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No disrespect intended BUT.
If I was left in SL with my a$$ blowing in the breeze.
I would inform the company that I was useing Free Gold to pay in country costs in order to keep ops going.
What the company do with this info is to them.
I have been left in bad situations before without even a ticket home having been loyal to companies who have not paid me for 3 months only to find out they have dissapeared or sold company on and new people dont want to pay. The jungle drums take a long time to reach you in the bush when no comms are available and you are on a 3 months turnaround. You only know when your relief does not turn up.
$hit Happens.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
No disrespect intended BUT.
If I was left in SL with my a$$ blowing in the breeze.
I would inform the company that I was useing Free Gold to pay in country costs in order to keep ops going.
What the company do with this info is to them.
I have been left in bad situations before without even a ticket home having been loyal to companies who have not paid me for 3 months only to find out they have dissapeared or sold company on and new people dont want to pay. The jungle drums take a long time to reach you in the bush when no comms are available and you are on a 3 months turnaround. You only know when your relief does not turn up.
$hit Happens.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
Hi Jingo1.
No PM. My email on my profile. wbslafrica@gmail.com.
Dredgemaster
Hi Au, I am not leaving the board, I am leaving the UK on 17th Jan and dont know how comms will be at least untill End of Feb whe I should be set up.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
To PM, the way I report to the CEO IS.
Have throughput of 1000 tons of Feed Material and have an average of 5.4g/t.
Is that not easy to understand?
If you know fuel used and labour costs then you know margins.
Dredgemaster.
Mikey, I dont know for sure if the free gold has been removed prior to sale.
FREE gold is what it says, it is visible and can be recovered at the dredging stage of operations. The top board was removed, this is the one that traps the Gold and heavy metals and washes the light material back into the water.
Going from the video they were pumping the Black Sands which is a mixture of both light and heavy materials to bank and also transporting the materials from bottom sluice to bank. The women are panning this mixed material and you end up with the BLACK MATERIAL you see in the plastic bowl that they are showing, This is the BLACK SANDS CONCENTRATE And at this stage of the processing you should visably see the free gold.
Not trying to teach my granny to suck eggs.
Dredgemaster
To PM who sent me three posts.
You are so right, and you always have been.
You dont just read you also understand.
Be well my friend and be good.
If you cant be good be careful.
What you do with the info you get is up to you.
But as you see I have never lied.
Dredgemaster
Hi ant depends on your standing and position in the company and no objections from others.
As to your PM I dont know how to answer that as you have more info than me on that subject. I habe gone on what I can interperate from Sney info but I think you could be on the right track. Who to believe and what. Has always been a problem with posts, but you have to believe PRs.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
YES, YES, YES. But my point is that even if there is no visible gold and the materials sold and to be shared contain more fine gold than reported the it makes sence to sell as much as pos.
Dredgemaster
NO. If I am working for a company like Sney then ALL THE GOLD IS SNEYS.
Sney put out all PR.
FREE Gold is cheaper to process and recover.
Fine Gold has additional costs.
The Total of Free and Fine gold is what is in the concenyrate.
If the company I was working for were puting out PRs of 5/gt then I would try to maintain that average as I might be getting lower in some sites and more in other sites and untill the average went up I would even hold back on some for poor dredging days to keep the average.
But all the gold belongs to the company and that is where trust comes into play in a big way.
Working for my self and with partners I will just take all the free and visible gold I can as processing fine gold legaly or other wise for small crews is just not cost effective.
Grames per ton is graames per ton whether Free or Fine Gold it is just the cost of extraction and processing that makes the difference.
Dredgemaster
Ok Au, Lets say I am working for a company LIKE Sney.
I tell them that I am getting 5g/t Free gold and that there is about 5/gt of fine gold that my equipment is unable to process but I will stockpile it and let them decide the way forward.
When I move down the river I find that I am getting 1/gt Free Gold and 9/gt FINE gold and still stockpiling the FINE Gold that I cant Process.
I move a bit further down the river and find I am getting 15/gt BUT IT IS ALL FINE GOLD THAT I CANT PROCESS.So I take off my top sluice which lets you see and collect the Visible Free Gold and pump to bank valuable materials with 15/gt Au.
