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If stock price volatility has you spooked,
follow the technology and
the TRL commercialization scale progression.
The article ties together a lot of loose ends. TY
LWLG in a Nutshell
LWLG develops electro-optic (E-O) organic polymers that transmit data at higher speeds with less power use than current technology allows. Its initial next-gen device, an E-O polymer modulator, provides breakthrough photostability compatible with high-volume silicon foundry processes. The company is currently developing foundry Process Design Kits (PDKs) for its partners to enable polymer hybrid Silicon Photonic (Si-Ph) mass production.
Are there any similarities with previous bottoms?
https://www.stockscores.com/charts/charts/?ticker=lwlg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" >https://www.stockscores.com/charts/charts/?ticker=lwlg
a great article
TRL7-TRL8 transition in process
Finalizing the E-O polymer modulator commercialization process
Modulators are key to photonic integration
Dr. Zyskind most recently served as Vice President of Engineering, Quality and Reliability at Skorpios, where he led the due diligence and selection of the company’s foundry partners for fabrication of its Silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs), as well as PIC qualification and reliability testing. Skorpios’ unique technology and proprietary wafer scale process allow to monolithically integrate silicon with III-V gain materials used as the active medium, to create Silicon Photonic ICs.
The introduction of optical grating couplers, integrated with the Company’s modulators, enable light to be efficiently coupled into and out of the modulator, improving the overall efficacy of an integrated silicon photonics platform. The inclusion of an optical grating coupler in a PDK enables silicon foundry partners to fabricate the modulator and optical grating coupler either simultaneously or in a single fab run.
Dr. Michael Lebby, Chief Executive Officer of Lightwave Logic, commented: “We are making significant internal efforts to further build-out the information needed for a robust PDK for our foundry partners, enabling an expedited commercialization process through simplified manufacturing. The addition of another silicon photonic tool such as the optical grating coupler into our portfolio of design elements is very important as we optimize the performance of our high-speed, low-power modulators.
“We are working on additional design tool kit components to further simplify this process for our foundry partners and look forward to providing further updates. We continue to make substantial progress while striving to create sustainable, long-term value for our shareholders,” concluded Lebby.
https://www.lightwavelogic.com/investors/
Say What?
The energy sector has sprinted to the top of the S&P standings to start the year as crude oil prices rally to seven-year highs.
Some Thoughts on the PDK
Process Design Kits Accelerate Product Delivery Without Sacrificing Performance
To take advantage of new silicon photonic technology, design enablement teams must deliver accurate process design kits (PDKs) to mitigate the complexity of evolving semiconductor processes. These kits must accurately model the process and performance of the completed device.
Enabling Product Delivery
One way to enable product delivery with shorter design cycles is to provide PDKs to design teams earlier in the design cycle and improve the accuracy of those kits. Of course, one challenge with early kits is accuracy. Since the PDK essentially represents a contract between manufacturing and design, early delivery can be problematic. The availability of kits can impact design rework if they change after design work has begun.
While it’s possible for designers to begin their work with “initial design kits,” any work done prior to the release of the “production design kit” is subject to potentially costly rework. Additionally, rushing kits to production can cause unplanned design kit revisions late in development. In either case, the resulting design rework and product delays translate to lost revenue. Late kits or problems with design kit accuracy impact time-to-market.
One of the lessons we are learning as we track the progress of LWLG is that constraints and limitations force tech innovators to rethink whole problems and come up with novel solutions and approaches.
This is one of the most convoluted and debt ridden SEC filings I’ve ever read.
The question to be answered, however, Is the company’s technological vision and prowess sufficient enough to generate a level of revenue and profits necessary to unravel GBT’s ongoing financial entanglements and to reduce and minimize its ever growing and burdensome debt?
Clarifying A Thunderous GBT Tech Tsunami
GBT Technologies' torrent of press releases trumpeting new patents and tech innovations represents a tsunami of new developments that often overwhelms and blurs the big picture. However, this far-flung web of PR’s, old and new, also paints an evolving picture of what the company is in the process of attempting and how.
I’ve finally put together, in my investment analysis, an outline of GBT’s playbook and connected a multitude of what can appear to be separate and disparate threads but hesitate to regurgitate some or all of it for fear of perhaps causing confusion rather than clarification. At the least, the company has a worthy tech vision and mission in which I’ll continue to make modest investment and to learn about.
Heterogeneous integration key to future integrated-photonics growth
Paul van Gerven 16 August 2021
https://bits-chips.nl/artikel/heterogeneous-integration-key-to-future-integrated-photonics-growth/
No single integrated-photonics technology can do it all: they need to be combined for maximum functionality. The set of techniques to do that – hybrid or heterogeneous integration – is a key growth driver for the Dutch integrated-photonics industry.
In electronics, the vast majority of chips are based on silicon. Other semiconductor materials are preferred only for specialized applications. In power management chips, for example, gallium nitride is an up-and-coming substrate. But although emerging applications such as electric driving will certainly spur demand for GaN chips over the next few years, it’s unlikely they’ll ever challenge silicon’s crown in terms of number of chips manufactured or revenue generated.
The situation isn’t as clear-cut in integrated photonics. Each of the three main ‘flavors’ of this technology – indium phosphide (InP), silicon nitride (SiN) and silicon/silica photonics (SiP) – has its own strengths and weaknesses. Rather than thinking about these platforms as competing with one another, they should be considered complementary. For many applications, any one platform can’t shine without the other: they need to be combined to unlock certain functionality. Boosting performance or lowering cost can also be an incentive to making combinations.
