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$TPRFF has broken out:
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=TPRFF
Producing around 180,000 oz/yr from 2 gold mines in Colombia and still extremely undervalued.
Good insider ownership and heavy insider buying by director who was former mining minister:
https://www.canadianinsider.com/company?menu_tickersearch=GCM%20%7C%20Gran%20Colombia%20Gold
http://apps.cnbc.com/view.asp?country=US&uid=stocks/ownership&symbol=GCM-T&country=CA
Very high grade gold found recently (249.3g/t Ag over 0.95 meters):
https://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=8905426288908161&qm_symbol=GCM
>>
Multiple high gold grades generated from 19 drill holes (1,119 metres) drilled from underground in the 2017 drilling program were intersected on the main vein system with maximum grades of 649.1 g/t Au over 0.39 metres and 249.3g/t Ag over 0.95 metres.
<<
Marmato project is still undeveloped and has more than 14 million oz in resources.
They are prohibited from paying any dividends as all excess cash flow MUST go back to buying back the debentures. Thankfully that is the case, as paying down debt is a much better use of their cash.
Seems like like there is another restructuring and/or refinancing in the works and the share price is being taken down to some pre-agreed price.
I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on what are the most valuable assets underpinning the value of this company.
In my opinion it is real estate, exploration upside of the entire Comstock Lode land package along with the fact that it is in nevada and close to excellent infrastructure, few hundred thousand oz of surface mineable gold with good grades at Dayton, few hundred thousand oz resource of underground mineable gold with good grades at Lucerne, optionality value of the remaining gold resources that are not economic at the current gold price but that would have value at $1500-$2000 gold price.
CNBC site does show an institutional holder by the name of "Northern ..." holding 7.7 million shares:
http://apps.cnbc.com/view.asp?country=US&uid=stocks/ownership&symbol=LODE&country=CA
But I believe this is in error as it is not backed up by any other site. Nasdaq site says Northern Trust owns only ~ 80,000 shares.
Any idea why the large increase in followers on ST ? Would this be the reason behind the large increase in volumes seen over the last few weeks. Or is it the other way round, the increase in volumes has attracted new followers.
DRC: the Moïse Katumbi problem
https://www.opendemocracy.net/amanda-clarkson/drc-mo-se-katumbi-problem
who are mai man yakutumba ?
http://riftvalley.net/publication/mai-mai-yakutumba#.WVqcCjOZO8o
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mai-Mai
According to a 2001 UN report, 20,000 to 30,000 Mai-Mai were active in the two Kivu provinces. The two most powerful and well-organized Mai-Mai groups in the Kivus were led by Generals Padiri and Dunia, but now it is another Mai-Maigroup which is called Mai-Mai Yakutumba which was organized in 2007 buy General Yakutumba, ex-Mai-Mai in 2001. They were reported to have received aid from the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and are widely viewed by other Mai Mai groups as the leaders, though not the commanders, of the Kivu Mai-Mai.
A break above 20 cents would suggest we have bottomed and are in an uptrend as the chart starts to form a sequence of higher lows and higher highs since the bottom:
http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=lode
Hopefully this uptrend will continue into the JV news ...
I agree, especially if one of the deals were to be so substantial as to require a total of $50 million investment by the JV partner in order to earn in a 51% stake to the Lucerne project alone, as was intimated at the AGM.
2 simultaneous JV deals is a surprise to me, but may be not to the folks who were doing all that buying into the recent high volumes. It is good they leveled the playing field by pretty much promising in the PR to close on 2 JV deals before Aug 5th.
IMO this would be the catalyst for delivering on their other promise which was a $2+ per share price in 2-3 years time.
This may explain the recent high trading volumes, from today's PR:
The Company is also in the final stages of finalizing two joint ventures that will enhance liquidity, accelerate mining activities and enhance and validate the value of our mineral resources and properties. We expect to announce these ventures as soon as they are completed, and certainly during the second quarter reporting process, if not sooner.
No, the run I was referring to is still on going as we look to be set to make a second record day in volume. As for the run in price you are referring to, it never even really got started. Lets wait and see if it is a case of volume precedes price.
Yesterday's volume was the highest daily volume in 3 years!
Let's see if this continues today.
At the AGM John Winfield expressed concerns that the cash burn rate was too high. I also got the impression that he was not happy with the way management had performed.
It would be impossible for these 2 investors to sell out without driving the share price down into the low pennies per share. I hope that rather than attempting to sell down their position, these 2 shareholders would work together and arrange for a change in management, if the need arose. I am not sure that the need is there yet, but If Corrado cannot close on one of these two value drivers in the next few months or if he attempts to do another equity raise at these low share prices, that might be the signal that his time as the leader of this company needs to end.
As far as I am concerned, Corrado has implicitly committed to keep the share count below 250 million shares until he has been able to show the market that this company is worth $500 million and $2/share by 2020 timeframe. These 2 big shareholders seem to both be value investors and should hold him accountable for preserving the value per share of this company. If Corrado destroys the value per share by selling equity at these low prices, they should get together and replace him with someone who will preserve the value of the company until such a time as there is a turnaround in the gold price and demand for shares in gold juniors comes rushing back.
Which gold stock is your favorite ? I currently like/own Banro and Comstock mining.
Bought back 1/2 position in BAA yesterday. Managed to buy 5K shares this morning at 65.5 before it took off. Will buy another 1/2 position if it retests its lows. My plan is too hold this long term, but will sell in 3 years if they don't seem to be making good progress in paying down their debt.
Yes I do recall the Sutro deal as being for 5500 acres. On the map it looked as big as the rest of Comstock's holdings. Larry mentioned that there were rumors of them hitting a 50 foot wide vein of .25 oz/ton at 1200 feet when tunneling. But they were too busy trying to finish the tunnel by a certain timeframe to follow up on it. But now Comstock can look into it. IMO comstock won't need to issue equity to finance the $1 million purchase, as I think they can use it as collateral to borrow money against, as they have done for their purchase of the water rights and the industrial land.
I think there are up to 6 months more pain in the junior gold miner sector. But Comstock mining could rally on good news before then if any of the following 2 catalysts were to happen:
- they manage to sell their non-mineral lands and water rights for the hoped for sum of $14 million. This would make them debt free and also pay for 1 year's worth of G&A. Corrado stated that he expected this sale to happen before the end of year.
-a JV deal is struck for Lucerne. The broad parameters of the hoped for deal would show that the deal was worth $100 million as the partner would have to pony up approximately $50 million over a period of a few years to earn in a 51% stake including operational control. If such a deal were to be struck the share price should sky rocket IMO.