You need to adapt to the changing paterns of the materials you are mining when you have a large river concession. As you may move down the river 25 yards and hit a hot spot that throws up lots of VISIBLE FREE GOLD.
Hope that is of some help.
Dredgemaster
To PM, when mining or dredgeing for myself it is not the same.
I just want to move and process as much tonage as I can as cheaply as I can.
No long term, take what is EASILY recoverable and move on to next site.
No shareholders or major concession, just partners I trust and who trust me.
When working for a conpany: I DO WHAT I AM TOLD.
Dtedgemaster
No Probs Au.
There are 3 senarios.
1. The visable, Free Gold has been removed.
2. The materials being dredged Only contain Fine gold.
3. The materials being sold contain Free and Fine Gold.
I believe the best thing for the company going forward is that the Free Gold was removed to pay costs on the ground, ie Chief and locals and house.
That they now have sold the byproduct of concentrates with fine gold and have cash for licence etc.and will get a bonus if gold content of concentrates is higher than estimated. JIMO.
What has happened I do not know. However I think internal company politics has some thing to do with the wording we have been getting in PR.
Sorry not much help but only the company and those on the ground realy know.
Dredgemaster
GLTY Fangster, please remember that SOME posts are a way of provoking a response to either confirme ones own opinion or get a different take on others opinions or interpretations.
Take Care Fangster and all the best. and enjoy your posts and have learned a lot.
Dtrdgemaster.
Mikey, I am just an old fart who still believes that, Trust, Loyalty, Honor and Hard Work are important.
I get the impression that I am in the minority.
I dont see or hear plain talking any more.
I have to read things three times and still come up with three different interpretation.
This seems to be the norm so that people can then give opinions on what they think is contained in a PR.
I have posted on only two boards, SNEY and SGCP.
Sney has always looked like the one that could be successful and those that have sent me emails have my permission to confirm this.
While I did not by into Specialy Designed Dredges I believed that the team on the ground had the experience to modify and make the do the .job.
They turned them into Sand Pumps and that was fine as this allowed them to stockpile because of weather problems.
However the next logical stage even in the wet season was to use the top board of the dredges that had been removed to wash the Blaack Sands and remove Free and Visible Gold and keep the remaining Black Sands CONCENTRATE containing fine gold and REEs.
This could then be sold or processed with pilot plant.
Now I have never seen a PR stating that FREE gold has been extracted from any stockpiled sands or concentrates and if it is in CONCENTRATE stage of processing I would ecpect to see even useing a Loop gold and its satellites in the concentrate.
So we seem to have missed out the most important process that would recover gold and give revenue and still have valuable concentrate.
In other words, I know circumstances will alter priorities but in this case I dont know what if any the priorities ARE.
IMHO, BACK TO BASICS on a Great concession.
GLTY.
Dredgemaster
If I interpret your post correctly then I agree.
Some fresh dredgeing and land mining will most definately show that the g/t on the concession is in the region of those figuers I posted such a long time ago.
The low cost of extraction method is the key.
Dredgemaster
Thanks Tagflora but I am off on my travels soon and will probably be in SL from 20th Feb.
You take care.
Dredgemaster
Hi Au, I just know the numbers from PRs are contradictions. A portion can be anything up to 99%.
A dredge is a Processing Tool and there should be free and visible gold that could be easily extracted by the dredge and the finer gold in the concentrates sold.
Just does not make sence when labor is cheap, not to extract free gold.
So either the free gold is not in the concentrates or ?
Sorry for being negative here but when I do the numberd it tells me that perhaps I have given too much credit to the ground crew if the company can give away concentrate at rock bottom prices..
GLTY
Dredgemaster
To PM, do the numbers.
Dredgeing, Mining is all about moveing dirt. Tonage moved to Gold Recovered.
How much overburden and raw tonage to get one ton of concentrates.
The numbers say there is 2oz gold per ton concentrates.
Sney is getting $1200 per ton.
I dont see the profit in a pilot or processing plant. IMHO
Dredgemaster
Mikey, your thoughts.
Is this now a Mineral Sands Company?
