Member Info for mrtibbles

This may be of interest to some on here
https://www.tfmetalsreport.com/podcast/9830/gold-2020-andrew-maguire

Firstly thank you Rebess for your kind words they greatly appropriated by me!
I would also like thank all of this forums members for their continued support,help and informative contributions throughout yet another years journey to the golden flip flop ball!
Lastly may I also wish all my fellow forum members and friends on here a "Happy Christmas" and hopefully a prosperous new year!

Hi Rebess,
After recent events and the comments on social media by the El Raghy family I would certainly hope that guidance at least hits the bottom end of the prediction given recently by the Sukari general manager Youseff El Raghy.
I think the Centamin general management must now be well aware that they are now in the "Last chance saloon!".
If they don't deliver then they play into the hands of the likes of Endeavour and Mr Sawairis who will no doubt feel very irritated at backing the wrong horse (camel)"Endeavour" and failing to carpetbag Centamin for far too few "Shekals"!.
If past track record is anything to go by then I feel far more confident in the abilities of Jeremy Langford to be more capable, resourceful, hands on and very importantly a far better staff motivator than his predecessor in this role ever was!

Hi Siko,
Thank you for the update.
Good to hear the the El-Raghy family are under no misapprehensions about the cut of Endeavours jib and aren't holding back in making others aware!

The thing is Tiger that on every occasion so far that a company I have held shares in hes been taken over by another company then I have lost out.
No matter how this move by Endeavour is dressed up if they have a controlling interest of 53% then they have control of final say on the Centamin cash pile and its reserves or assets.
It should be regarded as a hostile take over!
I agree the past two years performance by the centamin manegment team is less than satisfactory and there is an urgent need for great improvement going forward.
Perhaps this attack by Endeavour will finally shake the Centamin board out of their complacent state!
I am not against any merger or takeover negotiations taking place with the right potential partner to agree the right terms.
Endeavour is not such a potential partner as he reputation of the CEO is still in doubt or open to question, the company is indebted and hedged to a huge amount whilst it's mines and reserves are mediocre with some under potential threat by rebel groups,
I am sure that Van Eck will be considering all these points though.
I do wish though that as well as discussing this on various forums that more share holders would also write or email detailing their concerns to either Centamin IR or the appropriate regulator or ideally both!

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-egypt-gold-idUSKBN19O1LS
The outcome of the auction included the awarding of the Bukari and Umm Samra districts to Resolute Egypt Limited, the Umm Al Russ region to Veritas Mining Ltd in UK, the Umm Oud and Hangla area to East Gas Company and the Dahab area to Ghassan Saban for Spanish investments.
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/10692673/officers
https://www.amcham.org.eg/publications/business-monthly/issues/279/March-2019/3835/egypts-new-mining-game
The other aspect the draft hasn’t addressed is how the government will vet new entrants to the industry. Veritas Mining and Ghassan Spain Investment—two new companies—drew attention to the problem during the 2017 bid rounds. “I didn’t know them at all,” says el Maghraby. Campbell, on the other hand, doesn’t believe they are real companies. “As I understand it, they are just expat Egyptians who are trying to get land and have no technical or business expertise at all in mineral exploration,” he says. Moreover, “former EMRA Chairman Omar Toema got some guys to quickly set up companies and bid, to look like there was lots of interest.”

“It was a complete sham and everyone knows it and this is another reason Egypt has a bad reputation in the mineral exploration and mining industry,” says Campbell. “That is why transparency and clear cut terms and conditions are so important.”

Thank you Siko for the post,
Also thankyou Marmot for the excellent explanation and confirmation of how so many financial journalist in the media skim over the surface of their subject picking out the attention grabbing details but don't really have an in depth understanding of what they are talking or writing about.
Also as you point out and as I have stated many times some financial journalists are working to an agenda or to keep their particular publications sponsors or advertisers happy by creating a bit of panic to create lots of business for them.
We all knew the Edeavour bid was a complete crock made in desperation and of course Mr Sawiris supported it because it my have been a way to get some of millions he has chucked down the lavatory pan by getting involved with Endeavour.
The man on the train has always regarded Van Eck as the good guys who tend to look at the long term prospects of a company.

Very good points Cowichan, no wonder Endeavour & Mr Sawiris want Centamin on the cheap!
Perhaps Mr Sawiris doesn't like the fact that ulterior motives of the Endeavour approach have been uncovered?
I must get Tweeting to Mr Sawiris , let me know via the usual channels Cowichan if you have anything you want me to tweet!

Endeavour are behaving like "Carpet Baggers", how could any tie up with them possibly be a good thing , certainly not for retail share holders, throughout this approach they have behaved despicably !

n a terse news release, Centamin said Endeavour is failing to provide information it was promised.

Endeavour Mining is seeking a merger with Egyptian miner Centamin.

After executives at the two mining companies met mid-month and agreed to a non-disclosure agreement, the two would conduct reciprocal due diligence.

"Notwithstanding that the basis of engagement has been agreed and all preconditions to information flow in either direction, including a standstill having been satisfied, Endeavour has now indicated that it will not provide the information that Centamin has requested unless and until Centamin agrees to an extension of the PUSU Deadline," said Centamin in a news release. The PUSU deadline involves regulatory requirements and timelines when companies attempt a takeover or merger.

"Without Endeavour providing information that is core to the assessment of value, such as its financial model, Centamin cannot properly assess the proposed combination.