Like father, like son: Why Joseph Kabila’s ambition endangers Congo
Congo’s president clings to power even as the hinterland erupts
Print edition | Middle East and Africa
Jun 3rd 2017 | KINSHASA
“LET’S march on the president’s palace and drive him out,” howled the speaker, and a couple of hundred supporters, packed into a sweaty courtyard at the headquarters of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s main opposition party, yelled their agreement. Outside, a contingent of police, heavily outnumbered, waited nervously. The march never happened. It would not have got anywhere near the president, and no one, for the moment, wants to risk a repeat of the violence last September, when police opened fire on crowds and a hundred or so people died. But the economy is tanking, civil war is raging again in the centre of the country, and patience is wearing thin with Congo’s dictatorial president, Joseph Kabila, whose final term in office expired five months ago.
Mr Kabila has misruled Congo for the past 17 years, after he took over from his father, who was shot by a bodyguard. The past few months have been particularly desperate. Congo depends on copper and cobalt, and to a lesser extent diamonds, for hard currency. Nearly all manufactured goods are imported. Despite a mighty river and abundant rainfall, its broken-down infrastructure means it imports much of its food, too. At the Momo supermarket in the capital, Kinshasa, a ramshackle city of 12m people, you will find tin pans from Pakistan, toilet paper from Turkey, sandals from Thailand and glass tumblers from Brazil: but virtually nothing from Congo itself apart from some of the chicken and beer.
The world copper price halved between 2011 and 2016. Cobalt is still well down, too, after a crash in 2008. The two commodities have recovered a bit this year, but this has not prevented the collapse of the Congolese franc, as the central bank printed more money in response to falling receipts: it has lost 50% of its value since November. Chantal Ngoyi, a trader at the big Victoire market, sells clothes (none of them made in Congo) out of big bundles of Western hand-me-downs she buys for $250 from importers. The bundle used to cost 1.8m francs; it now costs her 3.6m, so she has to pass the increase on to her customers. “Now no one can afford to buy from me,” she complains. John Mbala, who runs a liquor shop nearby, says demand for his imported booze has simply vanished. Even the cheap local hooch, like his eye-watering Boss Whisky, is not selling, because everyone is broke.
The news from central Congo is much worse, if little known outside. Back in August, in murky circumstances, a tribal chief and militia leader nicknamed Kamuina Nsapu (“Black Ant”) was killed by the security services in the province of Kasai Central after protests following the national government’s refusal to endorse him as the next “customary chief” in his area. His militia, also called Kamuina Nsapu, hit back. The government retaliated in typically heavy-handed fashion, and the violence has spread. No one knows how many have died (estimates run from 500 to 3,000 and more). The UN says that more than 1.2m people have been displaced by the fighting in the three Kasai provinces. Together with refugees from other conflicts, Congo now has more displaced people than any other country in Africa, and probably more than any country in the world bar Syria.
Two UN experts sent to investigate were murdered in March. At army headquarters in Kinshasa officers show videos of mounds of mutilated corpses and severed heads to underline the barbarity they face. Opponents accuse the army of slaughtering whole villages of Kamuina Nsapu “sympathisers”. Forty mass graves have been found by the UN so far. “This is a popular insurrection against the Kinshasa regime,” says Claudel Lubaya, a former Kasai governor. To the government, Kamuina Nsapu are simply terrorists.
The violence imperils the politics of the whole country. For Kasai is not just any region: it is a stronghold of the opposition to Mr Kabila, and the home of the veteran opposition leader Étienne Tshisekedi. Mr Tshisekedi died in February, but his son Félix has taken over his party (politics is a family business in Congo). Under the terms of a deal worked out between the government and the opposition on December 31st, the government was given a year to hold elections, with Mr Kabila agreeing that he would not run again (he is termed out under the constitution, though some of his supporters say that the constitution ought to be changed). Voter registration, a vast and complex exercise in a country as decrepit as Congo, is under way, but it cannot take place in Kasai while things there are so dangerous. But both sides agree that there cannot be an election if Kasai cannot vote.
Look on my works, ye Mighty
The opposition, a collection of parties grouped together under the name Le Rassemblement, smell a rat. They accuse the government of inflaming the situation in Kasai to delay the election and give Mr Kabila longer in office. Long enough, perhaps, to organise a referendum on a change to the constitution that would allow him a third term, a trick pulled off across the river in 2015 by Congo-Brazzaville’s own veteran despot.
The opposition has other grievances, too. Under the terms of the December 31st agreement, the president was meant to appoint a new prime minister on the recommendation of Le Rassemblement. They picked their leader, Mr Tshisekedi, for that job, but instead Mr Kabila defiantly appointed a minor opposition figure, neatly dividing and weakening his enemies. “For now, we are trying to resolve this through diplomacy,” says Mr Tshisekedi, a mild-mannered man of 53 who affects his father’s somewhat incongruous flat cap for public appearances. “But when that is exhausted, we will ask our people to chase the dictator out.” Anything might happen in that sort of situation, including the return from exile of another popular opposition politician, Moïse Katumbi, mightily complicating things.
An hour’s drive outside Kinshasa, the shell of a palace testifies to the impermanence of power. Startlingly obscene graffiti adorn the walls of the salon where a ruler once entertained his guests. Weeds choke what was once an ornamental crocodile pool. Every fitting has been stolen. It is exactly 20 years since Mobutu Sese Seko, the tyrant who ruled the country he called Zaire from 1965 to 1997, was overthrown by Rwandan-backed rebels who installed Mr Kabila’s father in his place. Shortly afterwards, Congo plunged into a horrific civil war, sucking in several neighbours. The next few months will show whether the country can manage a peaceful transition of power this time or endure another lurch back towards chaos.
This article appeared in the Middle East and Africa section of the print edition under the headline "The tinder box at the heart of Africa"
I think we will need to see some clarity on how the cash burn will be covered or for the sentiment for money losing exploration juniors to turnaround. This downward spiral is happening with other junior gold miners also. It feels like shorts are in control and we will need to either see capitulation in this sector or for tax loss selling to complete. This process could take up to another 6 months.
I didn't see your questions until I got back. My overall impression was not too favorable and I am feeling disappointed. There were a lot of unhappy shareholders due to the low share price and expectations not met. The bulk of the AGM was spent answering questions until time ran out. There was no time for any formal presentations.
Here are some things I can remember:
-CFO Merril has resigned to take a job for double the pay at Klondex. Corrado will be filling this role and has no plans to hire a replacement any time soon. There was no PR on this but apparently it was in the financial report.
-Plan to buy 5500 acres from the person who owns the Sutro tunnel for $1 million. This will eliminate $400k in yearly? drilling commitments on some concessions adjacent to the lucerne. Includes some real estate next to highway 50.
-Hopes to close on planned sales of non-mining real estate and water rights before year end and thus for LODE to be debt free.
-Will not proceed on further development of Lucerne on their own as LODE cannot afford this kind of capex for an uncertain outcome. He expressed some cautious optimism about striking an accretive JV deal on Lucerne where they would give up 51%.
-Management has taken a 20% pay cut.
