, we got the 500pound gorilla that might be swayed to be part of Zanaga's revival or just throw us to the lions. We just don't know.

Thank Thor that the Iron Ore Spot price is in the 200's!!!
Nguesso, Glasenberg and Elphick have all wasted a decade and billions of dollars in lost profit by p1ssing away opportunity, and instead of having a producing mine of global importance they have bugger all. And we have 7p/share....
Euromillions anyone?
GL