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Gold is basically untraceable and odds are that it will never be found, that is one of the qualities that criminals and non criminals alike desire in gold. They would have more trouble with 8.4 M in cash, at least they have a tiny hope of tracing some of the numbers and following a paper trail. With this gold there is no paper trail and I would bet MUX recovers at most 50% of their losses from insurance. I wonder what the deductible is on that?
Mexico has thousands of small placer mines and many family owned businesses and many cash for gold buyers. It would probably be the easiest money in the world to launder. All they have to do is sell it off through one of these mediums, and depending on who stole it they might even just keep the vast majority of it, sit on it, trade it, or sell it off gradually.
McEwen is an obvious target and there had to have been an ample security force present as well as all the standard security checks so it makes me curious of how exactly all of this went down. Probably got them just as they were leaving and surrounded the armoured car. Often when this stuff goes down there is an inside man who tipped them off to the exact timing as well.
Thanks.
Already got it here http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=111693638 but I'll sticky your post so it is more visible to newcomers to the board.
Thanks for the contributions everyone, information will be inevitably be repeated, but this also how we educate ourselves and raise the level of discourse while also discovering new things.
Take care.
Finally they posted the Putnam interview.
Putnam on the 'real market' demand for scandium:
Paging Philip Koenke and the Mexus Support Organization.
http://www.mexusgoldus.com/company/organization-chart/default.aspx
This is all very strange and I've never encountered a similar scenario before. Contracts are often broken, but how is it possible that it was never presented to the BoD in the first place or that the filings don't contain basic, accurate information about the deal?
This was part of my request to Mexus from December:
"...I think a lot of us are curious about the 10q showing the JV being bought out by Atzek instead of First Pursuit, although I realize the entities are somewhat linked. It would be nice if Mr. Thompson could clarify this arrangement and where this money due in the spring is ultimately coming from."
8, I remember you vouching for Mexus' legal council in the past and it seems unlikely that any lawyer worth his salt would mess up the contract itself.
We need some more information and I hope we get a reasonable explanation on Monday.
Apparently, unlike with planes, automobiles would significantly benefit from Sc Al alloy's increased weld-ability. They are using epoxy and glue at the moment... seems like a slam dunk for Sc that should make things lighter, stronger, and easier to produce - and that isn't even getting into all the internal components as you pointed out.
"Collaborating with Jaguar, Ford engineers developed various mechanical fastener and adhesive techniques to replace spot welding. In 2003, Jaguar launched the XJ sedan, which was made up of a creative mix of aluminum stampings, castings, and extrusions held together with epoxy adhesive, steel rivets, and a few nuts, bolts, and spot welds. Even though the XJ was significantly larger than the outgoing model, Jaguar claimed its unibody was 60 percent stiffer and 200 pounds lighter."
SCY finally hits a 15 cent intraday high - my next short term target is a quarter and I think it is coming sooner rather than later.
CARSON CITY, Nev., March 31, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mexus Gold US (OTCQB:MXSG) ("Mexus" or the "Company") announced today that the payment due on the sale of its San Felix property is now delinquent. The company is reviewing its options with legal counsel and will take the necessary steps to ensure the contract terms, conditions, and/or default obligations contained within the sales agreement are met.
This deal should also improve the terms or reduce the dilution of the mine financing they will eventually need to do. In a years time scandium will have more recognition (exponentially growing from a small base) and they will have progressed a lot in their project, translating IMO to a much higher share price. I think SCY is in an envious position compared to most juniors in this regard and I am not worried about them funding their mine based on its economic merits alone.
You're right, it seems like a Goldilocks number, not too, big not too small.
The pricing is subject to a confidentiality agreement because of the small market and opaque pricing for scandium. Long term its price will go down but the first mines will be relatively high cost compared to what is developed in the future and selling into a market where SCY`s supply could either theoretically tank the price, or rise with increased scandium demand that it intrinsically creates. Because of this the numbers are confidential because SCY wants to hedge some of their production, remove some of its start up risk, and still maintain some upside depending on scandium prices. Alcereco has the opposite perspective, they want scandium but also see the potential for the price to fall if it is produced in size and dumped on to the market, and so this deal is likely a fair compromise between the two positions.
