Member Info for sercher70

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:YNaLTMSaHS8J:www.africancopper.com/i/pdf/ACAHoweMay05.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk This was report 884 of Howe international Ltd who did the report for ACU. The open pit metioned was only viable aslong as the deeper mining at Dukwe could be achieved in a reasonable time. Main points mentioned pit life min7 yrs plant to produce 33.31 t/dayof copper 11,166 T/yr this was estimate in 2005 with current prices of copper. All budget figures are give by Howe in extremee detail man power etc and comfirmation of what had to be done on clean up, costs etc. I havent had time to follow the trail past this report. Maybe a word from BK as suggested by zcifan would save a lot of time Good luck onthis one

I've been digging and all I can find is mention of diamond drilling ( as opposed to percussion drilling ) mentioned in report 884"limited "diamond drilling. Also mention on 7/12/2005. I knew of elements of silver but cant recollect mention of diamonds.

Ive been in here since march 06 and the amount of lost capital on hiring in production machinery down time/maintenace problems/lost production must have cost a bomb. Plus re-vamping the production system due to hold up through rainy probs. I guess that if someone came along and put in viable production equipment then the output would be enhanced and cost lowered. Since one cannot take a shuffty at current plant and its efficiency, one is unable to get any idea if what they say is likely to happen within the time frame. However the picture certainly looks a little brighter than 6 months ago. I am also intrigued at what sort of SP we are likely to see last quarter 2012. Like someone has recently said the stuff is still in the ground lol

Have checked and only news on site since report June 2011 is update of ZCI loan on further $5m 1st Feb 2012. See they are giung to buy the trucs as mentioned in March 31 2011 report Nothing about putting in columns to reduce silica content in ore( as due to be replaced Aug 2011) norAnti caking filters due to be put in ,in Jan2012.SnT upgrade not mentioned either. All in all no real info at all in nearly 12 months!!

I have beeen in this since07 bought in at just under90p when they hadnt even stuck a shovel in the dirt.. Had high hopes of good quick returns from research but info began to dry up. I decided on abig gamble on this, the country being a more stable African area than most. I gradularly bought in when Sp was nearly underground!. When recovery showed 13p I was avged down to 5.5 so cashed in biggest part of my holding and put it elsewhere. Left the rest just for the hell of it. Reports showed that the management were loosing money due to to being unable to operate at any real level of production during the rainy season due to equipment failure The screens could not cope with the wet sludge theywere getting stuffed into them and more cash was spent on hiring portable units that had a better through put. Shortage of cash meant also cutting back on maint. and I believe operating staff. Management did not seem to have much of a clued up productiom team or they had made a poor decision in the type of equipment needed to operate in the local weather conditions during the rainy season. They also said they were not going to use the reserve cash to upgrade to better machinery till the end of the rainy period( conserving capital I believe they called it.) I do think there has bee some small changes that has eneabled increased production , but working capital seems to be short on the ground. I havent had much time to devote to looking to see what has happenened in the last 6 months my time being spent in more profitable pursuits. But am goint to find a bit of time this week end to do a search. Looks like snow so home is the place to be ha ha ha. Good luck t o all those hard old timers hanging in there. May be worth a bit in 2 years or so as long as ACU can keep afloat

Ive had these since june 07 and sold 90% in June 09. put in an Algerian gas field PCI. MAybe ACU will get lucky some time, but not holding my breath, miracles have been know to happen ( however not often on my watch haha) Will hold balance out of sheer morbidness!!

I was in some time ago and sold 50% holding and made 100% profit after very long time in buying on the real lows to average down my original costs!! Believe it or not original buy was in the 80-90p range!! very scary time as bottom dropped out of ACU. Only way clear was to keep going. Most probs were to do with the non performance of the crushers and the long down time. With my profit bought in heavy in PCI gas field in Algeria( still waiting on production of this massive field) Average now on ACU is 4.5p so still some way to go to break even point. Management at the time seemed clueless. clad I popped in and now see some decent activity at improved ore production. Still a chance of some profit GLA

I started to doubt when they did not seem to have the savey how to deal with sludge during the rainy season. I think they had crap second hand out of date mininfgequipment . Should have sold at 4.5 would have at least broken even. Now I dont know. They seemed to have a good grade of copper/ton but had crusher probs all the while. How do others manage to keep rproduction running during African rainy season? Seems all BB posters may have got out in time having seen the possible demise. Can only think someone would buy this out cheap but with the bottom out of the mining section per se I have my doubts.

This looks shaky since the problem still exists in continuity of production and the need to rsamp up production. Extract from report:-ZCI Limited Notes to the consolidated financial statements For the year ended 31 March 2011 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 49 4. Going concern - Continued At 31 March 2011, the Group remains in a positive cash position with no external long term debt. The projections show that, if the key financial assumptions are achieved, the existing Group facilities and new facility with ABCB will be sufficient to provide the necessary funding for the company and its subsidiaries for at least the next 12 months from the date of approval of these consolidated financial statements. Based on this, the Directors consider the preparation on a going concern basis appropriate. However the unproven ability of the Group to achieve the ramp up in production and the volatility of the copper price represent a material uncertainty in relation to the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to continue as going concerns. Should the projected production levels and key financial assumptions not be reached, the Company and its subsidiaries will have to source additional external funding in order to realise their assets and discharge their liabilities in the normal course of business. In the event that additional funding is not forthcoming, these conditions may cast significant doubt about the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to continue as going concern

Do I read this right , there is doubt about the company being a viable running company????

