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Shareminator - you are correct it's not limited to SLP and SHG has had its own regional issues too (VAT rebates withheld, Acacia dispute impacting Tanzania sentiment, recent SHG placing etc.). They are both 2 of my favourite shares and at these levels still very much positive on both, despite the risks. A lot of the new mining charter does not appear workable and will be significant drain on much needed foreign investment, so in its present form I do not think it will go ahead. So for me long-term SLP is still a great play. Palladium is reaching near parity with Platinum and it's my understanding whilst you can not use Palladium in a Diesel auto catalyst, you can use Platinum in a Gasoline (Unleaded) engine... Palladium is an inferior substitute, so if there is no cost incentive, would automakers really continue to utilise Palladium in long-term? I think it's reaching a stage where you need to view Palladium & Platinum demand versus supply equation as a whole, rather than on a standalone basis as most analysts still do.

Could have something to do with the news impacting all SA miners, on government plans to raise the minimum level of black ownership of mines from 26% to 30% and requires to remain at 30% even when the original black empowered owners sell their stakes. And if put into law (a big "if"), it has a very tight timeline for miners to implement - think 1 year Creates uncertainty that has been a bit of a drag http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/15/miners-ready-legal-challenge-south-africa-publishes-mining-charter/

Daisan and RB - you've both highlighted my main frustration of mine which is at this "transitory" depressed SP and knowing the long-term positives of the Company, I would have liked to have participated in this placing, but was given no chance to do so. Whilst I'm still very positive on the long-term of Shanta, particularly following the debt restructuring, acquisition, Singida, main New Luika Capex behind us etc. etc., I hold a substantial amount of shares and would have added to my holding over the next months, but now it has left somewhat of a bitter taste and I'm holding back. No doubt if it stays at these levels I will add though, let's see! Funnily enough two others I'm considering adding to are SLP (platinum group metals with low costs, market cap of only £27m with some $16.5m in the bank, no doubt more now once Q2 results released in July) and HUM, which Olderandwiser just mentioned. Although very hard to compare miners versus miners when factoring all items like grades, region, tax regime, net debt/ cash, reserves, AISC, life of mine etc, HUM's Market Cap is £91m (double Shanta's) and although it plans to produce circa 132 p.a. in first year, mine plan is based on 107k p.a. thereafter. You have to remember though HUM's portion is 80% (85K p.a.). As it's still in development with 59% Project complete, still risk associated prior to production and at this stage it's hard to work out what their net debt position will be once they achieve production.

Daisan and RB - you've both highlighted my main frustration of mine which is at this "transitory" depressed SP and knowing the long-term positives of the Company, I would have liked to have participated in this placing, but was given no chance to do so. Whilst I'm still very positive on the long-term of Shanta, particularly following the debt restructuring, acquisition, Singida, main New Luika Capex behind us etc. etc., I hold a substantial amount of shares and would have added to my holding over the next months, but now it has left somewhat of a bitter taste and I'm holding back. No doubt if it stays at these levels I will add though, let's see! Funnily enough two others I'm considering adding to are SLP (platinum group metals with low costs, market cap of only £27m with some $16.5m in the bank, no doubt more now once Q2 results released in July) and HUM, which Olderandwiser just mentioned. Although very hard to compare miners versus miners when factoring all items like grades, region, tax regime, net debt/ cash, reserves, AISC, life of mine etc, HUM's Market Cap is £91m (double Shanta's) and although it plans to produce circa 132 p.a. in first year, mine plan is based on 107k p.a. thereafter. You have to remember though HUM's portion is 80% (85K p.a.). As it's still in development with 59% Project complete, still risk associated prior to production and at this stage it's hard to work out what their net debt position will be once they achieve production.

