Member Info for Rebess

'Why just Africa'? Centamin is an Australian company, the world is a big place and we've got a few quid in our pockets and no debt.. - Why just Africa? - OK, Josef is of Egyptian origin but even he is seeking pastures new. -

Hi Somnamna - 'Are they miners or bankers?' - It's a good question isn't it? - I think the point is that successful miners are accumulating so much wealth, whether they like the responsibility or not, that a financial/banking role has become inevitable. - Some are concluding that there comes a time when it becomes as important as the mining side itself. A fork in the road if you like, but a fork that remains interconnected along their parallel paths. Each supporting the other and each contributing to the others success. Management of said wealth is certainly extremely important to shareholders and to the future growth/expansion/wellbeing of the company. -This philosophy is what Rick Rule is reporting as happening amongst the North American mining community. - The new deal - The new direction.

Following on from my previous post. - It seems that new thinking is being taken on-board in that the size of treasuries has become so significant that professional financial management expertise is now ranking alongside their mining expertise. - Having morphed into the equivalent of a bank,, equal weighting is now being introduced into it's management going forward. - That's a helluva lot different from a philosophy that says 'We are not in the business of banking, get rid of the money'. - We are desperately in need of a change of thinking at this time. - Using Randgold who are now a multi-mine, multi income-stream entity as an example, At it's peak a couple of years ago it had increased it's SP by almost a factor of 50. The dividend yield has never been that great, instead they sought to use their treasury for expansion. - I truly believe Centamin management need some fresh thinking on this subject. AIMO.

Interesting reading Rick Rules latest comments. - North American mature miners who are debt-free and holding a treasury, in their quest for expansion are seeking to invest in selective juniors/explorers. The rationale being the efficient use/ management of the funds they hold on deposit. - The approaches are being welcomed by the junior/explorer sector as they provide an alternative funding arrangement different from traditional and sometimes punitive conventional borrowing arrangements. - - To me this makes more sense than dispensing with the 'War chest' through dividend payments.

Hi Sotolo - I thought you'd sold up. - Many of the LTH's invested for growth and I believe still seek it. - Paying-out huge sums in dividend without achieving growth is like pis*ing it against the wall. - A lost opportunity with nothing to show for it. - IMO

Yes, I know all about the arithmetic involved in compounding. - I know about the quote from Einstein, who doesn't? And guess what, I know a lot about Warren Buffet, but I don't use either of them to support my thesis that investments are not made in nascent mining companies for dividend. I maintain that it is essentially a growth opportunity that is the attraction. - In Centamin's case we have reached a point in the journey where dividends are on the agenda and are well received by all, there's no doubt about that. However, in my opinion, dividends are not the primary destination. - Our one-trick pony status makes the SP extremely vulnerable and this weakness has been well and truly exposed in recent weeks. - So much so that the dividend benefit has been more than wiped-out through the forfeiture in the share-price. - I warned weeks ago that the weakness of our SP made us extremely vulnerable to set-back news. Nobody else was saying it at the time. That vulnerability is still in play. We need additional streams of income as a protection against said weakness and so far as I can see this can only come through expansion/growth. - IMO of course.

Hi - Compounding, for what purpose? - I've invested here for growth not for piggy-banking. - There's plenty of shares even in the FTSE100 that pay just as good a dividend but where growth is not so attractive. - I agree that using funds for expansion at any cost is a futile and worthless exercise. Equally, allowing a company to stagnate to a point where it has become moribund is also worthless. - IMO

I predicted a 'Double whammy' when prelims were released, let's hope it doesn't carry the same momentum as the production warning. - In addition of course there is also the possibility of a 'Ttriple whammy' when official figures are released, especially if they contain more unpalatable details. - Many said that that the bad news was already priced in after the catastrophic production RNS. - In an ideal world maybe, but not in this world. - The best we can hope for now is that there will be no further set-back news and that we are being told the truth by the board. - I have my doubts about the latter. - Serious doubts.

Pushme - I like your style. - Having declined to make a prediction, after the event, you are now saying that if you had it would have been a lot lower than us lot. - Lol. - Nice one

Hi ton-fra-cen
Gotcha - yes, that works. - My comment failed to take account of the purity factor - cheers..

1kg = 32.15 troy oz

ton-fra-cen - hi
I think you've used the wrong conversion in arriving at your oz total. - Gold is measured in troy oz at 31.15 grams per oz.

Hi sparkle - you've set a rabbit away here. - Miserable git that I am, I'm going for 108,000.

Wel,l if today is a harbinger of what to expect on Monday, we could be in for a good-hiding - again. - Masochists or what?

Steam being let off this morning a little bit, a few handbags flying around here and there. - It's all good stuff and keeps us on our toes.

No doubt we are all looking forward to Monday's revelations. - Wouldn't it be nice to have some good-news?
One thing that does concern me is the snail-like progress the company is making towards growth/expansion. - A few weeks ago, I think it was Marmot who posted a description of the status quo, apologies if it was someone else/ - 'One country - one mine - two court cases - three green-field sites. - If he'd wanted to be extremely cynical he could have added another numeric value to his description. - Zero. - Zero ambition for anything other than maintaining the gravy-train that Centamin has become for those in control. - For all the world there are signs of a pattern here. If things continue as they are, we'll end up with all the cash being doled out, with no expansion/growth allocated to shareholder investments and we will have lost the powerful advantage we once held.. - Meanwhile, the golden-conveyor will continue to run for the life of the mine, delivering riches for the directors and allowing the shares to become worthless. - After six years, it's not unreasonable for thoughts like this to enter the LTH mind. - Newcomers of course will harbour no such doubts.

Don't forget there was a 10% fall in underground output due to 'Production equipment availability'

Hi - I was just about to ask about the date of notso's communique when Tiger beat me to the punch. - It reads like regurgitated old news. - The current status is that the Admin court void the contract and to-date has not been reversed. - That's what we keep going on about. - The current situation is that the appeal related to this decision is still pending, delayed by the introduction of L32 which itself is awaiting the outcome of a judicial process. - You can't make it up can you? - The other point of course is that nobody was aware of an imminent ruling by the court when usually we are kept informed.

Hi sparkle - thanks for your efforts, much appreciated. - 86% will be nearer the mark for purity. I think. - Just one thing, I note you've included a July shipment in the numbers. - Do you think that'll be included?

Since nothing has been done in respect of preparations for leaving, there are no new customs and border controls planned, not even drawn plans or planning applications, absolutely nothing, it leads me to believe that come hell or high water we are staying in., Within the time that now remains I can't think of any other rationale explanation. - What we are seeing now is just pure theatre. - It's possible a decision has been made behind closed-doors and what we are seeing now is the strategy of remaining being played out. - Otherwise, how are we going to cope with our borders and ports of entry?,

America closed on Wednesday - 4th July. -