Integration of separately manufactured components into higher-level assemblies is called hybrid or heterogeneous integration (HI). Apart from blending photonic flavors, HI is indispensable because all but the most simple photonic devices require control electronics to operate. The optical and electronic chips are manufactured in their own respective factories and then connected, assembled and packaged together into one module.
As the integrated-photonics industry matures, photonic devices will perform increasingly complex tasks. This will likely involve assembling a growing number of components, using increasingly sophisticated HI techniques. These components aren’t just photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and control chips but other (discrete) components as well. Eventually, more ‘exotic’ devices such as MEMS and (bio)sensors will make their way in there....
Just a Reminder:
GBT Tokenize Corp (a Nevada corporation based in San Diego, CA)
is a Joint Venture between GBT Technologies Inc (based in Santa Monica, CA) and Tokenize-It, S.A. (owned by a Costa Rica Trust represented by Pablo Gonzalez).
The JV was founded in 2020, with 1 financing round.
The JV controls GBT Technologies through its ownership (representing 66.54%) of 800 million shares of common stock of the Company.
GBT Tokenize Corp, is currently developing qTerm, an Intelligent Vital Signs Measuring Device.
Technology is often a slow and winding road.
How Does a Photovoltaic Cell Work?
www.planete-energies.com 08 Apr. 2019
A photovoltaic (PV) cell, also known as a solar cell, is an electronic component that generates electricity when exposed to photons, or particles of light. This conversion is called the photovoltaic effect, which was discovered in 1839 by French physicist Edmond Becquerel1. It was not until the 1960s that photovoltaic cells found their first practical application in satellite technology. Solar panels, which are made up of PV cell modules, began arriving on rooftops at the end of the 1980s. Photovoltaic capacity has been growing steadily since the start of the 21st century, led by the construction of huge solar farms.
What Are Optical Transceivers?
C&C Technology Group / July 25, 2021
https://cc-techgroup.com/best-optical-transceivers
Powered by Lightwave Logic:
Customizable & Bespoke EO Solutions
Combinations of chromophores and host polymers are tailored for specific applications that meet customers’ stated needs and requirements.
Cherie Mertin Tilley, a loving husband and father, faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an underground miner, and resident of Lehi, Utah, passed away from pancreatic cancer on April 25, 2017 at the age of 75.
Cherie is survived by his wife Kathleen Joyce Tilley (Fickel), his sisters Linda Jean Heward, Diane Sue Barnson, and Nancy Joanne Jones, and his brother Terry Mack Tilley, and his 19 beloved grandchildren.
Cherie was born in Rio Tinto, Nevada on July 25, 1941, to Mack Mertin Tilley and Hazel Chloe Huffman. He married Kathleen on October 9, 1965. Kathleen and Cherie welcomed 9 children into the world: five boys, Jason, Mark, Thomas, Timothy, and Patrick, and four girls, Stacey, Abby, Julie, and Rebecca.
Cherie worked for his father on the weekends at the Darwin Underground Mine near Death Valley, California at the age of 11, mucking out blasted rock by hand. He worked in the underground mining industry beginning in 1958, retiring in 2007. His work took he and his family to Wyoming, Utah, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, also working in Arizona, Puerto Rico and Honduras on temporary assignments.
Cherie was a devoted husband and father who was a great example of a dedicated, hard-working man to all who knew him. He was an innovator who changed the mining industry and has received many awards over the years for his efforts, including SME’s inaugural Miner of the Year in 2012. He has written and presented many technical papers related to his successes in the industry. He also enjoyed politics and ran in the Primary Election for U.S. Senate in Nevada in 2004.
From the Tilley Family Facebook
Lee,
My thoughts and and prays to you and your daughter for a robust recovery.
Having all the information presented in one spot is an important start. Everyone can begin with the same facts in hand and then all can begin to plug in all the missing events and facts. And thus the saga that is CPRK will take shape and eventually be told to the investment world and all those souls who were/are directly and indirectly involved in this fetching story.
Journal of Business Case Studies – First Quarter 2016
Volume 12, Number 1
Copyright by author(s); CC-BY
19
The Clute Institute
[b]Copper King Mining Company:
A Case Study In Using Loans And
Equity To Finance A Start-Up
Richard Parsons, Ph.D., Texas A&M University - Texarkana, USA
Barrick to shut Utah office, dissolve copper unit, to cut costs
Reuters – Fri, 18 Sep, 2015 10:48 AM EDT
TORONTO (Reuters) - Barrick Gold Corp (Toronto:ABX.TO - News) will close its Salt Lake City, Utah office by the end of November and dissolve a standalone copper unit, as the world's biggest gold producer by output continues to cut costs to help pare its debt.
The Salt Lake City office has approximately 110 employees, down from 130 earlier this year, a Barrick spokesman said, and the majority of those workers will be laid off. Earlier this year, Barrick closed an office in Perth, Australia.
The standalone copper unit will be integrated into the company, saving overhead costs, and the bulk of its staff, of 10 to 12 employees, will be laid off as well.
Barrick did not have an estimate on savings from the two latest restructuring measures.
The company has cut jobs, sold assets, put other assets up for sale and cut it dividend as it works to slash debt by at least $3 billion this year amid slumping gold prices. Down some 40 percent over the past four years, gold was trading at $1,140 an ounce on Friday.
There is no need for a separate copper division, created after the 2011 acquisition of copper miner Equinox Minerals, as Barrick focuses on its gold assets and operates just one copper mine in Zambia, spokesman Andy Lloyd said.