With all the equipment they have in SL for gold recovery why give the concentrates to a contractor before extracting the FREE GOLD.
Do you now think the dredges are redundant and what is needed is SAND/GRAVEL PUMPS.
This would appear that the specially designed dredges have not done the job and been a waste of money.
So how do you value a company that is mining mineral sands.
I think that PRs need to be treated with suspicion and have thought so for some time.
Good luck and I dont think I will be posting anymore.
Will be working on selling my concentrates to the same company AFTER I HAVE REMOVED THE FREE GOLD. After all I used to wash it back into the river.
It now makes me wonder if this is actually TAILINGS they are dredgeing.
Dredgemaster.
Hi stokes, I did say some time ago "do whatever it takes to make it happen".
Looks like SNEY is finaly in that mode.
GLTY.
Dredgemaster.
Long Story short:
If the concentrates contain the free and fine gold then:
tonage sold divided by 200lb multiplyed by 5.4 = grams of gold in shipment.
This would give you 1633 grams of gold.
Dredgemaster
Hi Silvergun, its the old tale, actual and predicted.
Now if you check previous PR from Dale we are talking :
3g/t plus free gold plus 80% left in black sands concentrate on every ton of black sands material going through the dredge= 5.4g/t.
With no free gold recovery and 12.5% per ton (200lb) being concentrates x tonage sold.
The recovery rate of each dredge.
Then if you do the numbers you should come up with a figure.
Read the PRs carefully, The volumes are there. These are from the company and only ones you can base your calculations.
Dredgemaster
Mikey, THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF BLACK SANDS ON SNEY CONCESSION.
So they now have a buyer for the afore mentioned.
The trick will now be to see if they have the wisdom, and know how to extract the biack sands concentrates at a profit, if the can do this then all well and good for future cash flow and eventual pilot plant.
I still think that the obvious FREE GOLD could be extracted at source and the buying of gold would add extra revenues.
Having sold the stockpile that was readily available they now need to ramp up recovery of black sands concentrate through Dredging and land mining and also purchase black sands from local sources.
Only then will we see a pilot plant on Sney concession. IMO
Dredgemaster.
I cant say this was unexpected.
IMHO I think sney has on the ground bills to pay and Wilf has sorted a deal that pays the house, keeps the chief and locals happy buys some fuel and buys time to pay licence fees etc. Pilot plant funding will have to come from elswhere and this is an opinion.
Labor and Prosper, there are people on the ground who will be on salary and expect paying.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
Hi Mikey very much doubt that this is Tantalus.
When I knew Wilf in SL he was mainly involved in the sale of black sands concentrates and I would say it is one of his old contacts. IMHO.
I would look at this PR with indifference and IMO not a great return at THIS TIME for what is the investment of a lot of time and money. It is in fact a massive loss if you consider the cost of extraction per ton of black sands CONSENTRATES. Bearing in mind that the free gold has not been extracted.
I wonderif there is a sney representative present at processing to check on ACTUAL GOLD AND REEs content extracted. Surely they must be expecting a return in line with the Hazen report.
Dredgemaster
I agree Fangster and have said on many posts if you plan then you can mine All year round. I believe a PR stated that was a future plan and the funding would also be used for the buying of gold.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
Dealerschool, please do some DD on Sney and perhaps you will know the type of mining they, Have done in SL. You will then be better informed to give an opinion. No Offence.
Fangster, yes they have done some exploratory pit mining but found that it should be more cost effective to dredge.
Mikey, agree with most but not all of what you say.
To All, I would wonder how much material is actually available to process if it can be done in a compound with a well and a 500gal reserve tank. The neghbours wont suffer from iron deficency thats for sure if its watering thier veg patch and WATER IS LIFE.
Dredgemaster
To PM.
Its the difference between SMART and CLEVER.
Its the difference between HEARING and LISTENING
Its the difference between KNOWING and UNDERSTANDING.
WHEN YOU HAVE MASTERED THESE:
And applied them to SNEY.
THEN YOU WILL BE A MAN.
Dont PM me anymore please.
Dredgemaster
Hi Play, the point being is that in Mining and I suppose investment then as long as you know the system then you are able to WORK IT.
