Member Info for VanVan

I had a great email chat with Kerim this morning (he’s in Perth).
It was regarding the exciting Sandstorm, Hod Maden news confirming 85.3 metres @ 84.3 g/t gold, including 32m.@ 209.4 g/t gold and 169.3 metres @ 39 g/t including 13m.@ 147 g/t and our own highly prospective Hot Gold Corridor prospects which include Salinbas, Ardale, Derinkoy North, and Hizarilyayla. Hizarilyayla is of course just c. 8 km north of Hot Maden.
His reply to me was quite illuminating. He said:-
“Just goes to show how extraordinarily prospective this little area of the Earth's crust is!  And to think that these licence areas could have been ours back in the day, but we were so funding constrained we could not get them!!”
I hadn’t realised we would have bought them ourselves if we had had the readies. But I love this further comment from Kerim, which highlights an amazing skill Kerim has, which indeed we often recognise on this Bulletin Board.
“I suppose what it demonstrates is that we have always known where to look.  Back then though, we barely had two cents to rub together, so we could not acquire the ground.  You win some, you loose some!”
Let’s hope the Deal proceeds and we then have the cash to fully explore and develop all our Hot Gold corridor prospects. The mind boggles thinking about the potential of a 50,000 oz p.a. mine from Salinbas/Ardale not taking into account the potential at Derinkoy & Hizarilyayla.
Last year Kerim told us all three licences (Ardale, Salinbas & Hizarliyayla) comprising the Salinbas Project had been secured as operational licences. I understand the Co. considered this fairly important news at the time, but the market largely missed the significance. Kerim described it as “a major milestone for the Company”.This enabled them to commit immediately to the commencement of an environmental baseline study and associated scoping work required in advance of the E.I.A.. As we know the MoU allocates $8m to complete the EIA and complete a DFS etc.

SANDSTORM GOLD ROYALTIES PROVIDES ASSET UPDATE, REPORTS 85.3 METRES OF 84.3 G/T GOLD AND 6.8% COPPER AT HOD MADEN MAIN ZONE. Bodes well for us?

Doesn't have to be at a discount; could be at a premium. Depends how keen they are to acquire a position.
I'm sure there are lots on the sidelines watching - private & institutional. In particular watching for the outcome of the exhaustive D.D., which fundamentally de-risks us if it goes ahead. Gold & Silver seem to be on the move again.

Yes Ash - I’m excited by the underground potential at Red Rabbit which we know very little about yet. But as we know Arzu South joins Arzu North under the hill with potential high grades I believe at either end. Kerim always plays his cards close to his chest and never over eggs potential, but the one thing he is not, is a fool . If underground costs are warranted he will be sure to exploit it . We just have to be patient to learn more imo. This is not to mention the Hot Gold Corridor & Cyprus.

I accept all that (Thanks) but that doesn’t explain why we are so cheap . Condor seem to have attracted more big hitters like Jim Mellon & others on the Institutional register. We seem limited to Starvest and Eldorado Gold. Hopefully that will start to change soon as PG find a more receptive audience as our Mkt Cap rises and gold price rises continues to bring attention to the sector.

Can someone please explain to me how Condor Gold (CNR) a Co. exploring in risky Nicaragua, which is still some years from production is worth £41m against our £35m.
Beating in mind we are profitable, debt free, apart from a normal working capital facility, have interest from a large conglomerate potentially wanting to inject large sums of cash, have numerous highly accretive potential prospects, are one of the lowest cost producers, and have bottom quartile discovery costs. Resources & reserves being increased and new opportunities being pursued in Cyprus (copper etc.) Am I missing something?

I agree. Every time I try and listen to SOH the sound reception is rubbish. Not at all professional. Did Tom W. say it was his largest holding?