In August, Barrick said it had reached 90 percent of its $3 billion debt reduction target, or $2.7 billion. At the end of June, its debt was $12.8 billion.
Toronto-based Barrick has said it plans to cut expenditure across the company by $2 billion by the end of 2016 and will reduce capital spending to between $1.6 billion and $1.9 billion in 2015, down 20 percent from 2014.
RBC Capital Markets analyst Stephen Walker cut his price target on Barrick stock to $8 from $10 on Friday, citing lower copper price forecasts.
Shares of the company were up modestly at C$9.03 on the Toronto Stock Exchange in morning trading on Friday. However, the stock is down some 30 percent in the year to date.
Barrick's asset sales could reduce its gold production to 4.7 million ounces in 2018 from 7.4 million ounces in 2012, Walker wrote in an investment note.
(Reporting by Susan Taylor; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
Hedge funds have never hated gold this much
Myles Udland Business Insider July 25, 2015
Hedge funds have never hated gold this much. On Friday, data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commisssion, or CFTC, showed that hedge funds are net short gold for the first time since this data was first collected back in 2006, according to Bloomberg.
The CFTC's data collects all of the long and short bets being made by hedge funds and speculators, or bets that the price of something will go up or down from here. And this week, for the first time there were, on balance, more bets that the price of gold will fall rather than rise going forward.
Over the last week, gold futures fell below $1,100 for the first time in over 5 years, finishing the week at $1,098. The latest leg lower in gold, which is now down about 40% from its high of around $1,700 an ounce hit back in 2011, was sparked by a flash crash overnight on Sunday. This crash sent gold down more than $50 and ounce, and with some swings here and there during the week, gold prices mostly grinded lower.
The decline in price of gold also comes on the backdrop of what was just a terrible week for all commodities, with Bloomberg's commodity index hitting a 13-year low at one point, crude oil crashing back into a bear market, and other metals like copper also selling off hard. And as Goldman Sachs' Jeff Currie told Bloomberg earlier this week, it looks to him like gold will trade below $1,000 an ounce this year, given the broader sell off in commodities.
About FINRA
FINRA is dedicated to investor protection and market integrity through effective and efficient regulation of the securities industry.
FINRA is not part of the government. We’re an independent, not-for-profit organization authorized by Congress to protect America’s investors by making sure the securities industry operates fairly and honestly.
We do this by:
• writing and enforcing rules governing the activities of more than 4,055 securities firms with approximately 637,125 brokers;
• examining firms for compliance with those rules;
• fostering market transparency; and
• educating investors.
Our independent regulation plays a critical role in America’s financial system—by enforcing high ethical standards, bringing the necessary resources and expertise to regulation and enhancing investor safeguards and market integrity—all at no cost to taxpayers.
Every investor in America relies on one thing: fair financial markets. That's why FINRA works every day to ensure that:
• every investor receives the basic protections they deserve;
• anyone who sells a securities product has been tested, qualified and licensed;
• every securities product advertisement used is truthful, and not misleading;
• any securities product sold to an investor is suitable for that investor's needs; and
• investors receive complete disclosure about the investment product before purchase.
In 2014, through our aggressive vigilance, we brought 1,397 disciplinary actions against registered brokers and firms. We levied $134 million in fines. And we ordered $32.3 million in restitution to harmed investors. We also referred more than 700 fraud and insider trading cases to the SEC and other agencies for litigation and/or prosecution.
Big global copper surplus? Mine cutbacks force rethink
LONDON, Jan 14, 2015 (Reuters) –
Cuts in copper mine output are raising doubts about the extent of a widely expected global surplus that has driven down prices, and the reduced production could support a market rebound. An expected glut of supply in 2015 is one reason - along with tanking oil prices - why investors have been selling the metal in droves in the past six months, pulling prices to their lowest level in 5-1/2 years.
But several mining companies have cut their expected 2015 copper production, mainly for geological or technical reasons - and only now are new forecasts emerging from analysts downgrading global output this year. Some have gone so far as to wipe out the surplus altogether and pencil in a deficit. "The market is not going to be as over-supplied as we had originally thought after several announcements on cutbacks," said Vivienne Lloyd, base metals analyst at Macquarie. "We expect the market to be quite balanced this year."
Concerns about economic growth in China, which accounts for 40 percent of global copper consumption, has also weighed on prices for the metal - often seen as a bellwether for economic health because of its use in industries from construction to consumer goods.
However some economists say any pick-up in the Chinese property sector this year could boost demand for copper and further eat into a global surplus. Analysts polled by Reuters in October had expected the global surplus to shoot up to 350,000 tonnes this year from a forecast 94,300 tonnes in 2014. Since then, Rio Tinto has trimmed expected 2015 output at its Kennecott U.S. operation by about 100,000 tonnes and BHP Billiton has cut around 150,000 tonnes from forecast production at Escondida in Chile, the world's largest copper mine, said Citi analyst David Wilson.
Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) has reduced its forecast for output at its Alumbrera mine in Argentina by 50,000 tonnes, Wilson said in a note. "We expect the late arrival of the rain season in Zambia and DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) will have a significantly negative impact on open pit copper mining activity in both regions," he added.
Happy Holidays to all.
Copper King Mining has taken its investors on a unique journey that continues to unfold despite ongoing obstacles and relentless criticism.
Let's put some joy and happiness in our hearts and see what positive developments the New Year might bring forth.
If the journey ends in failure then so be it. We fought the good fight that was only possible because we live in America. Wimping out was never a part of this group’s efforts to create something out of nothing..