I would bet about 50% is locked at say $1200/kilo (double estimated production costs) with another component based on an average market $1500-3000/kilo price, which will become more transparent, and likely cheaper over the years as sc is finally put into market.
I would also like to point out that this deal is worth probably $30 million dollars or so, for a company worth $25 million.
Overall - very good news and more confirmation of SCY's steady progress. My confidence in this stock increases with every one of these PRs.
Putnam:
"This strategic alliance allows SCY to partner with an established alloy technology group to design, develop and demonstrate fit-for-purpose scandium-content aluminum alloys for existing aluminum market applications. The scandia offtake agreement directly supports the efforts of ALCERECO to pursue these individual markets, and demonstrates the keen interest in scandium-content products that exists in the aluminum alloy markets today."
Gary Economo, President of ALCERECO commented: "Our longstanding efforts to develop markets that leverage our in-house expertise in scandium/aluminum have been delayed in the past by the lack of secure sources of scandium. This agreement allows ALCERECO in concert with Scandium International to move forward with joint ventures in several areas now that the supply risks have been reduced."
ABOUT ALCERECO INC. ALCERECO is an advanced materials development company that provides services and specialty processing capabilities to companies innovating in a diverse range of markets, including aerospace, automotive, electronics and consumer/sporting goods. ALCERECO staff work with a range of materials and processes and have the tools and knowledge to take on leading-edge projects such as development of aluminum-scandium alloys, specialty ceramics, composites and graphene enhanced materials. The company has a particular focus on lightweight materials capable of delivering greater strength, functionality and exceptional performance. The company operates out of the Grafoid Global Technology Centre in Kingston, Ontario that was originally founded by Alcan Aluminum in the 1940s. ALCERECO is a Canadian private company, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ottawa-based Grafoid Inc., a global leader in diverse graphene application development. For more information about ALCERECO, please visit www.alcereco.com
I only get 1 stickie as a mod but I will consider consolidating most of the posts and links on this board into one giant DD post in the ibox but it is already pretty succinct and I don't want to unnecessarily clutter it with low relevance information and comparisons to farm livestock.
SCY is a very interesting company - and it doesn't take long to "get" it and understand some of its potential. The chicken and egg analogy is good. I am sorry for harping about it, I've just heard it so many times that it is a tad exasperating.
Ihub says 0 volume but today was actually up 9% on 439,900 shares closing at .12 cad.
New article:
http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/scandium-demand-rises-as-sustainable-reliable-supplies-are-sought/
Some Putnam comments:
“We have surveyed other areas generally for scandium, and there are definitely a number of different possible sources. Certainly Russia and Ukraine are two of those, and the interest in scandium there is strong because the understanding of scandium and its applications is quite clear. We like Australian resources because the grades are simply better than we see elsewhere, the resources are formed such that they can be large and easy to recover, and Australia is a mining-friendly place to develop a mineral business.”
“In the short term, more small batches of scandium will continue to reach the market from waste stream processors and recovery circuits on existing mineral process facilities, encouraging more diverse applications. Demand is there already, it is simply waiting for adequate, sustainable, reliable supply at prices that make commercial sense.”
Doug, your second post contains even more obvious information that was posted in almost the exact same words just a few posts down. These posts are on topic but they sure give me a headache. Eventually this board will probably have 10,000 posts and information will be repeated over and over again, but this isn`t the case now and there is only a few of us, so take it easy with the repetition and please read the other posts. Apologies are not necessary, let's just try and keep the caliber of discussion high.
If your next post is `Scandium International Mining company is interested in internationally mining for scandium," I will face-palm so hard I'll have a hand print on my face for a week.