-Targeting $500 million valuation of company by 2020 or $2/share. This implies they won't be diluting shares at current prices. Also implies that they currently don't have the funds for exploration at Dayton or elsewhere. Corrado didn't explicitly say this, but this is my read on their current situation. The monthly burn rate is around $170K and they will need to conserve all their cash for this purpose. All proceeds from the real estate and water rights sales are required to be used for paying down the debenture. They also are not allowed to take on any more debt. The current share price is too low for raising funds via equity sales. So unless they get some funds from a JV partner on Lucerne (Corrado is hoping for a $2 million initial payment + $1 million/yr to help defray their overheads), it is my read that exploration and development is temporarily on hold until the funds needed for this materialize from somewhere.
Banro has been good for the DRC which very much needs the investment and jobs. It has also been good for management who draw big fat salaries and have little to no equity skin in the game. Banro has not been good for common stock holders UNLESS you have very deep pockets and can keep buying more shares at ever lower prices to keep up with the enormous share dilution that has taken place over the years and preserve your percentage stake in the enterprise. With the low POG and high project finance and streaming debts, It is not clear to me when the share dilution will come to an end. Unfortunately common stock holders were just treated as cannon fodder for agendas other than the one that was implicitly and falsely presumed to be that of wealth creation for them.
Yeah 80 cents ( 8 cents before the R/S) is tempting entry price for Banro, but still not low enough for me to pull the trigger considering the risks of DRC and their high debt/poor balance sheet.
I am currently all in with Comstock Mining (LODE) which is also very undervalued. For now I will stick with them as their mining asset is in Nevada which is a much less risky jurisdiction. Also they have very little debt compared to Banro. When I compare LODE's $32 million market cap to Banro's $85 million, I don't yet feel compelled to sell LODE to buy Banro.
Anyone going to the AGM next week ? I am planning to go.
Edited Transcript of LODE earnings conference call or presentation 4-May-17 3:00pm GMT
Thomson Reuters StreetEvents•May 5, 2017Comment
Q1 2017 Comstock Mining Inc Earnings Call
VIRGINIA CITY May 5, 2017 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Comstock Mining Inc earnings conference call or presentation Thursday, May 4, 2017 at 3:00:00pm GMT
TEXT version of Transcript
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Corporate Participants
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* Corrado De Gasperis
Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President
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Presentation
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Operator [1]
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Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Comstock Mining First Quarter 2017 Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Corrado De Gasperis. Please go ahead.
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [2]
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Thank you, James, and good morning everyone. It's Corrado De Gasperis here, CEO of Comstock Mining, and welcome to our 2017 first quarter conference call.
We've completed our first quarter audit review and attached the full income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements with today's release. If you don't have a copy of today's release, you'll find a copy on our website at www.comstockmining.com under new/press releases. We will also file the 10-Q within the next few days, with no new issues or any issues at all for that matter to report.
My comments today will be more forward-looking, as the past few months have been increasingly active with strategic activity focused solely on share appreciation and I'll explain that better on the call. We will keep the same format in the call and I will be available for Q&A after the prepared remarks. Accordingly, any statements related to matters that are not purely historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations and are subject to the same risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties are detailed in the reports filed by the company and the SEC, and in this morning's release, and all the forward-looking statements made during this call are subject to those same and other risks that we can't identify.
Alright, starting with our last Board meeting in March, we completed a series of strategic planning activities and we established a very focused and precise goal of delivering $450 million to $500 million of accretive share value to our shareholders in the next 2, possibly 3 years. This was done by thoroughly assessing our mineralized land package, its potential, our capabilities and competencies for developing those properties, our capital resources, serious and deep accretion versus dilution analysis and understanding and many strategic alternatives that are available to us.
We compared the values using today's comps for companies that have 2 million-plus ounce resources of gold and the proven potential through feasibility study to produce up to 100,000 ounces of that gold per annum for at least 10 years. In that analysis, $450 million to $500 million was a midpoint comp, meaning we believed it was more than achievable for our assets.
There are some recent comps that are even higher than the medium, despite the down nature of the current market, but we have a very specific and intermediate goal, again in the next 2-plus years to deliver what has to be $2-plus per share. Once achieved, we can reassess and expand the goal, but it was a critically focusing planning process, it was a critically focusing step, and with all of the restructuring, refinancing, environmental, social and permitting complexities behind us, it's a step that gives us a clear path forward. It also allows for the possibility of developing some of our targets ourselves, as we're planning to do with Daney, and as you've heard, and wherever that makes the most sense, but also potentially venturing in other projects with others, where their competency and their capitals make more sense, is not dilutive and it is all aligned with achieving that same value goal.
We've already accelerated these venture discussions -- these joint venture discussions, we've accelerated land sale activities and we've really, based on all the progress that we've made, anticipate the transaction, or transactions here in the second quarter, which means just in the next couple of months.
Let me highlight some of these recent activities, now that we're almost solely driving towards these values. As I mentioned, we commenced and advanced multiple negotiations with various joint venture partners associated with our mineralized and certain other properties. There are at least four serious discussions progressing now and I'm confident at least one, as I just said, will be consummated in the second quarter.
We also have commenced taking mineralized samples and advancing metallurgical column tests for the feasibility of the Dayton Mine. We completed a successful column in the first quarter and we now have four metallurgical column tests running that support and advance the feasibility study associated with establishing proven and probable reserves at the Dayton Mine. We plan on drilling out that Dayton Mine plan later this year and publishing the full feasibility by the end of the year, but these column tests, these four large metallurgical column tests are a critical component of that.
The column tests are actually running both parallel with cyanide and non-cyanide materials and are being processed onsite in our metallurgical labs through federally funded research grants with our partner Cycladex, which is a strategic industry that we had mentioned previously and the work is really driven towards faster, cheaper and safer leasing solutions. We already know we have feasible cyanide solutions, but we're pushing the envelope to see if we can get faster, cheaper and safer alternative leasing solutions as we go forward. We think we'll have some preliminary results from these tests in about 6 to 8 weeks.
As part of our refinancing activities, we also completed an independent full surface and mineral property title review confirming, I think, frankly what we already knew internally that we have four clean and unencumbered titles on all of our 8,631 acres. The review was done by independent certified land professionals. It was done efficiently, because we had a lot of that information organized. But really what it did is, put a very, very strong stamp on the clean, unencumbered, and when I say unencumbered, I mean no encumbrances, no claims, no liens, no royalties that we would otherwise been aware of on all of our properties. And what it really does is position us, as we go forward, with the potential joint venture discussions for s very fast, diligent, certain outcomes. And so we're very pleased to have put that work behind us. It was a requirement of our financing facilities, but I think we're going to get some tremendous value from that effort going forward.