*************: This is what Kerim said in the Chat room today in answer to my question. Kerim: Yes - in terms of dividend - if we pull off the deal our intention is to do a one off special. He also said:
Doing the deal is important for us as it would allow us to "grow the pie", so that our slice, although smaller, would ultimately constitute a greater value for the company. Plus we would be partially cashing out, giving us a great deal of optionality on developing our overall portfolio and potentially paying a dividend.

Ariana is presenting online tomorrow which may be of interest to those here - htTps://www.sharesconference.com

But as said you would have to see how many shares were issued at that time. A lot less than today. So trying to compare 17p with today’s 3.4p is like apple and pears. If we got back to 17p the Co. would be valued at over £170m, still not unrealistic over the next few years depending how the Hot Gold Corridor develops, our second mine at Tavsan more than doubling production and gold price etc.

With all the excitement around the Memorandum of Understanding, the imminent Tavsan mine schedule and the deep drill programme at Arzu South, it's easy to forget about the elephant in the room - Salinbas in the Hot Gold Corridor.
The last RNS about Salinbas said this: "the Company is committing to the immediate commencement of an environmental baseline study and associated scoping work required in advance of an Environmental Impact Assessment. We are also going to undertake further drill planning so that the Company will be in a position to undertake dedicated resource drilling of this Project from Q2 2020."
Well we are in Q2, - so could we be due an update on Salinbas. Any progress here is going to be, without a doubt imo, impactful on the Deal negotiations. It's probably 6 months since the negotiations started and Ariana has undoubtedly move forward quite a bit since then on a number of fronts. Plus our underlying asset has increased strongly in value.

Oh and in February the RNS said - ""We look forward to working closely with the proposed JV parties in order to conclude the proposed agreement and advancing our project development plans for Salinbas in particular."

Note - "in particular"

That’s an interesting post . Thanks for sharing.

Not sure if I’m answering your question, but Proccea are a private Co. hence difficult to get much info. They are fairly big and well connected in Turkey with lots of experience in construction and mine management. Experts who have been there like Chris Sangster I believe have said it’s one of the most impressive mines they seen. Today’s RNS is great news re the drilling. Very bullish re the underground opportunities imo and nicely time to compensate for any negative sentiment from yesterday’s deferment.

I fancy one of those Ariana T shirts Kerim is wearing in the BRR interview. I can see us all turning up at the AGM, when we are allowed out of course, sporting one of those.

Can you share with us your target price?

brrmedia.news/uzgpv

I don't think so. There are apparently high grade veins around Arzu South and Arzu North. It was the Derya Vein which is close to Arzu North where they found the bonanza grade spot in 2013. So all three satellites (South, North & Derya) provide excellent, exciting potential as far as I understand. In fact there could be the potential for 2 underground mines .I'm sure there is so much more too materialise. I just wonder how much detailed information the potential new partner will get to access too. Or is he really only interested in Salinbas and perhaps the other assets in the Hot Gold Corridor, often referred to as the elephant in the room. I'm sure I've heard it hinted at that Hizarliyayla in the south (nearest to Hot Maden) could be a richer find than Salinbas. Then there is Derinkoy North and Ardala, also in the Hot Gold Corridor. Could you tell us more about your thinking regarding the delays due to the virus. I think you are right about Andrew Scott not mentioning the Deal. As there is only 7 days to the end of April and a Muslim holiday on Thursday I believe, there really isn't much time left till the MoU extension expires.

And what is the latest on the deal. After all the latest extension runs out 30th April.

New interview out with Andrew Scott, Proactive Investors.
Work around Arzu South sounds interesting. Drilling & geotechnicals aimed at putting together an Underground resource assessment in turn leading to an underground mine plan. I suspect there will be some very sexy grades to come out of this.
Also, Tavsan revised resource estimation underway as we know. But apparently an independent review to start shortly leading to a mine plan.
At Salinbas an E.I.A. scoping study is underway with Independent Consultants having already completed an Interim report. This will now be studied and reviewed.
No comment on the Deal.

Thanks for your kind words John. I suspect our meeting in St Paul’s Pizza Express will be a seminal moment! Ha ha.