Member Info for M20ASH

Hi VanVan, I’ll ask around.

Been over here for a week now. Have to say that the attitude to the virus is incredibly positive, unlike the U.K. - maybe because we are in a tourist area and their livelihoods depend on it, but the approach is spot on.
Fuel prices are low - about 60p per litre - which can only benefit AAU. Bottom line is that it’s never been as cheap to be in Turkey as it is this year, which can only help on a cost front.
Downside is that people here are really struggling. For them, food prices are running out of control, property prices are keeping in line with the exchange rate, which means they are affordable to people with money in Turkey or foreign buyers, but local people are being priced out of the market. Makes no difference to AAU on a day to day basis, but a regime change is pretty much inevitable, I feel.
Anyway, iyi geceler, kandine iyibak!

Hi VanVan, I’m off to Turkey on Sunday for a couple of weeks. Would you like me to bring some news back! Or maybe some gold or silver!
Cheers, Ash

Hi TS, 4 sounds about right - EL006713 is adjacent to the Creswick licence, EL007296 is adjacent to the Baillieston licence and are pending. EL007484 and EL007486, following the sequence of applications and the update as at 31/08/20, on which they do not appear, have been applied for since, but, I guess, unlikely to have been granted yet.
Cheers, Ash

Maybe the applications for 6713 and 7296 are extensions to the existing licences acquired with the assets?

Try searching for Mercator Gold instead of a licence number in the website and it will bring up all licences, both current and relinquished. Not sure why the latest application data has 6713 and 7296 as not yet accepted as these look like Creswick and Baillieston. 7484 and 7486 are on the list - maybe submitted since 31 August?
Cheers, Ash

Hi Paul, have been trading it for a little while, but reducing all my holdings so I can sit back and relax a bit for the next 2 weeks on holiday. Still holding some, but hoping to buy back in before any big news hits.
Cheers, Ash

Another bit of info re current licence applications in Victoria as at 31/08/20. The map in the video has a pin in licence EL007430, which was applied for by Dart Mining NL on 20/8/20.
There is a licence applications - EL007296, not EL007486 - submitted by Mercator Gold on 25/8/20, but not yet accepted and an older application - EL006713 - submitted back in 2018, but not yet accepted.
MercatorELhttps://earthresources.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/586138/Report-3-Licence-Applications-202008.pdf
Hope that helps? Cheers, Ash

You may be right, but you have to question why this Bloomberg update even appears in the video in the Doc Holliday tweet. Could it be that it conveniently picks up today's date rather than the original date? Why is it relevant to any news of new licences?
Cheers, Ash

Just checked back through previous RNS - this 'Bloomberg' update was released 14 May 2019 in an official RNS, not today. Then it has been used to create a false impression in the video of new licence news. Buyers being suckered in to allow certain individuals to offload.
Cheers, Ash

Hi Slig, the main thing I took from it is that the JV agreement is key and nothing will be approved until it has been agreed, drafted and submitted for approval along with all the other documentation required.
Cheers, Ash

Hi Slig

Not sure if this will answer your questions - certainly not in terms of timescales. Looks very complicated, but then it always is in Turkey, if you're not Turkish.

https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/7-616-7354?transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)

..a little bizarre that there is so much volume and the chat boards are relatively quiet. Normally, I would expect a bit more interest?
Cheers, Ash

Hi Otho, Brucey6bonus, Tiger et al. Thank you for your posts recently. Took advantage of the recent news to sell a few and bought back. It’s a shame that a few posters seem to have sold and bought in elsewhere, but for me the HUM story and potential hasn’t changed.
Have a great weekend folks!
Cheers, Ash

Hi adamsmith (a name I remember well from my economics studies), can’t answer for anyone else, but as I understand it the share options within the HIPPO scheme are only awarded, if certain targets are met that align with shareholder interests e.g production targets, AISC and if they are met, then the directors are rewarded. Personally, I don’t have a problem with that - capitalism at it’s best (no doubt someone will shoot me down).
There also seems to be a lot of flak about certain decisions in the past and the lack of PR, but I’ve started to think this business is heading in the right direction and doesn’t need any spin. Results are starting to speak for themselves and I say let the BoD get on with it and realise what they have set out to do as we will all benefit as investors.
Cheers, Ash

No expert on the mining approach and there’s probably not enough available information, but from the recent resource upgrade at Kiziltepe and drilling results at Arzu North & Derya, I get the impression that the silver to gold ratio is higher than it has been at Arzu South.
What we don’t know of course is how much of that silver will be extracted, if the pit optimisation is focused on the recovery of gold.
Maybe, if the silver price continues to rise in relation to the gold price, it may be economic to consider silver as a resource in it’s own right?
Cheers, Ash

Hi Otho, great thoughts and a great read. Please post more as and when time allows.
Cheers, Ash

Hi CK, yes they should be adjusting the cash costs for movements in the stock pile and gold in process. My question regarding the silver credit is more to do with the fact that the RNS states a cash cost of production of $492 and in the small print, as it were, refers to the silver credit. I'm not sure whether I simply take the difference between the avg gold price and the avg price per gold oz sold of $399 and add this to the stated cash cost of $492 as the resulting figure of $891 seems high?
I think a lot of investors will simply be comparing the revenue per gold oz of $2,116 with the stated cash cost of $492, but this is misleading as both include the value of silver sold.
I also noted that payment of the 2% state right has been deferred due to COVID-19, which I think would have been 2% of $37.3m, based on the last 4 qtrs sales - approx. £746k or $159 per gold ox sold in the qtr, which would have put the cash cost up to $1,050, which is way over the level I was expecting in comparison to the figure for Q2 2019.
Cheers, Ash

Hi VanVan, good idea. I'm sure he'll love it! Cheers, Ash

Struggling with the numbers from today's RNS. Gross income is $9.901m of which £8.034m is 4,679 oz of gold at $1,717 avg realised price per oz leaving a balance of $1.867m, presumably from silver sales. Production in the qtr was 61,986 oz of silver plus 31,421 oz b/fwd from February (per the Q1 RNS) totalling 93,407 oz, which, if my maths is correct, implies a silver sales price per oz of $19.99 per oz. I don't see how that was possible given that peak spot price in the qtr was $18.27 on 2 June?
Next question - if cash costs of production include the silver credit does that then imply that the difference between the average revenue per gold oz of $2,116 and the average realised gold price of $1,717, which is $399 per gold oz needs to be added back to the operating cash cost figure of $492 to derive a cash cost of $891 per oz to be used in comparison to the revenue per gold oz of $2,116, which gives a true margin of $1,225 per gold oz or $5.732m, which is pretty good, subject to clarification on the silver price achieved.
Thanks in advance, Ash