By historical precedent and by all rights this company today should be nothing but history. The fact that it's still alive and kicking says a lot about the time, effort and financial commitments of a few.
The US is Now the Preferred Destination for Gold Mining Companies
Robert Spence – Mining - -Aug 14, 2014
The price of gold is the same around the world but the cost of production unfortunately is not.
According to a recent article by Forbes’ columnist Tim Treadgold, gold mining companies are earning more from US based mines than anywhere else in the world.
“In the commodity world the value-gap is best illustrated by that universal material gold, with the cost profile of one company demonstrating why the U.S. is a preferred destination for new mine developments,” he writes.
Numbers never lie
In his article Treadgold uses South African miner AngloGold Ashanti (JSE:ANG) as a prime example of why the US is the preferred destination for gold mining. The company, which has four major divisions (South Africa, Africa, Australia and the Americas), reported a four percent increase in gold production to over one million ounces for the second quarter of 2014. When breaking down production and cost between the four divisions, however, the clear cut winner was the Americas unit.
According to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the division produced gold at $765 per ounce, almost $100 an ounce less than AngloGold’s operations in Africa – which should be the cheapest mining destination. AngloGold’s African operations produced gold at $846/oz and the company’s Australian mines at $850/oz.
“When it comes to future investment it is likely that proposals from the Americas division of AngloGold will win a capital allocation ahead of other divisions simply on the question of costs, a situation which could soon attract the attention of environmental groups opposed to most forms of mining,” Treadgold says.
New gold reporting metrics
Initiated by the World Gold Council (WGC), mining companies and investors have adopted new metrics for cost reporting and efficiency called all-in sustaining costs, or AISC.
These metrics being used more frequently to capture a point-in-time look at what it costs to run a gold mine and generate today’s revenue. This includes everything from G&A expenses and sustaining capital for mines are they age. “The way companies are using the metrics to describe their performance and to educate employees about the real costs of mining, assisting them to make better cost decisions, is really helping companies to improve their financial performances, while simultaneously improving cost disclosure to investors and interested parties,” WGC director Terry Heymann.
While the majority of companies and investors have approved these reporting metrics, not everyone is sold. Randgold Resources’ (LON:RRS) CEO, Mark Bristow, slammed the reporting tool saying ASIC was just “jiggery-pokery.” “Why does the gold industry have to be different? What’s the reason? It’s because we are not profitable, so we try to make ourselves look profitable,” said Bristow. He added that the gold mining company that had originally promoted and adopted the AISC concept by the WGC had since resigned from the council.
Going for the gold
So why is gold so much cheaper to produce in the Americas? The consensus is generally associated with third-world countries and their economy. Treadgold cites two major companies and their way of thinking behind the US being a better destination for gold mining.
“Cliffs Natural Resources and Apache Corporation have been targeted by activist funds demanding the sale of high-cost, low-profit, assets in Australia with Cliffs under pressure to sell an iron ore mine in Western Australia and Apache planning to sell a 13% stake in a big Australian liquefied natural gas project being developed by Chevron Corporation.”
Many investors have spotted the value gap developing between international mining and oil operations and those in the United States. And many of them are selling off their international assets to reinvest the capital back into U.S. based projects.
Why?
Simply put, the United States has become the go-to destination for gold mining companies.
Copper in the spotlight
March 12, 2014
Copper has been in focus this week due to its abysmal performance of late.
The commodity is by far the worst performer among all precious and base metals, with a drop of roughly 13% this year. Copper’s troubles have come amid fears of a slowing Chinese economy — and hence slowing demand for the commodity. There are also fears of credit risks in the country and that financing via warehouse-stored copper in China could collapse. Also see: Iron-ore price decline may slow as banks take control
Copper prices basically collapsed on Tuesday afternoon, closing down 2.6% to $2.95 a pound, the lowest level seen since July 2010. That level was been taken out early Wednesday on electronic trading, touching a low of $2.91.
High-grade copper for May delivery (CNS:HGK4) (CNS:HGK4) closed up a penny, or 0.3%, at $2.96 a pound Wednesday.
But on the Shanghai Futures Exchange overnight, the most-traded copper contract hit its lowest level in more than four years, and in London, the copper benchmark hit its lowest level in more than three years, according to media reports.
Analysts at Commerzbank explained that copper in London dipped below the $6,600 per ton threshold and below the $3 per pound market in New York simultaneously, with the two feeding off each other.
Barclays believes the worst is likely over , or at least close to it, while Commerzbank also says the slump is excessive. “What is more, the price does not reflect the current supply-demand situation on the global copper market — it is very tight, as the International Copper Study Group will doubtless confirm in the next few weeks,” said Commerzbank in a note.
Copper Is Getting Crushed
Business InsiderBy Mamta Badkar | Business Insider 3-11-14
Copper prices are down 1.3% to $2.9940 a pound and is down the lowest level since 2010.
Copper has been taking a beating recently after concerns about Chinese economic growth resurfaced.
We saw Chinese exports tumble after the release of February export data. And last week, copper prices tumbled after China experienced its first domestic bond default.
Hedge funds and other speculators raised their net-long position in Comex gold by 25 percent to 33,449 futures and option contracts in the week ended Dec. 10, government data showed on Dec. 13
To clarify, the point of my comment below is that profits in the gold mining industry belong to the junior companies with low costs per ounce of gold processed.
