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Until AAZ have recovered their Capex costs, Government receive roughly 12.75% of revenue, AAZ 87.25%. After 2016 it's not clear to me from the last Annual Accounts whether this ratio then changes to 25% - 75% split (top of pg.15). Once AAZ have recouped all costs, Production Sharing Agreement kicks in and revenue is split 49% AAZ - 51% Government.

Increased imports from Indonesia may temper this in medium term, but short-term it could push Nickel higher and the increased refined nickel imports from Indonesia since ban are still not making up for the nickel ore concentrate deficit from Philippines. In long-term, many Nickel outfits in Indonesia are running behind schedule to update their operations to be able to refine in-country. Additionally Glencore released a statement that approx. 100,000 tons year of Nickel is now required for batteries in Electric Vehicles. If 10% of world’s vehicles transition to electric power, 400,000 tons of nickel would be required on a current yearly production of 1.95-million tonnes

Brasso - don't suppose you could clarify the price AAZ receive per ton for its copper, considering copper spot is $5,700 and your assumption for 2017 is $3,000? Checking the 2015 accounts, AAZ had revenue of $3,778,000 from 1,702 dry tns of copper, which equates to only receiving copper price of $2,220/tn. I've noticed AAZ sell all its copper concentrate to Industrial Minerals SA (Swiss based integrated trading, mining and logistics group), with a 3yr agreement signed in May 2014, updated in March 2016 on same terms up to Dec 2018. Assume sale price is at a significant % discount to spot, due to impurities and requirement to refine further, but can't find any details on the agreement itself Annual Statement or the RNS of May 2014 or April 2016 following the agreements.

On the Copper & Silver and following the last presentation, if the AISC has been calculated at ca. $700/oz gold, can we assume this is effectively a "composite" cost and takes into account copper and silver? So effectively can you assume operating margin for copper is 2,100tns x spot, as the cost of production is already factored in and copper/ silver in accounting terms is treated as "by product"?

Are you inferring that the Audited Annual Accounts and Remuneration report are not correct and the Company is committing fraud? Major projects not included as part of AISCs like the Smelter are known and covered in various RNS', which is more than most miners provide. Other Capex for Agriculture and Zani are minimal and don't know any miner to state Capex for such things. All miners are not very transparent with Capex costs, it is not solely ASA.

USD at 14yr high and after Yellen's speech yesterday, market is probably now at 100% likelihood of rate increase in Dec (it was already 96% beforehand). Will likely remain choppy for Gold Feels a lot like this time last year. Despite the rally in USD and equities post Trump, I still can't see how USD will be able to maintain such strength without an imminent recession. If Trump truly wants to bring back competitive manufacturing jobs to US and to fund his huge infrastructure Projects, increasing US debt, weaker USD appears to be only way. To fund such trillions worth of spend will further debase the USD. At the moment the markets seem to lack any fear... However when you look around at the financial state of the world economy, I personally think there is a lot to be fearful of!

Good to see both Nickel and Gold rising, particularly with USD strengthening against JPY, which normally pushes commodities down, especially Gold. Interesting to see what happens at US open.

Gorsuch - believe your understanding is correct the JV covers whole area of Zani-Kodo, I was merely pointing to fact 80% of a 3m Oz is substantial and no brainer for ASA to focus on higher grades at "Zani Main" To think very little of overall area has been drilled too, upsize is huge

Gorsuch - to say ASA "only" has 80% of a monster 3m Oz resource slightly downplays the huge upside there.... Of the 3m Oz, over 1.7m Oz is in "Zani Main" with grades of 3.5g/t

It is purely formality and as per the AGM resolution which was passed by shareholders At the time the AGM resolutions were issued, ASA shares were less than 1p and had been for at least a year. Had an equity raise been required, it would not have been possible without this subdivision. ASA were not planning a placement and resolution should not be misinterpreted, but was prudent step to cover all "just incase" scenarios, had for example Gold gone back down to 1000s and Nickel back to the lows and cash flow became an issue

Messy - I think 5p is a good target to have for early Q2 2017 upon completion of smelter, if everything goes according to plan, targets met and spot prices stay where they are or increase further. Unless something changes that makes me think different, I'm more long-term, looking for 10p. That's not hard and fast - will revise target up and down based on fundamentals of company, region and spot prices etc. I had huge allocation in ASA and managed to avg. down to 0.9p when SP was stuck at half penny. I'm still bullish but had to diversify and sold big chunk of my holdings on way up this time round. Now though I'm going to sit on them. Have big hopes for this and Shanta over next year

Daisan - thank you another helpful post, however after all the 3 major Capex projects are complete 1H 2017 (Power Plant, NGLM underground mine & Singida Pilot), why do you not expect Capex to be significantly reduced? There will of course be drilling and studies no doubt adding value, but my expectation is in 2H 2017 and if Gold stays $1,250+, capex will significantly reduce and net debt position rapidly improved. From an investor perspective, this will transform Shanta. Come 2018 when Shanta may be ready to expand further in Luika and Singida and increase Oz per year, it should be in a position of 0 debt, ability to fund minimal dividends and expansion through cashflow

Daisan - I agree very solid quarter and for me too, this is most attractive gold miner. However on the silver stream funds, I read it that they are now taken into account in cash/ net debt position: "Additional access to Silver Stream funds (US$5.25 m) and Power Station Funding (US$9.1 m) yet to be drawn down". They just haven't draw down the funds. Despite the great 2016 so far, 2017 could be even better. With power plant, NGLM underground mine and Singida Pilot all est. for completion in 1H 2017, 2H 2017 should be a time of rapidly paying down debt and a transformational turnaround in cash position. That is unless there are additional substantial Capex Projects to fund?

