Member Info for mrtibbles

Bear in mind that any serious offer from any responsible company should be expected to go through the due diligence process which requires dis closure of all the material facts, this would be impossible if Shanta were withholding any pertinent information which appears to be the case at present and anther important consideration is any outstanding or ongoing disputes with government of the host government..

Obviously everyone will make their own decisions on whom to trust and whether to stay or get out.

All I can say is that from past experience in the majority of instances this particular analysts concerns have proven to be well founded.

But that said at least now you you have been alerted to sone very important points to consider and the as yet an apparent lack of any substituted evidence to support the company's on paper claims of recourse potential, etc.

I noted some some discussion regrading if Centamin should be looking would be getter to consider looking at Shanta projects as a possible alternative to developing Doropo, so with that in mind I asked a well respected and experienced mining analyst for their opinion, unfortunately I am unable tip get some of the charts to post on here , but there is enough to show that Centamin would be well advised to apply the barge pole to any such idea!

The Analyst's opinion

I started looking into Shanta, but had to give up when coming to looking into operational financial performance of the New Luika Mine. They are not provided by the company. It is an AIM listed company and can get away by giving no information. The usual practice of companies that are not listed in Canada. They give all kinds of non-relevant information (e.g. the number Board meetings attended), but nothing on waste stripping, operating cost, etc.

(Unable to print chart )

What is evident however that this company has never managed to return any cash to its shareholders since 2013 (No financials on their website before that despite being listed in 2005).

Amazingly there is no financial information for the 2023 year, not even interim results.

The table above shows that the company absorbed US$53 million of shareholders funds as a going concern and NEVER returned a cent!

Moreover, the best days of this mine are past as is shown in the graph below: the plant feed grade has dropped dramatically over time.

The New Luika Mine has supposedly a LOM ending in 2027, should no further reserves be added from current exploration. The production rate is between 70,000 and 75,000 ounces per annum. Actual production in 2022 was 65,000 ops, so they forecast an increase. On the basis of what?

The new Singida mine is supposed to add between 32,000 ozs and 38,000 ops per year. Therefore a small operation with bad economies of scale. The grade is between 3.0 g/t and 3.70 g/t, but with a high strip ratio of almost 14 with much higher rates in the earlier years.

The West Kenia project has a good grade of 5.55 g/t Au, but I am clueless about the exact technical parameters. It would be another production centre with its own overheads and I suppose another corporate office within Kenia.

In conclusion, the company does not impress me. The projects look on paper OK, but historically the company could not generate cash from the New Luika Mine when it had a grade above 5 g/t Au. If the company does not have the confidence to provide technical reports substantiating the attractiveness of new projects, why should you have such confidence. No wonder Centamin does not consider Shanta. Centamin should not waste their time on small projects when they have bigger ones to consider.!

Regards

Hope this helps!

I noted some some discussion regrading if Centamin should be looking would be getter to consider looking at Shanta projects as a possible alternative to developing Doropo, so with that in mind I asked a well respected and experienced mining analyst for their opinion, unfortunately I am unable tip get some of the charts to post on here , but there is enough to show that Centamin would be well advised to apply the barge pole to any such idea!

The Analyst's opinion

I started looking into Shanta, but had to give up when coming to looking into operational financial performance of the New Luika Mine. They are not provided by the company. It is an AIM listed company and can get away by giving no information. The usual practice of companies that are not listed in Canada. They give all kinds of non-relevant information (e.g. the number Board meetings attended), but nothing on waste stripping, operating cost, etc.

(Unable to print chart )

What is evident however that this company has never managed to return any cash to its shareholders since 2013 (No financials on their website before that despite being listed in 2005).

Amazingly there is no financial information for the 2023 year, not even interim results.

The table above shows that the company absorbed US$53 million of shareholders funds as a going concern and NEVER returned a cent!

Moreover, the best days of this mine are past as is shown in the graph below: the plant feed grade has dropped dramatically over time.

The New Luika Mine has supposedly a LOM ending in 2027, should no further reserves be added from current exploration. The production rate is between 70,000 and 75,000 ounces per annum. Actual production in 2022 was 65,000 ops, so they forecast an increase. On the basis of what?