To quote: "Despite a quintupling of the commodity price from 2003 to 2011, the gold mining majors generated little to no free cash flow. The Jeffries analysts feel the majors likely will generate negative free cash flow over the next several years."
First Barrick now Newmont moving into copper mining.
Oct 1, 2013 Newmont Mining Corporation (NEM) is eyeing Glencore Xstrata’s Peruvian copper mining project – Las Bambas – which the latter is selling in an auction, according to Financial Times. The newspaper stated that Newmont's Chief Executive has found an interesting prospect in Glencore's Las Bambas mine. Newmont is reportedly viewing the project with interest as it approaches production. The mine is expected to produce 400,000 tons of copper annually.
Ned Goodman ditches bank stocks for gold
Bloomberg News | 08/08/13
Ned Goodman, founder and chief executive officer of holding company Dundee Corp., shed the last of his bank shares after forecasting global inflation will make investments such as gold stocks and organic beef more rewarding.
… “Our whole investment modus operandi is to get involved in those industries and companies that will gain from an inflationary event,” Goodman, 75, said in an interview at Bloomberg’s Toronto office Aug. 1. “I’m more bullish on gold now than I’ve ever been.”
Goodman, who began managing investments in 1962 with Austin Beutel and Edward and Peter Bronfman in Toronto for Edper Group Ltd., the predecessor of Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management Inc., is putting his cash into hard assets. With the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks printing money, it’s only a matter of time before currencies lose value and inflation rises, Goodman said.
“The world is totally upside down right now — it’s completely crazy,” Goodman said, clicking off his Rolex watch and slinking the chain between his fingers. “I don’t know of another time when every country in the world was printing money.”
Goodman said he doesn’t know when inflation will rise or how drastically, but that his investment strategy is a pre-emptive strike against that risk. “I don’t wait for inflation,” he said. “It’s hard to call, but it’s impossible for me to see the U.S. getting out of trouble without printing more money and it’s impossible to see how Europe survives in the form that it’s in. You look around the world and you say: ‘We’re going to have to have some inflation.’ I want to own assets that are inflation-proof.”
“I am a Warren Buffett freak,” he said of the Berkshire Hathaway CEO and third-richest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. “His whole process is really quite simple: he buys things for less than they’re worth.” Miners of precious metals are “dirt cheap,” Goodman said.
Published on Sep 15, 2013
All-in cash costs could prove helpful to mining—Goldcorp CEO Jeannes
Author: Dorothy Kosich MINEWEB Posted: Monday , 11 Mar 2013
During a recent Investors’ Day meeting in Boston, Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes observed gold mining is currently a big target of governments struggling with substantial budget deficits.
RENO - Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes recently told analysts the issues of resource nationalism and governments in deficit spending mode looking for new sources of revenue keeps him up at night.
“…This issue of resource nationalism and the fact that countries around the world, where we do business or where we think about doing business in the future, are operating their governments (in) deficit spending mode and they are looking for new resources of revenue,” Jeannes observed. “And we are an industry that is making profits. And so we have a very big target on this. And so we have been that,” he added.
“We heard last week the government of the Dominican Republic talk about the biggest piece of the pie at Pueblo Viejo. We have seen I am going to Montreal next week to talk about, to consult with the government about what they might want to do in Quebec in terms of tax policy.” “This is an ongoing issue pretty much everywhere we do business,” Jeannes stressed.
“And so I think it’s up to the mining industry to do a better job of representing itself and representing its finances,” he suggested. “And the key to that has been and is to start talking about the all-in costs of producing an ounce of gold rather than cash costs.”
“Goldcorp has taken a leadership role in that. We came out in early January with all-in cost numbers, both for 2012 and going forward, and we expect to fully move to reporting all-in costs over the course of time,” said Jeannes. “We are working with the World Gold Council and we will conform to whatever the industry standard that results from that effort.”
“I think the key issue is that, frankly, our investors and analysts certainly know that sustaining capital and G&A and exploration are other costs that have to be accounted for in our business,” he noted. “The governments and other stakeholders that we deal with don’t necessarily have that detailed view from our financial statements.”
“So, when we talk about producing gold at $300 an ounce, it sends an inaccurate message,” Jeannes advised. “And right now, we are talking about giving the full story, sustaining capital, G&A, exploration, everything else that goes in to producing gold. And I think that will allow us to have much more productive discussions with these governments.”
Gold Miners Come Clean on Costs After Lost 6 Years: Commodities
By Liezel Hill - Bloomberg Feb 26, 2013
The gold-mining industry, which has underperformed the precious metal for each of the past six years, is pledging to report costs more accurately as part of its efforts to win back investor confidence.
Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX) and Goldcorp Inc. (G), the two biggest producers by market value, have begun reporting “all-in sustaining costs” for the first time. The new measure averaged $941 an ounce between the two companies in the fourth quarter. That’s 50 percent higher than the $626 average so-called cash cost they disclosed in the preceding three months.
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Chuck Jeannes, chief executive officer of Goldcorp Inc., talks about his company's mining operations, growth strategy and the outlook for gold prices. He speaks with Alix Steel at the BMO Capital Global Markets Metals and Mining Conference in Hollywood, Florida, on Bloomberg Television's "Market Makers." (Source: Bloomberg)
The largest gold companies are seeking to lure investors back to the $300 billion industry after a string of money-losing multibillion-dollar takeovers and over-budget projects. Barrick and its competitors are vowing to focus on margins and to get a grip on soaring production costs, rather than boosting output.