Current market cap is £24m. I will be very surprised if this stays at $100m market cap after equity raise and won't drift lower. Not really a fair comparison to compare a small very risky AIM listed gold miner to a FTSE 100 company. You have to compare it to other mining companies of similar size and taking into account debt and risk, weigh up if this really is "extremely cheap". I don't believe it is, particular if people are right in their calcs that net debt will be $100m after the equity raise In terms of "forward" earnings (i.e. potential earnings not based on past proven trailing earnings like FTSE) not sure how $36m per year has been reached. Based on current gold price, if they actually hit all their targets, at most their operating margin will be ca. $40m per year. This is not earnings as it is pre tax and excludes interest payments (significant on such large debt), taxes, depreciation etc., not to mention other costs not included in AISC. Whilst AUE could increase in a gold bull, not sure if it's the best placed gold miner to realise the most value

I guess after equity raising their new net debt position will only be $8m no ($72m cash raise against $80 gross debt)? However even taking this into account, with market cap of £100m and unproven potential to produce 100K oz/ yr at AISC of $845 with all risks involved, uncertainty etc., market cap appears bit "rich" at that level, compared to other African focused gold miners of same size. Daisan can probably calculate it more scientifically, but in comparison Shanta has current Market Cap of £60m, net debt of $39m (as of June 2016, Q3 Results next week should show further reduction), 85K oz/ yr, although increasing in 2017 with Singida Pilot Plant. The AISC are lower at ca. $785 (which is high end estimate) and substantial upside with recent drilling findings. Of course there are other factors at play (other potential upside of AUE?), but face value either Shanta is undervalued (which I believe it is otherwise wouldn't be invested in it) or Aureus is overvalued at £100m. Putting my cards on the table I was briefly invested in Aureus, but risks were just to great for me so sold out at 2.5p only couple weeks back, which is why I still pop in to see what is new

Naim - in the past Mwana/ ASA can be volatile - not sure if a Gold/ Nickel miner in Zimbabwe and DRC is the share for you if you get worried when it goes down only 10% from when you bought at 2.45p However if you believe Nickel can remain over $10k/tn and Gold over $1,200oz, ASA should do very well. My timeframe may be different to yours so I don't worry too much about daily movements, unless they're due to fundamental changes to ASA or the commodities it produces. Q3 results soon will give us all a better understanding of the lay of the land. We already have a taster of the Nickel side of things for Q3 after Bindura AGM and investors probably expect AISC of ca. $5,000/tn. So the unknown is more so on the Gold side with update on Freda

Short to medium term I think Nickel stabilising will have more of an impact on SP than gold, although of course nice if both rally from here. With positive news from last RNS that 10k/tn Nickel spot price is enough to restart smelter, if it stays above this level we could be looking at an explosive Q1 2017, with smelter due to be complete. Government seems to be making noises about watering down the indigenisation laws too. ASA is in a particular strong position as the smelter is a rare beast in that it is a natural form of indigenisation and way of adding value to the country operations which benefits all Parties

Nickel isn't moving much and with news coming out that Indonesia could reverse its ban on nickel ore - after this great 3 month run up I'm in a bit of a "wait and see" pattern until there is firm news one way or another out of Indonesia Also bear in mind ASA didn't take a huge hit when gold collapsed. It was already consolidating from 2.6 down to 2.3

Was in CZA for years, first buying years back when it was around 40p, then another big tranche at 20p. I then made a huge tranch at 2.5p getting my avg. down to 5p, but after the Universal Coal deal fell through, I sold out at 3.5p and rotated the monies into topping various other shares. I pop in now and again as still slightly emotionally invested as I only sold out recently and if there's firm news, I may dabble again. It's one of those rare beasts where I want to be proven wrong for selling out and it to fly higher! I'll take this opportunity to say thanks to you all over the years for all your comments on this and various other boards, been very helpful

Hemmings - where does this belief come from? I have to admit it's not clear to me how much monies CZA has left and what its current options are, as there have been no firm updates. For FY June 2016, 19.5m was left. The longer this is drawn out, the weaker CZA's negotiating position becomes as there is less and less cash Makhado is still up in the air with water license suspended and complete radio silence on potential equity investment from Hengshun. CZA issued urgent representation on the water license suspension back in Q2 2016 yet still nothing