You can bet that a country wont help a developing country unless is is getting something in return.
Now Sney in thier wisdom should know all this and be able to use it to thier advantage.
SL has the Largest USA embassy in the world and covers a huge amount of land.
Thier are so many western entities where info gathering and friendship brings forewarnings as well as good intell.
GLTY
Dredgemaster
Hi PLAY, Overseas Development Aid. ODA.
Taxpayers money, given by Government to help countries develop that is then missappropriated by those recieving government officials, commonly known as corruption.
That is why all of these countries have Anti Corruption Commissions.
Kenya has lost £44mil from its education budget and the money was given by UK, just an example.
Now if you wish to check how much and where YOUR government donates ODA to. You will then find that large Oil, Mining and Construction projects are in the hands of companies that are BASED in your country. The theory being that Your Government will recoup this aid through The Corporation Tax that these companies pay. IT NEVER HAPPENS.
Now in the case of Sney they were in SL before the Chinese got a foothold but the chinese at that time had already Paid For and carried out a Geo survey of All Sierra Leone.
I was very involved in, shall we say looking at potential opportunities in several areas in SL around 2001/2 due to my previous time there and contacts.
So if you want to have a reasonably secure investment in a country that has like minded people then do it where your Gov has put a lot of money. It helps as the locals and officials dont want to kill the Golden Goose.
Ranted on a bit but I Hope it helps and am not trying to teach my Gran to Suck Eggs.
You take care Play and a happy and prospeous new year to you and yours.
Dredgemaster
Hi ant, as you will know I have been posting about the Chinese on this board for a long time.
Dont know the company but mabe they are mainly in yhe Bonthe area which is rich in rutile and ore.
Magburaka is a magnet for chinese miners as there is a chinese sugar factory there and has been for a long time.
If people are aware of how overseas development aid works then the chinese invasion of SL will be of no surprise. Ghana is worse and the chinese have virtualy taken over everything or have fingers in it.
The chinese gave SL massive amounts of ODA, and in return they get all the contracts for, road, rail, fishing and as you can see preference in mining concessions and a lax approach to thier methods.
A couple of Korean friends of mine were forced to sell thier concession as the harassment became too much and the police and government took no notice.
Ant, make no mistake the opportunities are still there but it will take a strong team.
Weakness is exploited and must not be shown.
You take care ant and a happy new year to you and yours.
Dredgemaster
To PM, the one that mentioned August. Agreed.
Hi jojo, from what I have been told there is no work of any sort going on.
Think about this, the compound is about 3 town lots, around a third of an acre, with a house standing in the compound.
Do you feel the logistics of:
Transporting of Sands, Water, Disposal of Waste, would be cost efective.
I think Mohamed should go to the Mountain.
Of course it would be great for the people on the ground as I have never had the opportunity or luck to process valuable materials in the comfort of a large town, My 5* accomodation is usualy a converted Shipping container, Tent, or local made Baffa. But I dont go anywhere without my mossy net.
In Short if they can do it in the compound then how much material have they stockpiled.
Dredgemaster
To Pm, I came to this board some time ago when looking for dredges that were portable and found Sney had purchased and was shipping 3 to SL where I have an interest.
I was further interested in thier performance.
I was asked and gave some DD that could be verified by those who cared to check it out.
I Know The Country, Concession and history thereof.
I expected this venture to be working on a 5 year plan but to be honest it seems to have stalled for about 1 year which at the moment puts it on catch up.
Now this happens to many mining companies but the reasons why are usualy obvious and to be candid should be expected.
I think I made the mistake of expecting too much too quick from Sney.
They had the Equipment, They have the Concession and the have access to key people on the ground.
My only conclusion is that funding is what is slowing this venture down and if that is the case then it is just a sign of the times.
So the answer is get out there and sell this concession to those people who have the werewithall and who want more money to stash away somewhere as the banks just dont cut the mustard anymore.
So maybe I expect too much.
Or is Sney Management doing too little.
Or is it a timeing thing.
Who knows but I am sure if investors had been to SL, visited the Concession and seen with thier oen eyes the potential then funds would be more readily forthcomeing.