I am aware - and I never said it was new, nor did I imply so. I don't understand where the context for your message came from. I have mentioned the Russians, MIGS, and alloy information numerous times here. (That is the whole point of this board, discussion of SCY and scandium's potential). I was merely linking to Airbus' work because it was mentioned before and it demonstrates the airline industry is hungry for scandium and has been for years, regardless of supply.
There is 100 posts on this board and you might want to keep the most basic and obvious information that has been repeated ad nauseam to yourself, or at least try and present it in a slightly less insulting and more relevant manner.
I must admit it does annoy me that you responded to my post so matter-of-factly with the same info I've presented here a dozen times. The age of MIGS and the percentage of the alloy have nothing to do with eastern states starting scandium mines.
Pretty interesting and yet inevitable in my opinion. The amounts they are talking about are small and the dates (early 2016) are unlikely to be hit, although mining development times are much faster in many Eastern Bloc countries and the development times will be shortened if they are existing mines or recovering waste and tailings.
If anyone wants to rush and produce a tiny tickle of scandium they are welcome to, but I haven't seen any source that compares with SCY for where they are in the development cycle. SCY has volume, grade, and the metallurgy and margin necessary to scale into a producer of hundreds of low cost tonnes.
One of the comments from that article caught my eye:
"Tracy Weslosky on March 17, 2015 at 10:55 AM said:
There is quite the buzz on $NB and $NIOBF having scandium — in North America. I have the CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. (TSX: SCY) in here today for an interview on their patents pertaining to downstream product design for scandium recovery, and their focus is on the Nyngan Scandium Project in NSW, Australia.
- See more at: http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/former-soviet-states-plan-to-take-lead-in-global-scandium-market/#sthash.vsmFh9tI.dpuf"
I looked for it but didn't see it posted. This is what SCY shareholders should see and I'd really like to hear what Mr Putnam has to say about these patents.
I am also about 100 pages into NIO's report and getting into the scandium stuff. I'll report back when I am done but so far it appears that my initial impressions were off. The deposit and geology is very different from SCY's which may mean their patents do not apply, or would be more difficult to argue that they do or should. I am still not 100% clear on this and a lot of it will have to do with how similar the extraction tech is between the two companies. After reading most of it though I already feel much more confident that NIO will not be a serious competitor to SCY because they don't actually have a scandium mine, they have a niobium and titanium mine with a little bit of semi-random scandium present.
another article:
http://investorintel.com/rare-earth-intel/chicken-egg-problem-energy-metals-scandium-case-study/
Airbus SC
http://www.technology-licensing.com/etl/int/en/What-we-offer/Technologies-for-licensing/Metallics-and-related-manufacturing-technologies/Scalmalloy.html
I don't think it did in reality, only on paper. It has to do with the grade estimation techniques of deposits with high nugget effect. There could be 500z/t and then almost zero in the next block, and accurately estimating it is a nightmare. It has been quite a saga over the years since their report was challenged and the bulk samples and the other stuff. The whole thing is kind of silly imo. The pheonix will perform like other similar mines in the trend.
The truth is we won't know what they produce until they produce it. They got in trouble going the realistic route so everything since has been ultra conservative to a fault. They say it will be 8g to the mill? I bet the average will be a lot higher and they can surprise to the upside.
What is important here is not the number of ounces they produce but the profits they make on it and I am betting Rubicon will have very low all in sustaining costs.
165,300 and at peak production it will be about 250,000. I believe these estimates will be light and the recovered grade will be higher just like at Campbell and other RL mines. I think 200k and 300k, respectively, would be a more accurate guess.
I also saw they replaced their contractors with their own teams and are saving 20-30%, pretty impressive.
new presentation for march 2015
http://www.slideshare.net/rubiconminerals/rmx-corporate-presentation-march-2015-45959478?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rubiconminerals.com%2FInvestors%2FPresentations%2Fdefault.aspx
The more I read about Nio's scandium process the more it appears to heavily borrowed from SCY's pioneering work. Maybe they just managed to guess their way through and do four years worth of work in a couple months, but that is unlikely would be hard for them to prove I think - especially when compared to SCY's work with numerous dead ends and gradual improvement over many years as they did the science to unlock the scandium from the ore. Nio being at 70-90% recovery out of the gate has me rolling my eyes.