Daisan - agreed on the positives, but it's still somewhat puzzling/ frustrating for a placing now for $14m, without a concise plan/ reasoning (acceleration of gold production to >100K etc. etc.). As per Shanta's New Luika mine plan, they have approx. $30m of Capex to fund in 2017, not included in AISC calcs. They had already expended $10m in Q1, leaving only $20m left to fund and they had $11.7m of cash left end Q1. As of end of May 2017 they had $2.8m cash left, plus the $10m loan facility secured against the new power plant. This means with cashflow (operating margin) from gold sales too taken into account, they must have spent perhaps $15m on Capex (also considering $2.3m financing for equipment) so far this Q2. That would leave only $5m of Capex left to fund outwith AISC, with main Underground works now predominantly completed and Shanta stating they are on budget. So with $12.8m on account + significant cashflow from operations (Gold price - AISC) + $14m placing, why do they need so much cash on hand?! There should be more than enough for organic growth and resolution of VAT rebate (another $12.5m)

In my opinion very good news on first two RNS' with acquisition that fits nicely at a good price and debt restructuring significantly reducing interest costs (and vote of confidence), however now is not a great time for a Placing. Shanta shares have been hit due to VAT issue, investment sentiment on Tanzania in general (due to Acacia dispute) and perhaps due to concerns about start of underground mining (operational risk, waiting for quarterly results etc). Whilst not sure what price placing is at, the SP is at a low that I think given a couple months would rebound strongly if VAT is sorted and quarterly results demonstrate transfer to underground mining is going as planned. Couple months would have been better time for a placing no?

Ragnar - fair point and no doubt there are operational risks with any project, but I assume the Definitive Feasibility Study must have given them enough assurance they will be able to meet circa 60K Oz per annum for 10yrs upon completion of Echo. But your right until it is complete, tested and commissioned, there is always that niggling risk. And I'm sure they will return cash much sooner than that, unless they use the cash pile for other organic growth, acquisitions etc. Alternatively they could recommence share buybacks to push the SP up.

Ragnar - good summary and highlights all reasons I'm invested here. By end of this quarter cash in the bank will represent approx. half of the market cap at this SP. I would say though that your last point is slightly out of date and actually even more positive now. The plan (Project Echo) to extend mine life by 10yrs has already commenced. Very low Capex of $12m for such a long-term pay-off. $1.4m was already spent in Q1 2017.

Whilst I believe ACA will be vindicated on the under-reporting accusations, we have to remember this may not resolve the overall issue ACA face that kick-started this, which was the concentrate export ban. To save face the government may still re-iterate its desire for more value-added activities to be performed in-country, which is fair enough. So if ACA do not get a favourable outcome overall on the export ban, we should not be too dis-heartened here or believe it will have a knock-on impact, as Shanta deal in gold dore only and no doubt have a better reputation in terms of the value it adds in-country in proportion to its size, compared to ACA. Ultimately this dispute must be eating up a lot of government resources and leaving other mining issues in "limbo", so it would be good to see it resolved one way or another (hopefully to everyone's benefit), so the government can move on to other priorities, like VAT rebates. Whilst the Government is correct to ensure mining companies perform as much value added activities in-country as possible and explore avenues for a smelter etc., I do not believe it was the correct course of action to implement a ban on export of concentrates with no warning. There should have been feasibility studies, consultations, a ban deadline sometime in future to incentivise ACA to meet this date (i.e. ban in 2 years time). A better course of action would have been to do what Zimbabwe Government was planning for export of Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) concentrates. Zim notified PGM miners a hefty export levy would be applied 2yrs down the line, providing incentive and enough time for miners to construct smelters etc. Considering the PGM prices have collapsed, the export levy keeps getting delayed by Zim. Sometimes the government there is pragmatic! This is the course of action Tanzania should have followed. Instead of an all-out ban which impacts everyone, they should have implemented a levy/ duty on concentrates exports sometime in future. To save face they may follow this course of action..