To 16.21pm on ADVFN live stream 29/7/2011 showed 406K buys and 1.6M sells for what it's worth. Bit of a mystery with so high buys shown by Directors on LSE here. Reports show a bit of a turn round with this sompany so I will be digging a bit and if it seems ok I guess I will likely dip my toe in here for a few quid

You might like to take a look at the production history of this company. Looking back over the rns's and the reports, any company working in the area they are in should realise that the rainy season is going to be a problem with ore crushing due to the slurry such conditions produce. One would have thought they had taken due note of this when putting in a production plant and not wait till maintenance down time brought production to a near halt, before deciding to call in experts?? in designing a plant to tollerate such condtitions. How much money was spent on hiring suplemetary portabl equipment to try and keep the plant running.I am no mining engineer it is true, but common sense dictated you have a model that works. After all they are not the only company mining in that country and in such condtions, which are ongoing year in year out. Maybe at BOD level they do not listen to people on the ground( typical of Uk style management who always try to appear to know it all and are afraid to admit they are not all that clever outside of the banking side()- even that is debatable considering they decided to put on hold spending money that would have possibly helped to solve some of the on the ground problems. I have put my share sin the draw and set my computer to warn me of any major developements( subject to any info being given to share holders)

Looks as if all pi's have flown! looking at absence of posts( though nothing top post about really). News on the ground NIL. Well with rainy season gone till about Oct t2011 I think they have about 7 months to get the production system more efficient if they are going to survive I believe they have stumbled along now for some considerable time with what appears to be little real progress except to patch up the current system . Looks as if they need a savvy bidder/ production team to come along if this is going to continue to mine copper at a viable rate.

On reflection I dont know if it is to read that installation will be completed- by- Nov2011 or after the rainy season( which starts in Nov 2011 to Mar2012)? However sinnce the info was given on 31 Aug2010 prior to tne 2010 Nov rainy season start I am under the impression that work would start sometime this month, Aprl, If the work is done over Apl to Aug there should be a rise in production. I dont know what effect not having the dense media separator is likely to have. However, if conserving capital at the expense of improved production and less down time,with copper currently at an all time high, then I would ask, is this not false economy.? Bear in mind my musings are based on the minimum of given information. I therefore say DYOR and then make your decision. Good luck all who patiently wait.

The Company continued to address the issues required to lift the performance of Mowana to the next level. Amec Minproc, an international engineering firm, is undertaking the engineering design study on the Secondary and Tertiary ("SnT") crushing circuit to enable it to operate at capacity year round. While this work has been in progress, the SnT has performed well as the feedstock is currently dry. Management has also budgeted for the addition of a washing plant to screen and wash out the fine fraction from the ore before it enters the primary crusher ore stockpile, in order to more permanently alleviate demands on the SnT. Since lead times on delivery of the washing plant and certain SnT components will not allow for installation prior to this year's rainy season, the installation has been delayed for completion until November 2011 (prior to the next rainy season) to conserve capital. The combination of the existing SnT and mobile crushing capacity that was secured earlier in the year should alleviate SnT capacity restrictions that were experienced during last year's rainy season. In an effort to further conserve capital, a dense media separation plant, originally planned for installation in the first half of 2011, has also been put on hold.(info from 31aug 2010 No improvement on equip. till Nov2011)

Yes , I repeat. when a company in answer to a polite enquiry from a shareholder says it is posting in accordance with the rules, and there is a huge gap from info to info, then I get a feeling that all is not as it should be. Historically this company has had real trouble with production equipment. So when one is told the heavy rainy season has caused foul ups in the screens and crushers( bearing in mind as miners in that area, they should be totally conversant with the vagaries of rainy seasons., and plant design should be capable of operating in such conditions. One cannot say"Ok boys we're in the rainy season now! lets just shut up shop till it's over. As far as I can remember I havent seen any rns about the way in which they have succeeded in surmounting this problem. Just a fact that engineers were taking a look at a redesign. I really would like to be able to take look see at the current plant construction now. The pictures of what they put on the web site some time ago, didnt look as good as some UK agregate plants I've visited in the past, and theirs should be a bit more hi-tech than those lol

I really would likem to be able to go and have a look at the hole ACU is digging in, just for abour an hour would do. It might make me feel a bit better over this share I bought into over 3 years ago. I thought that when they said they were upgrading the equipment after the interim use of portable machines to help out when insitu equipment got bunged up with mud muck and ore + rain!!!.... that it would be ok and really take off with the SP. I personally do not tlike silences over how things are going. When someone quotes they are going by the letter of the law and say they do not have to give more info to a share holder..... alarm bells ring!!. I am glad that when it hit the 13p mark a short time ago, I sold out the majority of my holding and just have a nominal 22000in this one. this is whats left of a buy I made when at 2.5p. My first buy in 08 wasat 89.5p , price shortly topped about 100pand then spent the time juggling with the ups and downs till with the buys at 2.5 I now avge 4.5. So just sitting in here for the H...l of it

Right, as you say one would think that time scale ample. Depends whether the mods were up to snuff as the saying goes. Problem is I have read there can be a lot of procrastination from field engineers, so I gues unless one was there to view what may have been put in place ,it seems a game of wait and see. I am afraid GLE

IMO the product is there ok but from past info plant design was at fault and failing during rainy season. Plant mods were supposed to being addessed. However in lots of mining ops historically work in the field is fraught with problems and getting gear quickly is not that clever -( getting stuff on time in the uk is bad enough) yet alone in Africa etc. So I think plant probs still could be a big part in lower production hence not much to shout about in an rns

In whose life time? I am at the top end of the life timeLOL and if it rises a few more p then after all these years will get out with dry trousers before it dips behind the waves again