Hopefully we can nab some licensing cash off of them eventually.
I'd say the exchange rates are pretty minor, they will have an effect, but not for years, and even then the rate at that moment in time when they actually have those costs (2017-2018+) is more relevant than whatever it is now. Currently I think it is in our favour.
I would go into more detail about this but it is a complicated topic and the answer isn't a simple yes or no, because there are times when mines benefit from both a weak and a strong currency. For example SCY is a Canadian listed miner that seems to have a Vancouver presence but has also borrowed and has its costs based in US, Aussie, and probably even Canadian dollars while they operate primarily in Australia. The HQ is in... Nevada I think yet much of the support and legal staff is in Canada and the tech staff is in Australia. We've been printing like madmen here in Canada and said we're keeping interest rates free so our dollar has tanked as well, but gold, silver, and other commodities then went up to match this devaluation, so mining costs went up with metal prices. I think their margins actually increased because of oil's decline but if that factor was removed the currency gyrations add up to almost no effect IMO. Most of our expenses are probably in CAD at the moment - I actually don't remember it has been almost a year since I read through the filings, but the answer is there if you want it (ie the breakdown of all of this.)
You can use a checklist if it helps you, but a mental checklist will serve you much better, since if you walk PDAC with a checklist some promoter will see you're green and take advantage of you. The answers themselves are often less important than the way they answer you.
http://www.inflationproofinvestor.com/support-files/the_eight_ps_of_resource_stock_evaluation.pdf
I would say questions like "Is this property wildly economic?" and "Does management have the integrity, the balls, and the skill necessary to get it done?"
The criteria for success is pretty straight forward. Either they develop into a profitable scandium mine or they don't.
The risk factors for this stock are the same as any other juniors with some extra risk for pioneering scandium - we aren't developing something with a known, quantifiable value and established market. There is environmental, permitting, and political risk. There is also geological and metallurgical risk (mostly mitigated) and risk factors associated with the need to raise significant capital in a bear market, excessive dilution, and there is also a high risk SCY's tech is stolen and copied in china and elsewhere for a small fraction of the cost. Mines also frequently take decades to develop so by that time-frame it might be another 6 years and it would still be within a completely normal time-frame of development. Time is one of our biggest advantages and adversaries.
Much like the uses for scandium the risk factors for its first mine are abundant and would take pages to fill. Go into this - and other mining speculations with your eyes open and be prepared to lose all of your money. You are in one of the riskiest sectors in the world, where risk and reward are at their highest. It would serve you well to be cognizant of this fact.
Thanks for the correction. Rivets or no rivets the aircraft industry could certainly benefit from scandium alloy components. Please feel free to comment on this, since you have experience in the field. Even if it is only used in the fuselage and wing paneling it seems like something the industry would desire. Who wouldn't want stronger, lighter planes?
Here's some more stuff I found:
"At present, aluminium is used in the aviation industry everywhere in the world. From two thirds to three quarters of a passenger plane’s dry weight, and from one twentieth to half of a rocket’s dry weight accounts for the share of aluminium in airborne craft. The casing of the first Soviet satellite was made of aluminium alloys. The body casing of American ‘Avantgarde’ and ‘Titan’ rockets used for launching the first American rockets into the orbit, and later on – spaceships, was also made of aluminium alloys. They are used for manufacturing various components of spaceship equipment: brackets, fixtures, chassis, covers and casing for many tools and devices."
http://www.aluminiumleader.com/en/around/transport/aircraft
How much aluminum is in a Boeing 747 airplane?
A 747-400 consists of 147,000 pounds (66,150 kg) of high-strength aluminum.