The 4th Option is that ACA hands are clean, all paperwork is in place, fully auditable and therefore ACA stand firm, with no fine paid and Tanzanian Government will save face by firing ministers and giving lip service to cleaning its own house and fighting corruption/ bribery. The Mining Minister and others have already been fired. This whole saga looks very bad for Tanzania and the Chinese are not the only players in the country to appease. The EU is providing hundreds of millions to the country for development and infrastructure programmes. A mega 30bn gas project is in the works and the Government require this is expedited to beat Mozambique with their own mega project. All this is mainly western foreign investment (Shell, Exxon, Ophir & Statoil) and the current saga could be enough to make many wary, which the Government will not want. I do not believe they will risk billions in foreign investment for a few extra millions from the miners, if everything is above board. Whilst I'm not in ACA, I'm in Shanta Gold, so following this with an eagle eye, as this current saga along with the delay to VAT rebates has hit all. All the best to everyone invested.

As zxcd points out operationally it has no impact on Shanta whatsoever, however it has no doubt had an impact on investor sentiment towards Tanzania in general and no doubt makes many concerned regarding the VAT repayments due to Shanta. Long-term if Tanzania continue to delay on VAT repayments, it could have major impact on overall foreign investment in the country to everybody's detriment, at a time when they're in a race with Mozambique to kick-start their own circa 30bn mega gas project. Maybe I'm being naïve and too optimistic, but ultimately I believe repayments will make their way back to Shanta. Tanzania have their own reasons for withholding whilst they clear house - the mining minister and chief of state-run agency has just been fired today and Acacia accused of understating its exports.

It may be too optimistic to say the sp can only go up. The Q1 results are extremely delayed and might not make very good reading. Surprised no one has commented on fact both the large mills at Freda now appear to be out of action, leaving only the 2 small mills On top of that Nickel is languishing at 9k/ton. The smelter is no doubt stuck in the 75% completion area until the re-deepening work is complete

Daisan - I've been wondering the same thing. Odey's assets reduced by 50-60% last year and he was down another 5% in Q1 2017. They must definitely be under stress! However Odey's stated shares in Shanta's Q1 report was unchanged. The only other thing I can think of is insider trading by someone selling who knows of a surprise lurking in the audited accounts to be released imminently, that we're unaware of from the quarterlies. However considering loss has already been reported for 1H of 4.7m, I don't think anyone's expecting amazing results though anyway... Like you say if it's a distressed major investor selling for personal reasons not linked to Shanta, for long-term investors looking to top up or new investors, it offers a great opportunity. One such opportunity came up last year for me on SLP. I couldn't believe how low SP was based on the fundamentals and thought there must be a catch or hidden gremlin. It was only finding out from long-term holders that a major investor had exited their entire position that I understood the reasons and took the plunge.

Exploration is wrong term for Zani-Kodo as it's of course a known entity and resource but just not in development... early appraisal stage is perhaps better

Nope none. They only produce gold and nickel in Zimbabwe. At present not worth mentioning the cows or diamonds as pretty much cash flow neutral (some quarters positive, some negative) In terms of exploration they have very promising gold asset in DRC (Zani-Kodo - the future cash cow to propel ASA into big boys league if handled correctly but talking long term). They then have copper and cobalt too, however had no updates on these assets for long time. Chinese company Hailiang completed drilling long time back in ASA's area but no results have been released

P.s I like ASA and re-assuring there's a billionaire buyer, but not sure I myself would put all my eggs in just one company!

Watching one basket in a basket case of a country where the CEO's just been ousted for embezzlement... he who dares rodney, he who dares!

Agree we should be looking at a dividend. SLP are in an enviable position that they can fully fund Project Echo, pay a dividend and expand organically (developing existing assets or acquisitions) through cashflow + debt facility (if a big acquisition)

Daisan - thanks for getting this clarification, much appreciated

It comes from recent article in the Daily Telegraph on Acacia - see below. However people may be confusing local paid ownership with giving 30% of the company away! That's not the case http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/04/20/cost-export-ban-mounts-acacia-mining-faces-new-ownership-rules/