Regarding our land sales, it's really impossible for me to exaggerate the current flow of economic activity in Northern Nevada. As most of you know, Tesla is ramping up their construction of the Gigafactory. There is still $4 billion to be spent between now and 2020. They've added 1,000 jobs just in the past 6 months and have ultimate a target of more than 6,000 jobs. It's interesting, yesterday, on their conference call Elon Musk was updating on the Gigafactory and was prodded by JPMorgan analyst about what the ultimate intentions of the factory were, because of its size. And I was surprised to hear him say that the building design can hold three or maybe four Pentagon size buildings. I guess I was understating it, because I kept telling people that the building was bigger than the Pentagon, but apparently it's 3 or 4x that.
And just as meaningfully, Google announced a 1,200-plus acre purchase for $30 million yesterday. Google's purchase does nothing, but further support the property values we've been articulating. It's 3 miles closer to our Silver Springs industrial properties and the Gigafactory is, which is very close already, being about 12 or 13 miles away, straight up the road.
Apple yesterday announced that they were taking a large, long vacant lot in Reno for a large purchasing and distribution center. Coincidentally, or maybe not so coincidently, Apple announced today that they are committing a $1 billion in funds to create US manufacturing jobs. I'm pretty sure some of those jobs are coming to Northern Nevada.
So all of that is direct in terms of the value that it means to us, it means to our ability to monetize these non-mining properties. But I guess the biggest one, the biggest, most important catalyst and value driver for us is the fact that the USA Parkway, which connects all of these integrated highways right through the industrial park, right out through to our properties in Highway 50, remains on schedule for completion. And again, right through Silver Springs, where our certified industrial property and water rights reside. So, for us, during the latter part of the first quarter, meaning March, and more recently, the increased visits, discussions about purchasing, venturing, leasing these properties has literally increased exponentially. I've had no less than 15 calls in the past 2 weeks. We've had visits over the past month. We've two site visits scheduled just for Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, both on the Ranch and the industrial park. And I really have been telling people that -- and I expect the period of June through November when we're going to see this USA Parkway come to fruition as being the most -- likely the most probable for us to monetize these assets. Again, it's difficult to exaggerate, I don't exaggerate it, it's hard to understand, unless you come and visit. And when people come and visit, they leave stunned.
From a financial and liquidity perspective, as we mentioned, we completed our strategic financing early in the first quarter. We also completed all that title work that followed it successfully. It really was designed to ensure our near-term liquidity and more than anything, give us long-term debt position with almost no current maturities, less than $400,000 of current maturities in front of us.
So we're very happy with the fact that we've stabilized things. We do have access to capital safely, if we needed to bridge to these transactions, be it the landfills or the joint ventures, all of which provide liquidity to us, and so we're stable in that regard. It doesn't seem like the market or the share price reflects that. I tell you in that regard market is not right. People are betting against us in that context. That's not the right bet. We have seen junior miners go up and down in value dramatically, we don't like it, we don't appreciate it, but we're focused on turning it and we're committed to doing it.
One of the ways that we're committed is that we have accomplished the lowest possible and frankly, not lowest possible, was an extremely low and even lower possible cost position. If you look at our quarterly results, we see the results of those prior-period restructurings. Despite having some non-recurring costs in the first quarter, we had general and administrative expenses reach a record low and representing a 40% improvement when comparing quarter-on-quarter, as those costs continue to come down. We actually saw record lows in our small, but relevant real estate subsidiary. In fact, we turned to GAAP profit for the first time with our real estate and we've been cash profitable there for about 5 quarters now. So we're very happy about that ability to maintain itself, as we look to monetize it further.
Our environmental costs were low, very low, but flat. They were flat, because we had to spend about $200,000, excuse me, on extreme weather mitigation tactics during January and February. With hindsight it seems funny, although it wasn't very funny during a 6-week stretch there, the last 2 weeks of January, first 4 weeks or all of February. We had no less than four 100-year precipitation events and that really required us to mobilize and really manage and mitigate all of our processing facilities, our water management, our ponds, which we did effectively and fully compliantly. Although we had to spend about $200,000 during that period to do it, most of it was on equipment, be it evaporating equipment or larger pumps, those kinds of things that we certainly are still using, we'll use through the summer, can reuse, or sell, if ultimately we don't need them going forward. But we are very proud of our team, really responding and reacting and we're very proud of the engagement with the county and the regulators and it just shows the strength of both conviction and character that we have on our team.
Overall, our cash on hand was a little under $0.5 million. I want to address that head on, because we're purposely maintaining our cash balance at around $0.5 million. It could be higher, we could range it between $0.5 million to $0.75 million. But all we're doing is just maintaining, so that we can bridge through these monetization events, right. We have no gun to our head, we have no crisis and we have big transactions that are in front of us that are going to come to fruition, enable our liquidity and allow us to move forward in very good due process.
Our long-term debt overall is $11.5 million. I think as most of you know, the intention is to fully pay that off with the land sales and the fact that only about, as I mentioned earlier, $400,000 being long-term -- I mean, being short term, the rest of it's all long-term, meaning 4 years out, it's probably the most positive result of that recent refinancing and those efforts just to stabilize the operation and protect this incredibly hard fixed-asset position that we have here that we believe is extremely valuable.
Just to recap it, we value our mineral potential between $450 million, we value our non-mining lands alone, just those three pieces, at over $50 million, and frankly, as we look at our whole land package, excluding minerals, we come out with a downside of $6 million and an upside of well over $100 million, just based on the local comps. And those numbers are going up. So this is a hard asset, fully owned, title clean, proven mineral estate [ph] that we are now fully focused on just unlocking and delivering that value on.
So the next two months we'll be extremely active. I'm spending all of my time doing it. Other than marketing the company and targeting some new investor dialogs, I'm actually at Mines and Money Conference this week here in New York, the rest of my time is focused on selling JV and developing and driving towards feasibility as fast as possible.
So James, that's the end of my prepared remarks. If you would like to turn it to the Q&A that would be excellent.
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Questions and Answers
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Operator [1]
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(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question today from James Dell [ph].
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Unidentified Analyst, [2]
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What's going on at Lucerne?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [3]
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Lucerne is one of the areas that we're very active in terms of these joint venture possibility discussions. So we haven't done any -- everything is stable, everything is permitted, everything is infrastructurally in place. No change there, but we're looking at catalyst to try to accelerate the exploration and development of putting that mine into production. As you know, there's two sides to that one. One, it needs some real drilling and development, it needs some underground -- real underground and broader development competency. But on the flip side, it's fully permitted and doesn't have to worry about that aspect of lead times just going back into production.
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Unidentified Analyst, [4]
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Okay. Now the second question for you is what gold and silver price are you predicting or projecting for your future share value?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [5]
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Our models have all sort of landed on, like an $1,150 [ph] number and I think that's just sort of a view of recent reality, maybe a little bit of conservatism, just in terms of how we model and how we project and how we look at feasibility. Having said that, the Dayton Resource, which from a surface mining perspective, is a much higher grade than Lucerne was, has economic pit shell signed, as well as $800 in terms of gold equivalent cut-off. So the higher the grade, the lower the cost, the more economic it is overall and the more economic it remains at lower gold prices. So I think what I'm saying is that although we have this sort of base, $1,150, $1,200 ph kind of base, that is sort of a consistent way to analyze and compare. Anytime we do feasibility, you're ranging it way down and way up.