So at .1% alloy at $1k/kg that is an extra ~60k extra expense or about 1/3 the value of the aluminum. At 2k/kg the scandium would cost slightly less than the aluminum. Uh oh, that seems like a high proportion except when you consider that a 747 is worth almost $400 million new so suddenly a couple hundred thousand in raw materials seems trivial given the value add and even just the PR value of doing something like this will be enormous, economic benefits notwithstanding.
This post is about winglets. A decade ago I learned about winglets and their importance. This may seem completely unrelated to SCY but please bear with me.
Okay so first off, what the heck is a winglet(Aside from it being incredibly fun to say)?
Basically it is a where the end of a plane's wing is modified from a traditional flat wing to one with a curved, sort of check mark end, changing the craft's aerodynamics and thereby increasing overall fuel efficiency.
This is a winglet:
http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/Images/winglets.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_device
I learned about winglets from West Jet, a Canadian company that was among the first to outfit their fleet with them (along with TVs for everyone).
Now why is this important? Because West Jet executives didn't care at all how stylish they are or whatever - all they cared about was the simple math - will installing these save us money? The answer was yes and so they outfitted the entire fleet and increased their flight distance for the same tank of gas by about 3-5%. They did this quickly, since it made so much sense and the payback was quick. Multiply those savings by millions of liters of jet fuel and many years and they have saved themselves a fortune. Nowadays winglets are common on passenger planes because they make economic sense.
Scandium will do something similar in my estimation - how much remains to be seen but I think there is some huge potential for the airline industry to save a huge amount of money. Regardless of how much the scandium costs, as long as the savings are greater it will be pursued. Amortize those savings over the lifetime of the jet and I bet a tiny, upfront bump will have little effect on the unit price (like the gold and silver in an iphone).
I forget where I heard this idea from so, credit to whoever it was, but they pointed out that Sc allows aluminum to be welded with much greater plasticity and strength. Great, again, what does it mean? Planes that are significantly lighter and perfectly smooth, containing not even a single rivet. Airplanes will be a single, perfectly aerodynamic piece. This may unlock an entire new area of the aviation sector.
Scandium is a much more significant technological development than a winglet! Imagine if they could save an additional 10-20% on top of the winglet? Multiplied my millions of flights - we'll save enough gas to build even more spaceships - which we'll build out of scandium.
Scandium roundup.
Excellent video, Kaiser at PDAC, discussing SCY and scandium's enormous latent demand:
And what will that money do for the value of the company? In my estimation I would say a lot.
Mexus has already restarted production, and received no recognition (no PR's of gold) - yet. Now the new money hopefully comes and, as Belgie has said, this new money will kick start the UG and the drilling necessary to support the long term goals of Mexus (heap leaching and six figure production).
With how cheap everything is now (Prices off as much as 90%) in this current market if Mexus has $4 million cash I bet PT will be able to get the equivalent of what would have cost around $40 or $50 million dollars just 3 years ago. Mexus shareholders can be guaranteed if/when that money is received it will be put to good use and generate some value for shareholders since it seems that it will be deployed at the bottom of a bear market, where cash is scarcest and deals are the best.
The drilling and lab rates are cheap now and the times are fast because exploration is always the first thing cut in a bear market. Other miners/suppliers are still doing poorly, a boon for Mexus to acquire equipment and inexpensive claims etc. Factor in that oil is in the tank, and they operate in already cheap Mexico... add in a lot Thompson ingenuity and frugality... yikes.
If Mexus is worth $6.5 million now, what are they worth plus $4 million and the production it will likely generate? Even on the low end of factoring in just the HG UG production the answer is - a lot more! Alternatively you could say it is factored in, therefore all of Mexus is only worth $2.5-3 million - crazy - again easy to see and strongly bet that the stock is undervalued.
Based on our share price, our limited marketplace is its usual skeptical self. The junior sector is in shambles but there are examples where stocks are in fact performing and being rewarded for that performance. There are still lots of examples on the other side too, projects advancing and getting no credit but this is where patience and good speculating comes in. Either way you want to be in the best speculations with the greatest rewards for the lowest risk. Mexus is 60 cents off its all time high - I'd say that is a fair margin of safety! Since you only want to buy the best stocks for the best prices I think we are pretty much there with Mexus at this point in time.