Gold producers “have really done themselves a huge disservice by effectively walking around for the last 12 years promoting the gross margin as opposed to the net or the operating margin,” said Joseph Wickwire, the Boston-based manager of Fidelity Investments’ $2.9 billion Select Gold Portfolio fund. “The managements and the boards of the gold companies really have no one to blame but themselves for some of the negative sentiment and disappointment.”
Earnings statements had previously carried so-called cash costs, based on a standard developed in the 1990s that excludes expenses such as exploration and waste-rock removal.
Margin Compression
The 55-member S&P/TSX Global Gold Sector Index (SPTSGD) trailed gold each year in 2007 through 2012. The index declined 6.9 percent during that period while gold futures more than doubled in New York. Gold rose 1.8 percent to $1,615.50 an ounce yesterday.
Gold has advanced for 12 successive years, driven at least in part by demand from investors looking for a store of wealth amid concern about inflation. Despite benefiting from that rally, gold producers’ margins have come under pressure from rising prices for labor, equipment and raw materials.
The average cash cost of 10 of the biggest gold miners was $694 an ounce in the third quarter, 49 percent higher than in the same period two years earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The average gold price rose 35 percent in the same comparison.
“Everyone was trying to run through the funnel of building these new projects as big as you can, as fast as you can,” Kinross Gold Corp. (K) Chief Executive Officer J. Paul Rollinson said in an interview Feb. 13. “There was huge competition for people, competition for steel, competition for tires and spare parts.”
Ballooning Budget
Barrick’s gross margin, expressed as a proportion of sales, was 47 percent in 2012, while its operating margin was 39 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The costs of running this business are higher than it looks and that’s how we need to manage this business going forward,” Barrick CEO Jamie Sokalsky said at a Jan. 29 conference in Toronto.
Sokalsky has been expounding his strategy since taking charge in June, when Barrick fired his predecessor Aaron Regent, citing a disappointing share-price performance. The Toronto- based company saw the cost estimate for its Pascua-Lama mine balloon to as much as $8.5 billion in 2012, from as much as $3.6 billion in 2011.
Fired CEOs
Regent was among at least six CEOs of North American gold producers to either announce their departure or be fired in the past year. Kinross, which fired Rollinson’s predecessor Tye Burt in August, has taken more than $5.5 billion of writedowns on Mauritanian assets the Canadian company acquired as part of its C$8 billion ($7.8 billion) takeover of Red Back Mining Inc. in 2010.
As gold miners pursued additional ounces at the expense of profit margins, investors instead plowed billions of dollars into gold-backed exchange traded funds. The weight of gold behind those ETFs, which include the $64.9 billion SPDR Gold Trust, has quadrupled to 2,530 tons since the start of 2007, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The boom in ETFs may now be at an end, with physical holdings poised for the biggest monthly decline since 2008. The gold cycle has probably turned as the recovery in the U.S. economy gathers momentum and investment holdings shrink, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a Feb. 25 report. Still, it’s not yet clear whether gold miners will benefit from the change in sentiment.
Predictability, Rigor
“I don’t think the industry has done anything to persuade some of those investors that hold, for example, gold ETFs to buy gold shares instead,” said Neil Gregson, who manages about $5 billion in natural resources equities at JPMorgan Asset Management in London. “Our allocation to gold equities is now down to 20 percent, which is the lowest we’ve been certainly since I’ve been here in the last 2 1/2 years.”
To be sure, while the gold industry has traditionally emphasized cash-cost figures, the other components of all-in costs were available in financial reports, Gregson said. Gold companies have diverged since the 1990s in terms of which cost items they included, Goldcorp CEO Chuck Jeannes said in a Feb. 25 interview.
“What we are trying to do is bring back some predictability and rigor,” he said.
There’s still no universal agreement on the new all-in costs. Members of the World Gold Council, a London-based industry group, are working on issues such as how to treat byproduct revenue, interest expenses and profits on energy hedges, said Agnico-Eagle Mines Ltd. (AEM) CEO Sean Boyd.
More Realism
Mining companies are hoping that it’s governments and not just investors who pay attention to the new all-in costs, Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) CEO Nick Holland said in a Feb. 4 interview. Gold more than quadrupled in the last 10 years and reached a record $1,923.70 an ounce in September 2011, encouraging some countries to seek a greater share of profits.
The Dominican Republic’s congress said last month it will review and may change a contract with Barrick over the development of a $4 billion mine. Burkina Faso is among countries that have amended royalty and tax regimes.
“It could be positive for getting more realism into governments about how much tax they really should be levying on us,” Holland said. “There’s not the super profits that you’d have them believe you’re making.”
Utah copper mine landslide will hurt state economy
Mine landslide will hurt Utah economy in short term; company will run out of copper in months
By Paul Foy, Associated Press | Associated Press – Fri, Apr 26, 2013
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The landslide that washed over the terraced steps of a mining pit nearly a mile deep left only the tip of one giant electric-powered shovel poking out of the dirt. The rubble buried three of them, along with 14 enormous haul trucks.
Even more of Kennecott Utah Copper's equipment lay buried under uneven piles of rubble as high as 300 feet at the bottom of the pit west of Salt Lake City.
It will take months for the major U.S. copper mine to recover from the devastating landslide, even though it had been anticipated by the company. It ran farther out than expected, burying equipment that had been staged there for a dig-out.
Yet company officials tried to sound optimistic Thursday as they opened Bingham Canyon mine to view for the first time since the April 10 slide.
"There's no doubt in my mind that there's a future in mining here," Kennecott Utah Copper chief Kelly Sanders said. "We'll meet this challenge."