The new Singida mine is supposed to add between 32,000 ozs and 38,000 ops per year. Therefore a small operation with bad economies of scale. The grade is between 3.0 g/t and 3.70 g/t, but with a high strip ratio of almost 14 with much higher rates in the earlier years.

The West Kenia project has a good grade of 5.55 g/t Au, but I am clueless about the exact technical parameters. It would be another production centre with its own overheads and I suppose another corporate office within Kenia.

In conclusion, the company does not impress me. The projects look on paper OK, but historically the company could not generate cash from the New Luika Mine when it had a grade above 5 g/t Au. If the company does not have the confidence to provide technical reports substantiating the attractiveness of new projects, why should you have such confidence. No wonder Centamin does not consider Shanta. Centamin should not waste their time on small projects when they have bigger ones to consider.!

Regards

Agreed Sotolo & Paul, let's hope that 2024 is better not only for Centamin but also that some common sense , honesty and compassion can be applied to solving all the other ongoing issues for all the inhabitants of our world!

Happy New Year to you all!

The Alberta Securities Commission has fined a woman $400,000 for insider trading after she purchased nearly $350,000 in shares of Leucrotta Exploration Inc. just before her employer, Vermilion Energy Inc., entered an agreement to acquire it.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Behjat Haghshenas, who was employed as a senior reservoir specialist for Vermilion at the time, was working on the deal between her company and Leucrotta in March 2022.

Shortly before the deal was completed, Haghshenas used her partner’s account to buy 265,000 Leucrotta shares worth about $349,150.

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/vermilion-energy-employee-fined-400k-for-insider-trading-1.2016112

Several new bills filed in the Oklahoma and Missouri legislatures are seeking to eliminate state capital gains taxes on the sale of gold and silver, and also contain provisions to treat the precious metals as money rather than commodities, according to a recent article by Michael Maharrey for Schiff Gold.

https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2023-12-27/new-state-bills-would-treat-gold-and-silver-money-eliminate-capital-gains

Looking specifically at gold, Wells Fargo expects the precious metal to trade between $2,100 and $2,200 an ounce in 2024. John LaForge, head of real assets at the bank, said in an interview with Kitco News that while gold has solid potential to see record-high prices next year, the market needs a sustained break above its recent all-time highs.

He noted that gold has been range-bound for the last three years, underperforming broader commodities, which is why some investors are hesitant to jump in.

“Right now, gold has to prove itself. Investors are saying: ‘Show me the breakout.’ I think once the market gets above $2,100 with some conviction, then it’s going to be a lot of fun,” LaForge said.

https://www.kitco.com/news/article/2023-12-26/its-going-be-lot-fun-wells-fargo-sees-gold-trading-high-2200-2024

Hi Mr Gnome,

When considering the sheer greed and corruption that exists amongst the Eygptian officialdom who are complicit or more than willing participants in fraudulent activities to line their own pockets then its hardly surprising how long the Sukari concession court case dragged on, likely had the company been willing to grease palms then the case would have been over in a trice, that said I am relieved that the company wasn't party to any such criminal activities!

A number of Egyptians were arrested on Tuesday over their suspected involvement in a profiteering ring that has allegedly been withholding large quantities of essential food from the country’s markets to drive up prices, a state-affiliated TV channel reported.

Those arrested included the deputy minister for price regulation and distribution of supplies, media outlets said. He is accused of taking large bribes from private companies to withhold items such as sugar, rice and flour from Egypt’s markets to drive up prices.

A number of civilians were also arrested on suspicion of involvement in the scheme.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/2023/12/06/egypts-supply-ministry-deputy-arrested-over-alleged-food-price-corruption/

That headline inflation dropped for the second month running was hailed as a positive sign for Egypt’s ailing economy, Naeem Brokerage said.

“Without the official hikes in the price of cigarettes and gasoline, monthly inflation would have slowed down to 0.5 per cent, the lowest since June 2022,” the company said.