Like I said before, we will probably get the money and be disappointed that we let the SF go for so cheaply when we see how much it is worth in 2-5 years.
Anyway, have a good one!
And please, children of Mexus, respect your elders and play nice in the sandbox.
And take care, because it's dangerous out there!
Also can't you just set up a limit order with a good to date of a say a week and wait? Or does it lock you out since there isn't a proper quote? A lot of brokerage UIs leave much to be desired...
I am sure you'll figure it out.
SCY is worth owning and is a good complement to mex. And although it currently trades like a gold junior it sure as hell isn't one.
Probably close to the best entry that is theoretically possible. I definitely wish I owned more shares at 2 cents than higher but I try not be ruled by greed and hindsight.
There is still a few rocks out there no doubt but remember a risk free journey usually has rewards in kind. I'm glad Paul is at the helm.
Mexus Gold US Placer Update
March 16, 2015
CARSON CITY, Nev., March 16, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mexus Gold US (OTCQB:MXSG) ("Mexus" or the "Company") is pleased and excited to announce that our placer plant is fully operational and producing gold. Mexus' newly rebuilt VFC automated feeder is in place feeding as of Sunday March 15th. This should increase our placer operation from 150 tons to 600 tons per day, which will put Mexus into a positive cash flow and allow Mexus to complete our blasting license, advance our underground high grade gold operation, and to proceed with our ultimate target of drilling and proving the resources of our open pit/heap leach operation.
Pretty clear.
I watched the first episode. The Goldgrabber was the first on the water with a goal of 700 oz. The Grabber appears to look the same as it did previously and there is no clam, signage, repainting, or anything that I noticed. PT Jr isn't involved either - at least not yet. I am hoping the ship gets updated but it does seem a bit unlikely given the short season.
I will wait until the end before I make a judgement though. IIRC it was $60k in shares (worth a lot less now) for 5% with an option to buy about half.
If he reaches his goal that's 35 oz to Mexus so it's essentially free. It is still bragging rights and clever, indirect marketing but just how so remains to be seen.
Hmm I want to read that but I think have a lot of that research already done and I don't really want to pay $2600 for what appears to be a single research paper. Even if it was the most thorough paper ever and gave me access to the entire site I would still probably not pay $2600.
Always good to see more interest though. Did you read the full report?
I am not sure if that is sarcasm or not. But I did look through your link, and I am aware of all the funds in CMI and most of them are speculative gold funds. Berkshire Hathaway and any low p/e generalist value investors appear to be absent. I can tell at a glance that these aren't value investors because I looked through their portfolios and found that they are almost fully invested right now at all time market highs and many of their stocks are very high P/E or have no earnings whatsoever. These guys are gamblers, not value investors - regardless of what they call themselves or the mantle they wear. I have no doubt every other gambler and money manager considers themselves a value investor but their actions speak louder than words. Just like Buffet's "There is no inflation, don't worry." message to the public while he moved a huge percentage of his assets into railways and inflation proof assets. Deeds > words.
There is also nothing wrong with including lode as a speculative stock in pretty much any type of portfolio as long as it isn't labelled as "low risk" or "value investing," because it's not, at least not yet. I'd love for lode to become undervalued by traditional metrics and if/when it does I will be here pounding the table and probably repurchasing many of the shares I sold.
If you want I'll find you a copy of Ben Graham's book; it is one of those books with a disproportionate impact. A few hours can really change your life and make you a more intelligent investor. It helped me take the emotions out of investing and hugely improved my performance as both a speculator and an investor. It helps to not confuse the two.
Here's a free link to the book.
http://www.fxf1.com/english-books/The%20Intelligent%20Investor%20-%20BENJAMIN%20GRAHAM.pdf
Anyway good luck in your investing and your speculating.
