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Not much to add to Donald's excellent summary other than to reiterate the positivity from the townsfolk of Mackay, many of whom are shareholders, and in particular, the support they're getting from the mayor of the town.

The town is already seeing positive transformation with some long neglected buildings being refurbished by the team to be used for accommodation for the increasing workforce, many of whom will be locals. The local office will be located on the main road into Mackay with the foundations already being laid and existing businesses, shops, restaurants etc will also benefit as the town expands.

Dennis is the go-to man for any questions related to the drilling programmes and the geology of the various projects. His assessment of the recent drill results from the first sulphide hole laid to rest any suggestions that they were anything other than extremely positive.

Just to mention that these lunches are NOT selective and are open to all shareholders so if anyone is close enough to London and is interested in coming to one in future, just watch out for the announcements here and on Telegram. It's always good to see new faces so priority will be given to those who haven't been to one before.

We only spoke a little about Red Star, but Marcus is of the view it could easily host a quick and dirty mine, following the high grade seams, that would pay for itself within 18 months. Now, here is something I didn't understand and which may be important. Empire is a copper oxide over a copper sulphide resource likely coming from a tungsten/moly porphyry. But, the sulphides may well extend over the whole site, with Red Star being lead, zinc and silver but also sitting above the sulphides. And all the time new things are being discovered: Red Star only came to light when roads were being cut for Empire and as more roads have been cut they have revealed more veins of mineable material.

So overall, one is left with the impression that we potentially have a huge resource. Solgold was mentioned once or twice as an example of a route that the company do not want to take, with a huge resource that has been through a couple of boards, multiple funding rounds and an ever increasing resource not that much closer to exploitation. The focus here remains on getting Empire into production, likely followed by Red Star, and continue proving up the sulphides with a likely view to selling to a major at a time of the company's choosing, if the price is right. Navarre Creek could be a wildcard that adds a lot of value: it is too early to say but the signs are promising.

So overall, a very positive lunch. It was a pleasure to hear Dennis speak: he is clearly fantastically knowledgeable and experienced in matters of geology, and with Roger Turner, who identified the potential at Betsy Post, which became Barrick's flagship mine, gives me huge confidence that we have a resource of rare potential. And Richard and Marcus are both totally focussed on getting the financing right and preserving the benefit of the site for the current shareholders. Richard was ever a little disappointed to have gone beyond his target of limiting the shares in issue to 100m, but there aren't many, and nobody is having any of mine! But having met Richard three times now, and spoken to him many times on Zoom, I am totally confident in his abilities and his approach. The more you speak to the board, the more you see their confidence in the project and in their approach to generating shareholder value.

Many thanks to zaphod (not his real name) for doing a lot of the legwork. I'm sure I missed lots out, but in many ways, it doesn't matter. My view is that this is a share to buy and hold and try to ignore on a day to day basis. The real rewards will come to those who hold for the long term imo.

Work is continuing at Empire, with the feasibility study being finalised and a focus on improving the plan of operations. They are also considering what can be done on the patented land pre-permitting. One of the thoughts, and Dennis is sending me a photo which I'll post tomorrow, is to have an aerial tramway transporting ore from Empire to the leach pads. This would mean that rather than giant yellow lorries transporting ore on a winding road down the mountain, a pulley system powered by gravity would have 2-5 tonne buckets of ore being moved directly from the mine to the leach pads 2,500 feet below. This would be self-powered, with the weight of the full buckets pulling the empty ones back up, and would save a large amount of opex (no fuel, no truck depreciation etc) and bolster green credentials. When you see the photo you will see how it would work. Nothing decided yet, but its an example of the ideas that Erin is bringing to the project and the focus on doing things as efficiently as possible. Dennis added that the Empire open pit is likely to last for 15-20 years, and the resource that has been stated will no doubt increase once mining starts. Due to the topography of the land, all of this will take place behind hills that you cannot see from Mackay itself.
There was some disappointment expressed at the response of the market to the sulphide drilling results and a belief that people perhaps misunderstood that 50cm of 8% copper was a great result, that doesn't exist in isolation, but as evidence of a much bigger and richer ore body. At this time, the suphides aren't about grades per se, but building an understanding of the totality of what lies beneath, and to intercept that on a first hole was a fantastic result and adds to the extensive historic knowledge from pre-war mining days.
On financing, Richard has been busy and has spoken to many people. He has no doubt that debt financing is available and achievable, his challenge is to get it on the best terms possible. But he was keen to remind us that the company is cash rich, has previous lenders happy to lend up to $5m unsecured whenever he wants, and he sees no reason why the company will ever need to issue further equity. Indeed, it may be that the company considers moving off AIM, as the prime advantage of AIM is the ability to issue lots of shares, which he doesn't need.

