Ben Richardson, CEO at SulNOx, confident they can cost-effectively decarbonise commercial shipping. Watch the video here.
3) And then we get hit not just by a double whammy but by the gremlin of COVID, with an added spice of Biden. In direct terms, we lost a lot of manhours the last year due to illness. But the largest consequences have been indirect. Like the UK, the USA economy is bouncing back, and according to the New York Times is growing at its fastest rate in a quarter of a century. But like us, with this boom they are also short of employees. Restaurants are short of staff, shoppers are struggling to find used cars, retailers are struggling to hire. Add to that Biden’s recovery plan which has benefitted unemployment and welfare programmes, many unskilled workers are seeing more money in their pay packets from staying at home rather than working. This has led to an enormous crunch where the mining industry, like many others, is genuinely suffering from a lack of skilled and unskilled staff. So, when previously spare parts could be machined within days, it is now taking weeks to make repairs to equipment.
Now I move the above to our own business, Phoenix in Idaho. We cannot be immune, for the whole supply chain is suffering. Company drilling programmes are planned and budgeted in the previous year, so our 2021 programme was planned in 2020. However, our funds did not become available till March this year, after the equity raise. That we have drilling rigs on site I think is a special achievement. I saw Richard Wilkins comments that we have been impacted by COVID, and I hope the above explains this a little, but I also saw that the company remains on track to deliver our projects on time. As a chemical engineer formerly running large projects, I understand the importance of the critical path, and it is obvious that they are keeping an eye on this. It should not matter in the long term plans if one or two of our activities slip a little, so long as the significant one (for us the starting up of the Empire Open Pit mine project) is maintained. Richard’s comments suggest this is exactly the situation, so I applaud the directors and employees for managing this to date, and particularly those in Idaho.
Maybe with the visit to Idaho by our UK Board Members this week we’ll hear more on this, but thanks to my conversation last week, I now have a better understanding of what we’re up against.
I may have some more information for you Sp28. I spoke with a friend in the US last week covering several issues which may be having an impact on our operations in Idaho, and following on from that conversation, I made a little more research, which backs everything up. He said that there are several situations which have come together to make a perfect storm, as follows:
1) Metals Prices. You have to go back 8-10 years (dependent upon the metal) to see copper, gold, silver at levels where they are today. That brought in a double whammy. First, with metals prices lower over that period, there was less investment into the industry. Lower profits resulted in less drilling, less maintenance, less repairs, and less demand on laboratories, so by all round consequence fewer unskilled employees. With less opportunities there were also fewer students, so less graduates and skilled employees, such as geophysicists and geologists. Then suddenly last year, metals prices rose, demand soared, but human resources had been depleted.
2) Now the second part of the double whammy. With soaring metals prices, everyone wanted to drill and to mine. That led to a shortage in pretty much every aspect of the business, of unskilled and skilled labour, of laboratory bench time, of chemicals, and of spare parts. Equipment was working harder, needing maintenance or repairs, and the staff are just not around to do that work.
Hi DJR, I've followed your posts here a long time, and frankly can say that you have been excellent. Your posts have been dispassionate, and carried factual information, and I applaud you for that. I can imagine the disappointment you feel. Frankly we all get incidents like this in life, and if we ever meet I'll tell you my story from elsewhere.
However, let me reinforce, the fundamentals here remain very, very strong, and the company remains sound. They have just been lousy with their PR. Then there is such a relatively low free float, that when a few people sell, the share moves a lot, and that compounds the situation, because it looks worse than it is.
I am working to try to change the situation as an investor. I wrote to the company for the AGM and received a good reply, and I am continuing to engage. Feedback from others suggests that indeed their Nomad is rather fearsome, and impose rather stricter conditions than others. But that does not excuse the really poor communications we have received. I hope from our (positive) feedback we can change that. For I do believe that this is a great opportunity, and it is indeed exciting to be in from this low point. Remember the best money is often made from opportunities like this, when a company has suffered a poor few days.
But good luck, whichever route you take. Please don't forget to drop me a line....
I sought a little more background further to the RNS, to better understand its implications, and so made contact with the company. Here is the information I noted down from the exchange :
“It is a frustrating time, but we will get through it. What should be remembered is that we made it very clear to the market that we were going to build our elution plant and smelt house from revenue, but the position we find ourselves in, without this approval from the Minerals Commission to rent the third party facility, we have now turned our plans 180 degrees.
We are building our own elution and smelt house on-site. As announced we have major components on site and are focusing all efforts to build and commission it, and will bring the project back up to where it should be. GoldStone has very supportive shareholders and with their continued support we shall complete this plan. We believe we have sufficient funds in house to complete this work, and hope to have this completed very shortly".