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Unidentified Analyst, [6]
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I got you. So if we return to $1,900 an ounce gold, it would be a whole lot better?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [7]
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If we return, we don't think that that's an if question, by the way.
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Unidentified Analyst, [8]
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I know; either do I.
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [9]
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But the dynamics there in terms of cash flow and value creation is exponential. It's not a percentage increase. It's multiples.
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Unidentified Analyst, [10]
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That's how I'd figure.
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [11]
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We were very keen on that aspect of the future, now that the entire district is entitled, permitted and has been legally tested all the way up to the Supreme Court in terms of our rights to explore, develop and mine. So now it's a much bigger pie that A: we've successfully protected, but now we need to get our (expletive)in here and start developing.
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Operator [12]
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Next we'll hear from Harvey Modca [ph].
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Unidentified Analyst, [13]
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Cycladex, you say is a strategic investing. What kind of positions have they taken with the company?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [14]
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So it's vise-versa. We have through allowing them to use some of our metallurgical lab facilities and allowing them to use some of our ores for the subject of these process tests, we have earned a 10% interest in their company. It wasn't ownership for cash, it was ownership for support and services. And what's really evolved, which is kind of exciting here, is that they have a patented process that we're testing with them for non-cyanide processing solutions. The target is to be cheaper, faster and yield equal to or better. And on the last point, we're seeing good success, really good success. On the other two points, we haven't really tested sufficiently for, but it's very promising. So, what's sort of evolving here is that we will be able to do the testing necessary for the Dayton Mine planning. I hate sand, somebody else's nickel, but with federally funded money, trying to prove out a new science, but at the same time, we already know what we can do a cyanide, but we're running additional tests with cyanide, both to confirm what we need to know for our normal feasibility, but also to run parallel and really have disciplined scientific method for looking and comparing the results of these two. Ultimately if this stuff works, it wouldn't only be great for the Dayton, but it will be much, much bigger than even what we're talking about for the company. So it's still earlier stage, but the science is -- it's moving forward and now it's starting to move forward rapidly, because we've got four columns. And we've got -- I don't know if this is common enough for a junior miner -- but we've got full metallurgical, full assay, fire assay, all sorts of testing, crushing, metallurgically testing facilities onsite. And so with really no cost to us, they're able to leverage those facilities and give us the benefit of doing it all with our ores.
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Unidentified Analyst, [15]
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So we have a 10% investment in their company. They don't have a pay position in our Company?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [16]
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No. And they would be best described as a technological start-up, but with some really good technology. So we're seeing if we could help them with the launch here.
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Unidentified Analyst, [17]
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Okay. Could you repeat the land values that you're saying versus the mineral values per share?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [18]
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So from a total company perspective, and I'll be a little careful with this, just to make sure I highlight the potential for any redundancy. If you just take our mineralized land package and so now I am going to exclude the lands that we've listed for sale and just look at the contiguous mineralized package, and if you look at them with a skeptical eye, to be extent that some are bordering and vastly across Highway 50, some of them are in the residential areas of Gold Hill, into Virginia City, some of them are in the secluded valley, industrially zoned valley of American Flat, and you just said to yourself, well, what would these properties be worth if we weren't mining here, if we didn't have minerals here, it's not totally an academic exercise, but it was taken with a very narrow eye. We come up with values and you can only share kind of further, but we were trying to be conservative of like $60 million on the low end and almost double that number on the high end. The reason for that range is that you make some assumptions on, hey, if you're just going to sell block acreage or if you're going to do some subdividing or if you're going to go as far as entitling and pre-developing, you go from block acre comps, to parcel comps, to square footage comps. And they're all real. They are all real and they're all local.
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Unidentified Analyst, [19]
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So once the minerals have been taken out, these are values that are saleable, is that correct?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [20]
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That's the conversation I like the best, because that's what we've always spoke to, even though I think people dismissed it. The way I was being sort of challenged on these land values was more from a downside perspective, or a liquidation perspective kind of mindset, which was a good answer anyway. But I've encountered and say look, that's been the long-term view all along, if we're responsible and if we're reclaiming the way we're supposed to be and going beyond, it's our land. And then what is it worth later. And obviously if you were mining in the Carlin trend, in the middle of nowhere, these opportunities and prospects wouldn't be on your mind. But if you're in the area that we're in, it's very real, it's very real. And so you could look at it separately, you could try to separate the two and just do it academically, or you could think of it sequentially and say, there's two layers of value here, and all the way on that journey there's tremendous downside protection, no matter how you look at it. From a mineral perspective, it's a little more complex, but it's not really that complex. The complexity is, what's the nature and character of your resource in terms of ultimate feasibility. So you think about the grades, you think about the proximity to surface and strip ratios, you think about the metallurgy, which in our case is, it may be the best in Nevada when it comes to heap leaching to get almost 90% of the gold and 50% of the silver. And you say what is a 2 million ounce resource? And I'm saying 2 million, because we are looking at measured and indicated resources. We've got another million-plus of inferred, but just looking at the measured and indicated resource, what do people value that and it's always tied to potential mineability. And so, a very early stage, non-permitted, non-tested resource. I mean, if it was only inferred it could be like as low as $20 an ounce or more. If it's measured and indicated and still not well tested, it could be $50, $60, $70 an ounce. And again it's an educated estimate of feasibility. You're looking at the variables that say is this mineable or not. If it's fully permitted, you've proven out the metallurgy, you've mined, you've mined successfully, you see the comps pushing to $100 an ounce. And if you have a long-lived mine plan that's fully validated, which we're one step away from, you will be at the highest end of that for sure, if not higher, when it comes to some takeout comps. So, we looked at a bunch of companies that were not producing. We looked at companies that have good property positions and good resources that were not producing. We looked at some that were producing with challenged long lives. We looked at some with really excellent long life. And we put all that together and said, if we get to 2 million-plus ounces and the real profile, be it individually or in the aggregate, Lucerne, Dayton together of doing 100,000 ounces, what are we worth? And that's the number that keeps coming up on our radar screen. And so we banged our heads against the wall, shake it off and say, let's focus on delivering this value. So to the extent that we had some distractions with restructurings and refinancings, we feel badly about that. To the extent we couldn't ramp up Lucerne real time without a disruption in the production, we feel badly about that for ourselves and our shareholders. But to the extent that all of that platform is in place, all that platform is permitted, it's all entitled, and we just need some focus on which way to develop each, and if we can use partners to accelerate it and still accomplish what we're talking about. So when we say we'll do a joint venture, if you're talking about being able to produce 40,000 or 50,000 ounces on your own and you think of a partner who can get you there, 80 to 100 faster, then that's accretive. And those are the kinds of things that we're looking at. So I think the work by the Board was outstanding. I think it was incredibly diligent. I think we don't have a promotional bone in our body that is in fear [ph], like everybody wants to get to the substantive right answer the right way, so that it's sustainable. And I think when you look at -- and it's interesting, some of the dialog we've had with these potential joint venture partners, and I think I've said this before, but one of the most impactful comments to me, we're looking at four or five different projects, they are all potentially really big. So they need to be big to move the needle for us. Year 1 into 5 ph , but the rest of them are all 7 to 10 years away from production and they don't have their permits and they haven't proven their metallurgy and they still have drilling and development to do. And we want to be part of that drilling and development. But having said that, you have all those other variables covered and you are potentially two years away from production. So I think that's to me a very important comp mindset, and it's our failing. You've got companies out there that are 7 to 10 years of production, nowhere near the resource we have, at least half a dozen serious obstacles that are technical to production. And then we have this clear 2-year path and we're undervalued. There is no question about it. So we have to prove it's feasible. We can't just say it, we've got to prove it, we've got to show it. With partners, maybe we could accelerate it, I think so. And that's what we're going to do here in the next 2, 3, 4 months.