So, a very enjoyable lunch attended by 7 of us retail investors, Marcus E-J, Richard W and Dennis T. I was sat between Richard and Dennis, so didn't get to speak a great deal to Marcus. Those who sat at his end of the table may be able to add to my comments. The meeting started with structure but soon splintered into smaller discussions, and so my notes read a little like a stream of consciousness, for which I apologise.
The first thing to say is that the board hadn't been to Idaho for nearly 2 years, and they were all very impressed by the progress that has been made and the team that Ryan has built. As well as Zach, frequent mention was made of Erin, who is ex-Newmont and is playing a key role in designing the mine and Lenie, who plays an important role in many ESG areas and in relations with the local community. The town remains very supportive of the mine and the mayor is a big fan. The importance of the mine locally cannot be overstated: if it wasn't for Phoenix it is likely that the local school would have closed.
There have been delays, mainly industry wide, most evident in the time labwork is taking, but the company has drills on site and there is plenty of news in the pipeline. The EM report is imminent and they are hoping Ryan will receive it this week, but at the same time, it has been promised before and not arrived. The geophysicists came back to the site to check something last week which was interpreted as likely to be a positive sign.
From what the company has seen, it is very positive, as evidenced by the staking at Navarre Creek.
In fact, there is a lot of excitement building about Navarre Creek. It certainly seems to be the area that excites the geologists the most. There is lots of iron visible on the surface, indicating magnetite underneath and there is a belief that it could well be a "company maker" in its own right. The drills will move there after Red Star: they need to get forestry permission to drill, and the forestry people are worried about forest fires, but it doesn't really matter as Red Star is the drilling priority. But Navarre Creek looks like it extends for 6km, and when drilling is done there it is going to be very informative. Clearly we are 2-3 drilling campaigns away from knowing the true value of NC, but it could be a very significant asset in the future and its in the budget to be drilled next year. All of the 4 geologists that were on site last week said it was the site that excited them the most.
As far as the ADRs are concerned, there has been a delay in the paperwork, which is complex, but that should be up and running by mid October. As well as creating demand for shares in the US, which currently owns around 2% of the company, the way the ADRs are structure will bring in small amounts of cash to the company: nothing material, but we will be paid for the ADRs, rather than paying for it.

With great pleasure. LSE limit the word count to any post, so I'll break the big one (by Donald Pond) down to several parts, and after that post some of the other messages from fellow attendees.

Notes from last week's directors lunch and discussions with a few of our shareholders have been posted on Telegram and ADVFN. Has everyone seen them, or can access them? If not, let me know here, and I'll cut and paste them across.

There have been a number of posts on Twitter and LinkedIn this evening, showing the Board of Directors on the ground in Idaho.
See https://twitter.com/phoenix_copper/status/1440416698528530434?s=21 and https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6846180200443584512/

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.”

It's been pointed out to me elsewhere that the $ sum is in Canadian, not USA dollars. My apologies for overlooking that.

Hi CleverThoughts. Can you let me know your Telegram name, and I'll see what can be done....

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.