Hi DJR, you can write to me on gt905686@GMail.com
Hi DJR, would you send me a PM please, for I would like a chat. I guess we can't do it here, but I post as Pantsonfire on ADVFN, and you can PM me there. If not, then on Telegram as @PantsOnFire888 on Telegram. Thanks.
I look on GRL as an investment. I am holding this for the long term gain. Under the market rules the company are obliged to publish financially sensitive information pretty much as soon as they have it. Good or bad. If you have done your research here you will know that very shortly this will be a huge money earner. If you have read the messages from Emma she responded to at the AGM, and posted here, you will see that things have been delayed, but she has promised to report very shortly. This is not a company with massive debt, and neither does it have significant technical issues to overcome before it can finally produce gold. But it does have location as an issue, and Emma has written it very clearly that this is the reason for the delays.
If any of you feel that investment in this company should give a smooth and easy ride, you are invested in the wrong company. It is Africa and it is AIM. If any of you have bought shares for short term gain, and are upset by the lack of daily reports, you have bought into the wrong company. But if you have INVESTED here, because it is a little "spicy", is in a higher risk location with an appropriate discount , but it is run with minimum staffing (till they have cash flow - and I applaud that), but it has lousy PR (like many miners they are lousy self-publicists, but Emma has said they are intending changing that when they have the funds), you should be happy that it should be turning the corner very shortly into production, so buy, sit back, relax, for there is nothing you can do (aside sell), and wait for the take off day. But above all, please do not whinge, for that will not change anything here. Everything is in place for GRL to be a real big cash earner, and I am personally looking forward to this very much indeed.
I have spoken with the company about the newsflow. The issue they have is that the company remain firmly on course to deliver the Empire Open Pit mine exactly as stated earlier. Nothing has come out anywhere to doubt that. Nothing. Why do they need to keep repeating the same message for investors who are buying in for the long term? In essence, those who are genuine investors need not worry since the company is financially strong, has sufficient funds in its bank account for all expected expenditures till well into 2023, by when the Empire Open pit mine would be up and running and throwing off cash. What's the issue with that they ask? Or maybe it's the short term traders who wish to benefit from short term rises and falls in the share price, and who are not investors, but who drive these fluctuations? I for one would rather have those sticky investors as shareholders, so that we see less of the fluctuations. People who are interested in the long term success, and not opportunists who jump ship based on lack of newsflow, when in fact nothing, absolutely nothing, has changed.
But, the company say that there will be a number of announcements and newsflow in the coming weeks, maybe even as soon as next week. And we know that this company like surprising us, so maybe we'll see something special.
Hi Butlerman. I have been here since the beginning, from the IPO, when I paid 40p. The shares went up and down, and even dropped down to 5.5p at one point, in early 2020. Since then they've had periods in the 20's, in the 40's and in the 60's, and I’ve recovered my IPO price only earlier this year. There has often been no logic I can see for many of the recent share price movements. I held then, and I’m holding now, as I believe in this company.
Meanwhile, I know the company, and I know most of the BoD well, and have known them over many years. I like them and I trust them. They are all heavily invested, and none of them has sold a single share. I know the news flow we expect for this autumn and into next year, and this company has only one way it’s going to go. It has all costs fully funded till well into 2023, and I anticipate no difficulties to raise the required finance for the open pit mine, without requiring any equity.
This is a share to buy and put away and forget. It’s one which WILL give you a very substantial return. All the financial numbers say that. The company cannot be responsible if short term traders take advantage of rises and falls, but these same traders may miss out if they miss the news which sends the price roaring. My advice, relax, and wait for the long term rewards. If you have concerns give the directors a call. They are very welcome and open to discussing things with shareholders. Good luck!
I also wrote some questions to the Board for the AGM, and received a very full reply, which somewhat mirrored that posted by jdt1990. However, I additionally received the following which I thought may be of interest:
# “GoldStone has been putting all efforts into getting this mine into production. It has been an uphill struggle sometimes with the permitting as we are in the hands of the Ministries and Commissions, who don't necessarily work to GoldStone's timetable. But when we get this mine into gold production, we will have done it with very little debt.”
# I also asked about PR and IR: “We have to date focussed on putting the money into the ground and into the local communities rather than on IR and PR. But it is agreed by the board that when we are in production and in cashflow, we will spend money on PR and IR.”
# I also asked about resolution 6, the allotment of 220 million shares: “whilst this has been a trait of GoldStone for many years, you will note that allocation of shares has been against allotment for warrants and redemption of bonds. It is not the intention of the company to allot this amount of shares for equity, but they could be used for corporate transactions should opportunities arise. We will rectify the % for the forthcoming AGM in 2022 as it can be construed to send out a wrong message.”