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Unidentified Analyst, [21]
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What's the cost of the joint venture?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [22]
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We're in the middle of certain discussions, they vary. Some of them are different than others, but the model that we like is where someone pays for the right, pays us cash for the right to do some development, the development goes into the ground, the development results in something stronger, bigger, more credible, real values being created and then there is the potential to earn in to a portion of that project, expending those monies. The idea is that whatever portion remains for us on that one target is worth well more than everything we're doing so far. So it has to be a win-win, of course, and has to be value creating. But I think that to the extent that we have -- we have four immediate viable targets. The Lucerne is permitted and it could be ready for production. The Dayton is near term for production. And then the Spring Valley and Occidental, I mean if you put those into any one company on their own, they would rival most of the juniors that are out there. So we need to unlock that value. We need to somehow break that ceiling and unlock that value and make sure the people understand it. We're going to do it diligently, we're going to do it properly, but we're going to do it.
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Unidentified Analyst, [23]
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Where is the American Tunneling in all of this?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [24]
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American Tunneling is the backbone -- American Mining and Tunneling is sort of the rear engine that helps drive these things to fruition, because they have the Nevada manpower and they have the competency, in particular when it comes to underground. So that relationship that we have with them is absolutely solid. It's absolutely intact. It just hasn't been effected. But when we're ready it's there for us to effect.
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Unidentified Analyst, [25]
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Last question is, what's the value of the land sales that are actively on the market?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [26]
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We put that at about $15 million. And it breaks up very easily to $10 million for the industrial and water rights, $4 million for the Ranch and about $1 million for the Hotel; $15 million.
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Operator [27]
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[Operation Instructions) We'll now hear from Lawrence Danny [ph].
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Unidentified Analyst, [28]
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So I heard the part about the potential joint ventures. Is there any potential that you'll go back into production without a joint venture partner and what would the price of silver and gold need to be to make that feasible, or is that kind of off the table?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [29]
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No, no, no, just to be clear, so we have four target areas between the Lucerne with established resource, Dayton with the established resource, Silver Springs with known mineralization, no estimated resource here and Occidental with known mineralization and no established resource yet. So literally you've got four areas at slightly -- not slightly, but at different stages of development towards production. And so what we're saying is that to the extent that a partner could help us accelerate, one of those, we would be very keen to listen to it relative to the value they bring to us and our shareholders and relative to what we could create more together. Having said that, like for example, with the Dayton, and Spring Valley is the third of the four areas, but it is also interconnected with the Dayton. So when we think about the Dayton/Spring Valley, our current plan, and we're not necessarily precluding. Our planning process really said what's the best, most sustainable, fastest way to accrue [ph] this value. So we would consider any option that's consistent with the goal of the plan. But right now the Dayton/Spring Valley is what we are literally doing ourselves, we're driving forward ourselves. And we believe, from a complexity standpoint, it's the lowest. In other words, we have the simplest, most direct path to develop that resource into reserve and into production. So, I didn't mean to confuse that point. Even though we are considering a lot of alternatives and there's forward discussions that are engaged, we're absolutely controlling -- owning and controlling the whole district and likely developing these projects, many of them on our own. We are just open to any alternative that is better, faster, smarter.
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Unidentified Analyst, [30]
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So they would help you from both a financing point of view and technological point of view, is there where the real value would be?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [31]
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Absolutely it is. A) financially money to be us; B) technically, there are technical teams on the ground; C) value creation wise, they can get and unlock the value of these resources bigger and faster than we could. If we see that as being credible and real, we're inclined to do that.
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Unidentified Analyst, [32]
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That makes sense. So is there any magic number on the price of silver and gold to make it feasible and where your margins are profitable, so you're engaged in that or could that be done at the current gold price and silver price?
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [33]
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Both of these resource areas are extremely attractive at the current gold price. The Dayton, because of its higher grades in your surface could be attractive at prices -- it would be a smaller mine, but it would be attractive at prices as low as $800. We're taking a longer view on it, which is we want to establish sound feasibility, let's say, in that $800 to $1,200 range from a downside perspective, sound feasibility, which means you can build [ph]. But we also have now created a platform whose cost, which by the way has a derivative benefit, and I didn't mention, to the extent we're doing any venturing, our fixed costs probably get subsidized to some degree, because we have to be involved in some of that work. So even in a low cost that we brought our platform to, would go even lower if we were able to engage a partner and work collaboratively with him. It's a little counter-intuitive, but it works to our advantage. So to answer your question, we want to be profitable at those levels. And let's even say a $1,000 to $1,200 is a really hard sort of zone. It's got to be profitable at those levels. And then we want to retain the optionality that we have on almost 7.5 miles of mineralized strike, much of it won't be developed and produced in the short term. And so to the earlier caller's notion about $1,900 or $2,000 gold prices, we're going to retain the option, we're going to protect the option on that as well. So we want to generate cash, we want to be accretive, but we also want to protect the option on the broader districts, because it has been re-zoned, it has been re-entitled. It is property-right protected for its highest value use, which is mining activity.
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Operator [34]
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Thank you, ladies and gentleman. The time allotted for questions-and-answers has come to a close. I now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Gasperis for closing remarks.
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Corrado De Gasperis, Comstock Mining Inc. - Executive Chairman of the Board, CEO and President [35]
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I want to thank everyone, I guess, say, for your patience. I think all of our patience has run out. I hope this call is supportive of the fact that our patience has run out and we're actioning. So we're actioning forward. I look forward to a lot of updates over the next couple of months. I look forward to be out in the market for the next few months, but I'm also going to be onsite on some of these land transactions over the next couple of months. So we'll be reporting them as they come due. I look forward to the next update and I look forward to talking to you all again soon. Thank you.