"The Centamin Board is disappointed that despite its efforts at constructive engagement, Endeavour has repeatedly refused to engage in a proper manner. The unsolicited approach from Endeavour has created an intense period of uncertainty for all of the Company’s stakeholders."
Centamin's Sukari Mine is the only gold mine in Egypt.
The life of mine is 20 years and has annual production of about 500,000 gold ounces.
The company also has exploration projects in Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

By Michael McCrae
For Kitco News

Thanks Dasut,
From your experience it sounds like Anglogold Ashanti would have some considerable technical expertise in how to overcome some of the difficulties at Sukari.

It hasn't been published as yet, it was in a personal conversation with me.

Thank you Bob, looking forward to your future posts!
Just hope as our board kick Endeavour up the ar(se and send them packing otherwise it may be the end of our forum!

Kees Dekker made this very point when the Endeavour approach was announced, although he thought Centamin was by far the superior party for all the reasons we have discussed on this forum.
Although the Kees opinion aside, in this case the glaring dissimilarities between the two parties are so evident you don't really need to be a mining analyst, just an interested investor to soon realise that Endeavour embarked on this clumsy exercise because it is in a really tight corner with huge debt and mediocre mines, some of which are at risk from insurgents threat or future political uncertainty.
We also have to be aware that some of those financial institutions and financial media analysts that are in favour of the Endeavour bid may have ulterior motives, divided loyalties or just want to make a quick profit or commission out of an Endaevour take over/partnership.
After all a bit of insatiability or panic is always good for churning the shares,especially during a period when volumes are traditionally low!

Quite so Bob, Josef handled this well!

We certainly don't need a partnership with a company without integrity and honour, not to mention a huge debt, mediocre mines some under threat of insurgents attack and little experience of underground mining techniques.

I believe the experienced and enthusiastic Jeremy Langford will motivate the Sukari staff and invigorate production output.
Also long awaited changes to the regulation of the Egyptian mining sector seem to be starting to be implemented which can only help Centamin in the long term.

If Endeavour are as good at running a mining business as they claim to be then let them demonstrate it by building and operating a mine in Egypt from scratch just like Centamin did!

Thank you Bob for your reply and good wishes of the season, I think all of us Centamin holders are in need of some good cheer and luck at the present!
Your warning about CFD trading should be heeded by all!
In 2011 after months of receiving daily telephone calls from a chatty partner in a London brokers I was foolish enough to be persuaded by him to open what he described as a CFD advisory account that he would personally look after.
I really didn't understand anything mush about CFD trading, although reading though the literature he sent me it seemed that one could make exceptional profits very quickly on leveraged CFD's.
What did concern me though was if such profits could be made so quickly then surely huge losses could also occur very quickly, so I asked him if this was the case?
I was told not to worry as he got 70% of the trades right and in any case he would be using "Stop Losses" to protect my portfolio.
So I was persuaded to transfer a very considerable part of my portfolio to his company and this was used for margin purposes through this brokers Saxo trading platform.
I won’t bore you with a long story, but move things on 12 months to when CFD trading had turned into a 24/7 nightmare for me and on the advice of my now not so chatty and nice but very persistent advisory CFD broker the part of my portfolio transferred to his company was now worth considerably less than the initial amount transferred.
I questioned my advisory CFD trader about this and he quickly pointed out that in the past month trading of mostly short positions on my behalf he had got 34 trades out of 47 right!
That was true, but then when I looked at my account it hit me between the eyes one investment consisting of numerous CFD positions was down over £30,000!
In the last month my brokers trading commissions were well over £4000 and yet my actual profit after costs etc was £370!
So partly because of this but mainly on my doctors advice who was concerned about my mental state I paid off my debt to Saxo bank and closed my CFD account!
I have never traded in CRD's or short positions since and although this was a very worrying and very expensive time the experience taught me a great deal about the dark side of trading the markets.
So since then I have tried to turn a negative experience into a positive by not making the same mistakes again and by trying to help other investors avoid getting reeled in by the very clever marketing tactics used by CFD brokers.

Well said Marmot, I agree entirely with your opinion on this approach by Endeavour!

Exactly dealts,
The mining analyst Kees Dekker is of the opinion that Endeavour is desperate for some way to address its profit and debt crisis and so have made this opportunistic approach at getting Centamin on the cheap.
Kees feels that Centamin is worth far more and a far better company offering far better future prospects than Endeavour could.

Hi Bob,
Sorry just realised that it was you who posted that very interesting post on your past professional experiences with the "Book" on the other side of the spread, it was of course great that Marty posted the query but it is only right that I acknowledge my error and thank you properly!

Best wishes

Tibbs

Thank you Marty for your post, it is good to have confirmed what many of us investors have suspected for so long hat the markets certainly aren't fair for the ordinary retail investor and the often quoted ' Have trust the markets" is an absolute 'Crock!"
Someone like you ought to write a book on the subject, I am sure that there would be great interest in it especially amongst the ordinary retail investors who suspect that the markets and financial trading systems are not the level playing field they claim to be, but in reality regulated and run to give great advantage to those of the privileged inner circle over the powerless ordinary retail investors.
At present most ordinary retail investors in Centamin feel not only ostracised by the corporate and legal processes that are in motion, but also confused, frustrated and powerless to have any influence over the final outcome.
It would have been prudent for the Centamin board to have carried out a share buy back to reduce the number of Centamin in circulation which exposes the stock to manipulation and gives the large institutional and huge trading organisations the opportunity to control the destiny of the company in ways which may be detrimental to the best interests of the ordinary share holders, as in this situation.
I fear there is little chance of any other company coming in with a better offer whilst the court case regarding the concession licence is unresolved, however this may offer great advantage to Endeavour who have a very rich and influential Egyptian their camp who may be seen as a preferred partner by EMRA and their political masters.