Sanders said the company might be able to resume limited ore digging within days, but a full recovery could take a year.
Kennecott, which will work from a stockpile, will run out of copper in months and has cut its production goal for 2013 by half. The company has asked 2,100 workers to take vacation or unpaid leave, but few are doing so yet.
Sanders spoke to reporters on the rim of the breathtaking pit, now barren of activity. It spans nearly three miles wide, ringed by snow-capped mountains.
Company officials say 165 million tons of waste rock and dirt slid down a wall of the pit. They have said they expected it for months and kept workers away that very day.
The slide progressed in three pulses over three hours down multiple paths instead of falling all at once, nearly filling the bottom of the pit, said Matt Lengerich, the mine's general manager. They were so powerful that earthquake monitors operated by the University of Utah registered the commotion at up to a magnitude of 2.4.
Experts say it could be a blow to Utah's economy in the short term, depending on how quickly Kennecott can recover. That wasn't clear Thursday. Sanders said it will take four months for the company to draw up a plan for full operation.
On Thursday, haul trucks took loads of waste rock, but not from the landslide debris. Instead, they continued to widen the mine, an operation shut down for only 48 hours after the slide. It will take Kennecott another five years of digging to finish the expansion before reaching new ore deposits, Lengerich said. The work is taking place on a side of the pit opposite the landslide.
The effects already are being felt at one of Kennecott Utah Copper's outside contractors. Cementation USA Inc. said it laid off more than 40 workers who were tunneling into the pit to assess ore quality. Two tunnels and drilling equipment were buried by the landslide.
Sanders said no decisions have been made about any layoffs at Kennecott, though he repeatedly emphasized that the company had to cut costs to adjust to lower production goals. Workers are being reassigned, and a copper smelter also was operating at reduced levels.
Kennecott has informed investors it will produce 140,000 fewer tons of copper in 2013. It had planned to move 260 million tons of rock from the pit, but faces a waste pile nearly as large.
Company officials were uncertain how much of a cleanup was necessary — they could leave some of it in place and work around it.
Kennecott officials say two crucial pieces of equipment — a rock crusher and conveyer belt — were left undamaged inside the pit, making a faster recovery possible. They said federal regulators had granted them access to the bottom of the pit only Thursday.
The landslide was a major setback, said economists at the University of Utah. Kennecott adds $1.2 billion a year to the Utah economy, employs 2,810 workers on salaries and wages of $270 million and supports 14,971 other jobs, according to the school's Bureau of Economic and Business Research.
Extended periods of under performance by stocks are typically followed by periods of outstanding performance.
Some people like to look back, some forward and some both back and forward.
If today's low gold bullion prices force high cost mines to close then that should represent an opportunity for companies with low cost assets. As supply drops, given steady demand, prices typically rise.
Scoping vs. Feasibility Study - Canadian Mining Perspective
Use and Disclosure of Preliminary Economic Assessments By Mining Issuers
By Michael Brown, Gregory Hogan Attorneys Published: 10/04/2012
On Thursday, August 16, 2012, the staff of the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”) published CSA Notice 43-307 Mining Technical Reports – Preliminary Economic Assessments (“the Notice”). The Notice sets out staff’s position on certain issues regarding the use and disclosure of preliminary economic assessments (“PEAs”) in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (“NI 43-101”).
Background
Before considering the issues and recommendations in the Notice, it is important to clarify what a PEA is, and how it differs from other related studies.
• A feasibility study (FS) is a comprehensive technical and economic study of the selected development option for a mineral project that includes appropriately detailed assessments of realistically assumed mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental considerations, together with any other relevant operational factors and detailed financial analysis, that are necessary to demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction is reasonably justified (i.e., economically mineable).
The results of the study may reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a proponent or financial institution to proceed with, or finance, the development of the project.
The confidence level expressed in a feasibility study will be higher than that of a preliminary feasibility study or a PEA.
• A preliminary feasibility study (or PFS) is a comprehensive study of a range of options for the technical and economic viability of a mineral project that has advanced to a stage where:
o a preferred mining method (in the case of underground mining) or the pit configuration (in the case of an open pit) is established; and
o An effective method of mineral processing is determined.
O A PFS includes a financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental considerations and the evaluation of any other relevant factors which are sufficient for a Qualified Person, acting reasonably, to determine if all or part of a mineral resource may be classified as a mineral reserve. The completion of a preliminary feasibility study is a minimum prerequisite for the conversion of mineral resources to mineral reserves.
The confidence level of a preliminary feasibility study is less than that of a feasibility study, but higher than that of a PEA.
• A PEA is a study other than a preliminary feasibility study or a feasibility study that includes an economic analysis of the potential viability of mineral resources. A PEA is sometimes also referred to as a “scoping study”.
Unlike the other two types of study, a PEA may contain results of an economic analysis that includes, or is based upon, inferred mineral resources. However, where that occurs, disclosure based on the study must contain cautionary language, specifically:
a) a statement of “equal prominence” that:
the preliminary economic assessment is preliminary in nature, that it includes mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would allow them to be categorized as mineral reserves, and that there is no certainty that the preliminary economic assessment will be realized, and
• mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability;
b) a statement regarding the basis for the PEA and any qualifications and assumptions made by the Qualified Person; and
c) a statement that describes the impact of the PEA on the results of any feasibility or preliminary feasibility study in respect of the subject property.
The confidence level of a PEA is low, below that of either a feasibility or preliminary feasibility study.