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Operator [36]
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That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Actually the company has shifted again. Their first mine will now be an open pit mine at Dayton. It says so on page 36 of their latest presentation:
https://www.comstockmining.com/images/stories/investor-library/LODEOverviewAPRIL2017.pdf
Besides the country risk with Mexus, much much worse is that you got unquantifiable company risk. Mexus is a one man show with this person having no track record to speak of nor is there any person with any credibility associated with this venture. How do we know that he and the other internet pumpers of this stock are not quietly unloading whilst they continue their pumping ? Mexus market cap is double that of Comstock mining and Comstock has multiple credible people backing it. For all we know the mexus shareholders could be quietly selling Mexus which could be a scam. Don't expect MXSG shareholders to telegraph their sales:
PAUL THOMPSON SR
PRESIDENT-DIRECTOR – Paul comes with 49 years experience in the mining industry from manufacturing of specialized mining equipment, experience in underground, placer, and gold recovery milling operations. Paul was the founder and president of Thompson Mining Inc, Thompson YellowJacket Mining Inc in Eldorado County, CA; along with Golden Eagle drilling, an exploration company. Paul was president of Paul D Thompson Inc, a fire truck, water tank, and pump manufacturing company for 40 years and the holder of several patents. He also designed and constructed a mobile home park in South Eldorado County, CA (Crystal Caves Mobile Home Park). Paul is presently co-owner and builder of an educational tourist gold mill in historic Virginia City, NV (Comstock Gold Mill).
There is no way an investor can do any reasonable due diligence. There is a mexican poster making serious allegations against Paul Thompson.
Garcia51 Member Profile Garcia51 Member Level Tuesday, July 19, 2016 9:31:54 PM
Re: None Post # of 15458
Hello people, from now and on I will be sharing with you guys REALLY REALLY REAL info about Mexus and all the lies PAUL THOMPSON have been posting at the www.mexusgoldus.com website.
firstable, Let me tell you that Mexus is hiding info to the mexican government. how is that?
well, 3 weeks ago Mexus Gold Mining SA de CV wich is the mexican subsidiary was notified by the state court based in Caborca Sonora Mexico TO INFORM THE COURT HOUSE ABOUT THE CONTRACTS MEXUS HAVE SIGNED WITH THE BALTAZAR FAMILY , OWNERS OF THE SANTA ELENA RANCH AND OF THE MINING CLAIMS where MEXUS pretend to have a mine.
The main thing here is that instead of following the judge order....MEXUS GOLD AND PAUL DENIED THE INFO TO THE JUDGE AND MAKE A PAYMENT "UNDER THE TABLE" WICH ACTION JEOPARDIZED the investment of hundreds of people by falling in DEFAULT because of not doing it like the contract signed with the ranch lease contract establishes.
This is just the begining. Any serious question....let me know.
Unfortunately once a company has lost credibility like comstock has, it will take more than PR's and 43-101's to bring back the gold investors who normally invest in juniors. The company needs to restore their credibility by showing they have actually found a gold deposit that can be put into production with low capex and that will generate cash at current gold prices. They currently don't have such a deposit, but I think they will find this at Dayton, which is why I am invested here. In the current harsh environment for gold juniors fluff PR's and 43-101 reports just won't cut it.
But if the gold price was to sustainably cross back over $1500, then PR's and 43-101 may be sufficient as it may suck in new investors who don't appreciate how difficult the gold mining sector really is and also may cause old investors who do have this understanding of the difficulties involved to loosen up. And this may happen before the end of year, if not we will have to wait until next year when they can demonstrate they have a mine at Dayton that works in the current environment.
Colorado gold mines in play after dispute between prospector, investor
By STEVE RAABE | The Denver Post
PUBLISHED: January 31, 2014 at 12:06 pm | UPDATED: April 27, 2016 at 8:04 pm
NEDERLAND — A pair of historic gold mines possibly worth billions face a clouded future after a flurry of lawsuits that pit an old-school prospector against a former state legislator.
Tom Hendricks, known as “Miner Tom” among locals, has worked the Caribou District gold mines almost every day for more than 40 years.
He has found gold in the hills above Nederland, and he has explored enough to be certain that a vast fortune still awaits.
But the ambitious plans of Hendricks and his partners to recover the gold have been stymied after lawsuits filed by an investment group headed by former state Sen. Tom Wiens.
Wiens is attempting to foreclose on the Boulder County mining properties, claiming that Hendricks and partners in Calais Resources Inc. defaulted on $15 million in loans.
At stake is a trove of gold that Hendricks estimates could be as much as 15 million ounces, worth nearly $19 billion at current prices.
The legal battle is unfolding during an interesting period for gold mining in Colorado. Prices are high enough — about $1,250 an ounce — that several owners of mining claims are seeking to relaunch production in areas that first were developed in the gold rush of the 1860s.
But strict and expensive regulatory requirements, combined with wariness by prospective lenders and investors, have made it difficult to get the historic claims back into production.
The Caribou and Cross mines, operated by Calais Resources, are prime examples of the gap between eye-popping potential and capital-constrained reality.
Even as ownership of the properties lies in legal limbo, Hendricks, 64, dons a pair of Carhartt overalls and drives each day up a rutted dirt road to maintain the mines, whose last major production was in 1988.
Since then, he and David Young — officers of Calais Resources — have extensively explored their 500 acres of claims. They’ve drilled hundreds of core samples and discovered dozens of promising new ore veins.
Yet, one crucial requirement — operating capital — has kept them from restarting the mines and posting profits.
Calais Resources was created as a publicly owned company, but in 2012 the Securities and Exchange Commission revoked the firm’s registration for a recurring pattern of failing to file financial reports. Calais told regulators that the reports weren’t filed because the company couldn’t afford to pay its auditor.
An apparent breakthrough occurred later in 2012 when a group that included Wiens spent $6 million to purchase promissory notes representing loans made to Calais over the past decade. The notes gave the Wiens group the right to collect principal and interest payments from Calais.
Wiens, 61, served as a Republican state legislator in Colorado from 2003 to 2009. He owns a Douglas County ranch and operates a financial-services firm, New West Capital.
Wiens saw the Calais promissory notes not just as a financial instrument but as a mechanism to get involved in the quest for gold.
He and the mine partners launched a series of discussions about creating a partnership in which Wiens’ group would provide the funds needed to get the mines up and running again.
Calais says Wiens agreed to make an initial payment of $930,000 to pay off some of Calais’ debts, then invest more to make the mines operational.
Months later, the talks turned confrontational under claims by both sides of fraud and misdealing.
Wiens’ investment partnership, New West Minerals LLC, said the loans were in default and demanded full payment from Calais. When payment wasn’t made, New West filed suit in Boulder County District Court to foreclose on the mine property.
In addition, New West filed a lawsuit in Douglas County District Court, alleging that Hendricks and Young of Calais and their Boulder attorney John Henderson engaged in “self-dealings and intentional misrepresentations” to the detriment of New West.