Rant, Rant, Rant. I have gone on a bit, sorry.
Dredgemaster
To PM, Not been in SL recently, I ship my equipment out on 17th Jan and pick it up in Conakry on 20th Feb.
Have had reports from close friend who says that Mr Bah is spending a lot of time in MAKENI and visits chiefs and site from there on a regular bassis. It was said he is going to London SOON, but this is just a rumor.
There is no work activity on and sites but some of the workers and divers are worried as they feel they may have to go with other companies.
Is about as much as I can find out for now and I cant verify any of the info as yet as it came from one source.
I think my post was more in frustration than critique as when I got back from some meeting and other business and saw that there is no new news, plan , timescale then it would seem things are stood still and if you stand still in this business then in truth you are going backwards.
Hope is of some help and maybe some other posters here can confirme my info or not as the case may be.
Dredgemaster
Your concerns should not just be noted, but should be discussed on this board.
Sney through AMS laid foundations in SL at a time not long after the war had ended and IMHO have not been able to use this advantage to further thier objectives in SL.
The best time to exploit opportunities in a conflict zone is before or straight after that conflict has been resolved.
Even the escalation in the price of Gold does not seem to have made any difference, WHY?
The friend of the President has not made any difference, WHY?
New plant and Dredges have not made any difference, WHY?
Reminds me of my Ex Wife, no matter how big the kitchen and how many appliances I bought her the food was still $hit.
I suppose you can either cook or you cant, you either know how to mine or you dont, you can either manage a company or you cant.
What is sad is that the concession HAS gold, that is easy to recover at a profit with the price of gold where it is and is going.
If you supported 10 local mining crews with a water pump shovels and picks and grubb does any one on this board think that Sney would have a large revenue comeing in?
The manager would have to actualy work for his money, spend more time in the bush than in a big house.
The long and short of it is do you think Sney have dragged thier heels for too long and the opportunity has passed them by OR can the mindset change and get back to PHYSICAL MINING instead of PAPER MINING.
Lets see this thing go in the right direction this year and get that gold out the ground, prove up the concession and make lots of people happy.
Dredgemaster.
Hi ant, sorry for not getting back to you sooner but been busy.
That looks like Wilf. Hair is whiter than I remember.Dont know location as after a while they all look the same.
He wont hang around and if there is nothing happening on Sney concession then he will contract elsewhere. Money is the name of the game. He would probably stay on a retainer for Sney with the proviso that he could contract out.
Read the artical and it shows what I have been saying, gone are the days of 2003/4 when you could buy Gold for le4000 a carat as communications and mobile phones have made locals more aware of Gold Prices. I think in 2004 Gold was about $300 an oz and has gone up 6 fold but it is still poss to buy for le24000. I think there must now be more comms masts in SL than Gold these days.
It also spoke a lot about unlicenced miners, but these are locals, mining on thier own land with the Chiefs permission and give a percentage of thier winnings to the Chief.
What realy makes SL Gold mining worthwhile is New Methods of Mining and Recovery, Cheap Labor and the attitude of government and locals to foreigners.
You look after yourself.
I will be gone over the holls and then hope to ship some stuff on 17th Jan.
Dredgemaster
Well, folks, been here for some time, I think I have given you the history of Sney Concession, even to pre colonial times.
I dont know the history of Sney Management as it has Changed twice in the past couple of years.
Those of you who can put the two together will be better advised than me.
Festive Season is here and I have a lot of people to say goodbye to as I will be on my travels from 17th Jan 2013. Lots to do between now and then.
I will look in again in mid Feb if comms let me.
A very merry xmas and a happy New Year to All of you.
Dredgemaster
Hi Mike, the point being, ESTABLISH and FACILITY and GOLD.
Wish I was sat on a pile of gold bearing materials and had equipment to hand and people on site to extract 3g/t min Au as stated of Free Gold.
What is needed is implomentors and not facilitators.
Would rather it said Will Have ESTABLISHED and then would have a positive.
With all the rain this year, if the sands had been left outside then nature would have done most of the work and Dick Whittington would be leaving London and off to SL. Lol Lol Lol.
GLTY
Dredgemaster