How to Play the Battered Gold-Mining Stocks
By BEN LEVISOHN | Barron’s SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2013
Gold's bull market may or may not be over, but gold miners are sure acting like it is. Emerging-market investors can find opportunity amid the carnage by understanding the transformation taking place.
It's been a tough year for gold—and gold miners. The precious metal has dropped 5.6% in 2013, while the Market Vectors Gold Miners exchange-traded fund (GDX) is off 19%. Among the worst performers are companies based in developing markets, including South Africa's Harmony Gold Mining (HMY), which has plunged 31% this year, and Peru's Buenaventura Mining (BVN), which has plummeted 29%.
When gold was heading straight up, companies—desperate to increase their production—poured money into huge, expensive projects with little thought to the costs. Investors, meanwhile, were willing to look the other way, while pouring money into the stocks—even when performance was lagging and their stakes were diluted by share issuance. From gold's bottom in October 2008 through its peak in September 2011, the miners beat the metal by about 50 percentage points.
But with the price of gold no longer moving higher—it's about 15% below its peak—the gold miners ETF has shed nearly half its value. The companies, at least, have realized that the old growth-at-all-costs focus no longer works, says JPMorgan analyst John Bridges, and have begun to shift toward a more sustainable business model. They've been shedding unprofitable mines, providing investors with more accurate information on production costs, and focusing on free cash flow and dividend yields.
JAMIE SOKALSKY, CEO of Barrick Gold (ABX), acknowledged as much after the company issued its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 14, saying in a press release that "rising costs, poor capital allocation, and the pursuit of production growth at any cost in the industry have led to declining equity valuations across the sector." He promised to do better.
Companies that operate solely in emerging markets have had to be even more creative. South Africa's Gold Fields (GFI) for instance, split in two, with a new company, Sibanye Gold (SBGL) holding the old, high-cost South African mines, and the new Gold Fields focusing on faster-growing assets. So far, at least, investors have been unenthused: Gold Fields has dropped 18% since the split occurred on Feb. 11, while Sibanye has fallen 9.4%. Both have been hit by labor unrest in South Africa, unrest unlikely to end soon, considering that unemployment is near 25% and South Africa's mining companies have been talking about downsizing.
The gold-miner selloff, meanwhile, has left many looking cheap—but for good reasons, considering the uncertain outcome of their transformation. Investors willing to take risks should focus on the ones that have low costs, free cash flow—or will have it soon—and operate in more stable countries, says Avy Hirshman, a portfolio manager at Newgate Capital Management. "Today, you need to do your homework and find the ones that have those attributes you feel more comfortable owning," he says.
His favorite: Canada's Yamana Gold (AUY), which operates in Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Argentina. The company's cost of production is about $500 an ounce, well below South African miners' $800-plus, and it has been cutting its capital expenditures. Yamana had free cash flow from operations of $509 million during 2012's third quarter.
Gold mine cash costs jumped 19% in H1 2012- GFMS
Author: Geoff Candy - MINEWEB.com Posted: Tuesday , 04 Sep 2012
According to the metals consultancy, while gold production was roughly flat during the period average total cash costs rose to $727 per ounce.
GRONINGEN (MINEWEB) -
While global gold mine production was at best flat in the first half of 2012, average total cash costs jumped 19% to a new high of $727 per ounce.
According to Thomson Reuters GFMS's Gold Survey 2012 Update 1, some of the reasons behind the hiatus in production are declining grades across the industry, construction and commissioning delays and slower than expected ramp-ups of output at a number of properties. Added to this, the group said, were exogenous factors like geotechnical problems, extreme weather and labour strikes.
But, the consultancy says, "These are not the only headwinds producers have to face. The relative stagnation of the gold price, coupled with further rises in production costs, has seen producers' cash margins eroded by 16% over the past nine months, while upward revisions to capital expenditure forecasts will place additional pressure on free cash flow going forward."
And, while higher gold prices year on year have seen average producer margins rise 11% over the period, GFMS is quick to point out that "on a quarterly basis margins have in fact declined for the last three quarters."
Continued cost inflation and falling prices also meant that average cash margins have fallen sharply from above $1000/oz in Q3 2011 to just below $900/oz in the second quarter of 2012.
If one adds to this the 6% jump in depreciation and amortisation costs to $203/oz then GFMS's proprietary 'all-in cost' metric which is designed to reflect the full marginal cost of mine production rose to $1,050/oz during the period.
Looking across the various gold mining regions of the globe, Africa topped the production lists with the largest regional gain over the period - and this despite a 5% fall in production from South Africa. While, South African production fell to 93 tonnes on the back of a number of Section 54 safety stoppages and lower mill head grades, the continent as a whole saw production increase 9 tonnes to 297 tonnes.
The US produced 112 tonnes of gold over the half year, 4% less than the comparable period last year with the heaviest falls coming from the Goldstrike and Bingham Canyon mines, while Canadian production also declined, albeit only slightly, coming in at 52 tonnes for the period.
Peru and Mexico recorded the second and third strongest increases in output growth, each of them adding 5 tonnes to their production for the period. This helped the region record an overall increase despite losses in Argentina and Guatemala.
Australian gold production fell 5% to 123 tonnes on the back of poor output at a number of operations, while, in Asia, Chinese mine production grew by 13 tonnes, or 5% year on year.
LOOKING AHEAD
While growth has slowed in 2012, GFMS does not believe that the world has reached peak mine supply. Rather it expects, "a broad trend of growth to continue into 2013, albeit at a slower rate than we had expected 12 months ago, as gold miners continue to progress current development projects."