Calais and related parties have filed counterclaims in both cases, claiming that it was Wiens who acted in bad faith.
Hendricks said he feels personally attacked by the suits and is concerned that they portray him in a bad light, contrary to the reputation he has established over decades of work and community involvement. His résumé contains a long list of civic awards and recognition.
He describes the legal dispute as “Wiens’ effort to steal my life’s work.”
“I’ve spent more than 40 years responsibly developing the mining property in the Caribou District in a manner that respects the environment and the surrounding community,” Hendricks said. “I’ve encountered countless obstacles in that time, though perhaps none bigger than someone who presented themselves as a partner turning out to be a predator intent on snatching it up.”
Wiens replied that New West filed the foreclosure suit “long after Calais had gone over the cliff to financial ruin.”
“Calais’ problems have been well documented and continuing for many years,” Wiens said. “It is unfortunate that Mr. Hendricks feels the way he does, but this situation is a result of a series of plans gone bad over a long period of time, resulting in bad outcomes for Calais’ creditors and shareholders.”
Like Calais, Wiens has endured his share of financial problems. Companies that Wiens has headed, including Recycling Industries and InteleCom, have filed for bankruptcy. Wiens also once filed for personal bankruptcy protection.
The outcome of the mines’ ownership is likely to hinge on one key legal question.
Wiens’ lawsuits state that he legally acquired four Calais promissory notes in a series of purchases. But he has acknowledged in related hearings that he does not physically possess three of the notes. Case filings refer to them as the “lost notes.”
Calais argues that promissory notes are negotiable instruments, and as with personal checks, a presumed owner must have physical possession of the original documents, not just copies.
Wiens’ attorneys claim that his ownership of the notes is clearly established and that physical possession is not required.
Calais has filed a motion to dismiss the case based on the possession issue. A ruling is expected this year.
Calais’ legal fees are being paid by unidentified investors who will acquire a stake in Calais if the company wins in court, said Calais attorney Tarek Saad of Patton Boggs.
Steve Raabe: 303-954-1948, sraabe@denverpost.com or twitter.com/steveraabedp
http://www.denverpost.com/2014/01/31/colorado-gold-mines-in-play-after-dispute-between-prospector-investor/
Agree that Comstock has a history of over promising and under delivering. It would be good if they hired an experienced mine builder with a good track record as a COO since the current management has lost all credibility after repeatedly promising over a 2 year period to raise production from 20,000 to 40,000 oz per year only to then turn around and completely shut production down.
The share price will turn up in a sustainable way if they can deliver on their promise to startup the Dayton mine at 40,000 oz/yr and generate $20 million in yearly positive cash flow. Price of gold going over $1500 would also do the trick as that would make their currently uneconomic 3 million + oz in gold resources economic once again. The race is on to see which of these 2 catalysts will happen first. I think we have a max wait of 1 1/2 years. Now is the time to accumulate shares IMO. The company has little debt, they have lowered their burn rate drastically and the current share price is underpinned by the value of their real estate and mineral assets and thus the downside is limited from here. The upside is $1-2 or more if they don't screw things up by heavily dilution the shares outstanding.
Are there any institutions who own MXSG ? If so which ones ? Also if no institutions are owning this, why not ?
http://apps.cnbc.com/view.asp?country=US&uid=stocks/ownership&symbol=MXSG&country=CA
http://apps.cnbc.com/view.asp?country=US&uid=stocks/ownership&symbol=LODE&country=CA
I admit that I know very little about MXSG. The little I've seen says "stay away". But I am open to changing my mind if they can make a compelling pitch.
I have been buying a lot lately and am also holding all I can now.
Looks to me to be the most undervalued junior in terms of risk/reward. Low downside from these levels, but massive upside.
The other mine is actually 2 mines, an underground mine and an open pit. The open pit faces stiff resistance from the locals and looks to be unlikely to materialize after that recent court judgement. However the underground mine at Marmato has been chugging along at 25K oz/yr and may have good potential for expansion if the recent high grade drill hole can be further developed into a high grade resource that can be accessed from underground.
I think John Winfield owns a little less than 99.99%. Did you sell all your shares back to him ?
It appears that Gabelli has almost sold out and the header for this message board shows by how much:
http://finance.yahoo.com/quote/LODE/holders?ltr=1
But it is good news that the other institutions are still holding.
Sold out all my Banro. I was expecting some dilution but the recent dilution was more than I could stomach. I will not be coming back into it unless I can get in below the price of the big guys ( ie. 10 cents).
I have moved most of the Banro proceeds into Gran Colombia which is the leading gold producer in Colombia with 110 million market cap fully diluted if all the convertible debt is converted at which point it will be debt free. It is producing 150K oz/yr annualized from their high grade underground mine in Segovia. They also have a top 20 largest undeveloped gold deposit at Marmato with 15 million+ oz.
BTW something is up with Gran Colombia, check the volumes this week. Also, Gran Colombia is where I had my funds in before I sold it to buy Banro in July 2014.
Sold out all my Banro. I was expecting some dilution but the recent dilution was more than I could stomach. I will not be coming back into it unless I can get in below the price of the big guys ( ie. 10 cents).
I have moved most of the Banro proceeds into Gran Colombia which is the leading gold producer in Colombia with 110 million market cap fully diluted if all the convertible debt is converted at which point it will be debt free. It is producing 150K oz/yr annualized from their high grade underground mine in Segovia. They also have a top 20 largest undeveloped gold deposit at Marmato with 15 million+ oz.
Gran Colombia is where I had my funds in before I sold it to buy Banro in July 2014.
You are ignoring some not so minor details:
-there is no evidence that comstock has gold that can be mined at $700 total cost
-capex has not been subtracted
-time value of money not accounted for
-not accounted for share dilution even thought this company is a serial diluter
What you say would be true if the price that the preferred shares convert at is a discount to the market price. If that were true then the company could not claim that the fully diluted share count would be 1.1 billion. The fact that they are making this claim tells me that the conversion price is fixed and is not a function of the market price. So I don't agree with this death spiral thesis of yours unless you can provide a link or some evidence to support this.
Nice summary thanks. Banro is now no longer a distressed situation. The dilution is much more than I anticipated. IMO 50% of the upside has been removed with this refinancing but concomitantly the extreme downside risk from an unsustainable debt situation with its BK potential has been removed.
Overall I like this deal. Banro is now transitioning from a spec to an investment, that is if you believe that the gold price has substantial upside like I do. I like the fact that the top 3 institutions will now own 80% of the company.
In hindsight the thing holding down the price of Banro was the uncertainty surrounding their debts and less so the fact that their mines are in the DRC. Now that the debt situation has been resolved, Banro should start attracting a new class of investors who previously wouldn't touch this situation due to the BK risks. Within a year or less when gold is a few hundred dollars higher and it is clear that they are on track to actually be able to pay down their debt we should see Banro catching up to its peers in valuation.