It predicted headline inflation would drop to 33 per cent in December, driven again by the favourable base year contribution, which should “offset any unexpected spikes in monthly inflation amid further weakness in the Egyptian pound in the parallel market".

https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/economy/2023/12/11/egypts-headline-inflation-drops-for-second-month-running-to-hit-346-in-november/

Cairo

Dec 27, 2023

Egyptian banks, all of which have in recent weeks tightened depositors’ access to US dollars through debit and credit cards, are still operating at the official exchange rate of 30.9 Egyptian pounds per US dollar.

However, analysts have warned that the Egyptian pound is severely overvalued, which has made dollar holders sell on the black market instead.

https://www.thenationalnews.com/mena/egypt/2023/12/27/egypt-pound-dollar-exchange-rate-fx/

Thank you Tornado, seems to prove what Andrew Maguire has been saying for some time!

Russia's second-largest gold producer Polymetal prefers to sell its gold abroad since Russian local banks buy the precious metal at a discount.

In light of Western sanctions imposed on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February, Polymetal's options of selling its gold are limited. The miner has been targeting non-sanctioned banks, Bloomberg reported, citing the company's CEO Vitaly Nesis as saying during an investor call Monday.

Russia's second-largest gold producer Polymetal prefers to sell its gold abroad since Russian local banks buy the precious metal at a discount.

Not about Centamin, but well worth watching over Christmas and New Year!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001gn7t/the-boy-the-mole-the-fox-and-the-horse

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001gn7t

We went into the shelter for two and left with five pups | The Asher House

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu1LOMX9h1Y

Who stole all my oranges?

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-e&q=Who+stole+all+my+oranges%3F

Who broke into the feed shed?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeeUzUwKy2w

Last Sunday's spike in gold probably was an Eastern warning shot

https://www.gata.org/node/22955

Hi Dasut, you may have digressed a little ,but it's all very interesting!

https://en.advisor.travel/poi/Williamson-diamond-mine-10931

Hope that you and all the other members have a very Happy Christmas and a very prosperous 2024!

Tibbs

Agree Tornado!

A few simple questions politicians should consider

To construct renewal energy infrastructure will take an enormous amount of energy. Where will this energy come from? Obviously until sufficient renewal energy becomes available this will have to be from fossil fuel sources and/or nuclear energy.

- Renewable energy infrastructure has a typical life of mine of 20 years. We can already calculate that as from 2050 we will produce twice as much waste per annum than currently we produce as plastic waste.

- The amount of mining required to produce one electrical car engine (average weight is 0.5 tonne) is 250 tonnes. This is produces almost all through burning fossil fuels. You then have an engine that needs to be charged with electricity. From what is this produced? Either fossil fuel, or renewables constructed from fossil fuel.

- The metal produced for renewables will have to be mined in areas where there is currently no mining. This will also affect the environment in a major way, not to speak of all the child labour involved in producing cobalt.

The efficiency of energy generation from fossil fuels (amount of energy obtained / amount of energy required to generate energy) is a much lower than fossil fuel (5 versus 15) and a fraction compared to nuclear energy (100). It means that renewables may well not give a sustainable economic society, alternatively will lead to much higher energy prices.

The current high fuel prices (which preceded the war) are due to pressure groups forcing oil companies to cut back on exploration and development, but at the same time requiring massive amounts of energy to build renewables.

There is very little potential further improvement for renewables: solar theoretical maximum efficiency turning foton energy into electricity is 33% versus 26% currently and for wind that is 60% versus 45% currently. Therefore there will not be any great leaps for gains here.

Also the largest battery factory in the USA that of Tesla would need to produce for 500 years to build sufficient batteries to hold one days energy consumption in the USA!

Ofgem are raising our energy bills AGAIN - to "help energy suppliers." That's the same energy suppliers that are raking in billions in profit.

The increase of £16 might not seem like a lot, but for the millions of people counting the pennies, this is simply unaffordable . And honestly, it's just ridiculous that Ofgem is making sure energy companies with massive profits get a bailout, while millions of people are facing difficult choices between heating and eating.

This is about principles. We can’t let Ofgem think they can increase our bills, whenever the energy companies pressure them to do so.

https://act.38degrees.org.uk/act/cancel-the-price-hike