The company have an agreement with ExGen make a 2.5% Royalty payment. Did you see that ExGen have sold their Royalty in Phoenix?
hTTps://finance.yahoo.com/news/exgen-announces-sale-empire-mine-204400445.html
This is very interesting indeed, as the 2.5% Royalty was sold for $2,750,000. That's a huge amount of dosh for a company not yet producing, and demonstrates, let me put that in capitals, DEMONSTRATES the confidence that someone has that not only are we going to start up and operate, but will also produce a revenue stream allowing appropriately high royalties. They have priced that 2.5% Royalty at nearly $3 million. That's amazing, and shows the confidence that investors have in the company., for they surely made a due diligence before investing.
good evening djryan, I hope you do not mind, but I have a small but important correction. The process of leeching you describe is defined in Britannica as "the application of a living leech to the skin in order to initiate blood flow or deplete blood from a localized area of the body". I did not know we were involved in the medical business, and always thought we were in gold mining, where the process is leaching. Sorry, but it hurt my eyes each time I saw the error.
Sparky, you wrote “the Chairman was on a ramping webinar and declared the company know they have a 300m deep sulphide system. This was then ramped to death” This is really ridiculous. You are attacking the data and the man when you have no basis. First, Marcus did explain that this was a very rough estimate which had not been signed off by any geologist or independent consultant. He was merely trying to show the “generalist investor” in the simplest possible terms, what could be there if they managed to get the exploration right. There was no ramping involved. I explained this to you, and still you won’t let go. Then you suggest that he is lying about the 300 metres. As you know he cannot respond directly to that accusation, so it is really unfair. I spoke to him, and he says the evidence is in plain sight of everyone. Take a look at the Presentation and slide 39, 3rd bullet point, and which shows the depth of the historic workings – 1,100 feet, so more than 300m. In fact, the Cossack tunnel went down to 1,600 foot. Plus we have historical records of old stopes and workings at depths of 300 metres into the sulphide stratum, and some of these can be seen on the PXC site. The present holes are probing the region just below known workings and going even deeper into the sulphide zone. The above are facts, so how can you say he suggested this, as if he were creating something out of nothing? I have explained to you previously that one hole means nothing in the wider picture, and you should place this together with all the other holes previously drilled, and previous mines, as above, and here the overall picture shows a fantastic resource. Remember that Marcus was being conservative with his calculations, taking much smaller numbers than those known to account for this being an estimate. He took 3 kms for the length for example, when we know it to be 5kms long at least. You overlooked to say that. Please do note that Marcus was trying to give an IDEA for the potential, and nothing more. The overall message is that you buy today into the highly attractive oxide open pit mine, which pays back in under a year, and have as a bonus the deep sulphides, which have not been priced into any analysts report yet. The statement by Marcus was 100% correct, and I suggest you be more careful with your choice of words next time.
My friend Sparky, I am not your slave. On this board we respond to polite exchanges. Indeed, I find this one of the friendliest and supportive boards on LSE. If you are unable to do your own research, and want others to assist you, a little politeness does not come amiss. That I have chaired webinars does not make me an expert. I have a little more time today, so on this occasion I will help you.
Looking at the sulphides, we must remember that the historic mines in Empire were all after the sulphides, as they were unable to recover from oxides in those days. The shafts dropped down through the oxide zone into the upper level of the primary sulphide zone. The mines ranged over a depth of about 1,000 feet (this can be easily seen from documents), and the Cossack Tunnel was 1600 foot down, and was the main work face, I believe, when the mine closed. Hardman also report “of the drill holes drilled to date, several have intersected the deeper sulphide zone. The intersections range from 1.2% Cu to 11.4% Cu, and from near-surface intersections to more than 100m depth”.
I have not spent too long on this, but hope I have produced sufficient information to support an attempt at a back of the envelope calculation. I hope that this helps you.
Sparky, please excuse a relatively short answer, for I am very busy these days. You have misinterpreted the data. Sp28 has corrected you, and yet you repeated your error. I made strong verbatim notes of that webinar, and can relate back word for word. His words were "As for grade, when the mine closed it was mining 6-8% copper, but let us call this 0.5%, (a very simplistic calculation)". So, the 6-8% was mentioned in passing and not to be used as any basis. He preceded those words by saying “What I am about to say is not backed up or signed off, but is stated to give you an idea of the size.”
Please put things into proportion, and do not use these for any scientific argument of fact. In recent times I have seen several times you grab at one detail and extrapolate it without reason . One such comment recently concerned your statement about Red Star and the need for additional equity, where I had to clear your smokescreen. Could I ask that you be more careful with your choice of words, suggesting a fact where no fact exists.
We are all very enthusiastic for PXC, and I guess you like me were disappointed with the fall back this week. But I suggest you look for reasons elsewhere.