Take care.
Good grief fella with the one track mind who has opinions that are locked in stone. You'll never change yours and that is fine, just don't post things that are obviously not true, which includes many of the posts on this board (not just yours).
You said:
I don't remember the date of that forecast but it was by 2020 or 2025 I think. Given the rate of technological progress and likely discovery of more uses and the potential for current use I would say it is basically impossible to predict the growth for something for something like that, even factoring in Bloom Box growth. A new element being brought to market at a reasonable cost, who ewally knows what will happen? The demand could easily be 500 mt by 2018-19 as the first mass produced scandium goods come to market and generate buzz. The military could swoop down and become exclusive buyers and generate lucrative government and defense contracts. Or the demand could be feeble and Sc is deemed as too expensive. Do your DD and decide.
Year one of mining (2017-2018 most likely, but impossible to say - the mining world is slow) SCY will produce 36 metric tonnes of Sc oxide powder. Now what that will sell for I will leave up to the reader and market. Maybe it will sell for a premium, or a discounted off-take agreement, I could see strong arguments for both sides. I believe people have paid up to $200,000 for very small amounts (1 lb) of the stuff.
I would guess in 2018 maybe there is 50 mt produced, a trickle from various small producers and the majority from SCY. 36 mt is maybe 30 M profit for them on the low end, ten times earnings is 300 M with no value assigned to the deposit. That is just a guess though and my opinion.
SCY is perfectly scalable and if there are profits they will expand and being first to market they can probably acquire market share, since there isn't really one until someone makes supply. Chicken before the egg, or something like that. If there is demand for 500 mt in 2020 SCY could probably scale up and supply most of it, but by that time it will depend what their competitors are up to and the state of the market.
Why do you think they would be more successful with a RS to $10? GORO is already one of the few producing miners with less than 60 million shares. IMO GORO is less attractive at $10 and would then contain the stigma of a RS. Care to elaborate?
Warren Buffet would never buy lode since he is a value investor and lode is not undervalued based on traditional methods. Even if it had a P/E of 1 and paid a dividend he probably still wouldn't buy it because mining "investments" do not follow a Ben Graham style of security analysis. Over the years I have found parallels between what Graham and Buffet did/do and what we are trying to with juniors and mining companies but they are still very different beasts. Buffet = an investor who buys undervalued cash generating businesses with an expectation that most of his gains will come from business income and from dividends rather than capital gains. CMI shareholders = speculators who are hoping the gold price goes up enough that CMI can make a profit and therefore receive a small value per oz discovered and reinvest and grow the company into what is hopefully a gold bull. Almost a 100% of the expected gains will be capital gains instead of dividend income. An investor never uses the word hope, but speculators do all the time, and CMI holders probably more than most.
And please no comments about Buffet buying silver in the 90s - that's not investing either since bullion returns an average yield of 0%, regardless of how cheap it was at the time. I studied all of Buffet's history and his family story is very interesting when it comes to gold, his father, and his current attitudes towards it. In my opinion Buffet is an investor who is not completely honest but one who rarely speculates.
Lode is fairly priced based on the fact they still lose money on every single ounce in year three of mining. Even if we priced lode at a hundred million times profits it still has a negative value. Lode could have a billion ounces of gold and discover a billion more but multiplied by zero (ie because they have proven it cannot be profitably extracted) this does not help shareholders.
Every day we spend at these low share prices will mean extra dilution and more of shareholders upside being stolen from them. Even if lode achieves a massive market cap when gold returns to favour there is a high chance many shareholders will not profit. One thing can be guaranteed - Winfield will profit and Corrado will get his exorbitant paycheck and bonuses for "creating shareholder value."
Also ANV, the stock I compared lode to for years as a potentially hugely advanced CMI, has gone bankrupt. The company had lots of debt and problems but they couldn't profitable extract basically the same stuff as CMI either even with more advantages. Lode may yet be a goldmine or a minefield. Or both.
That's the truth as I see it.
Take care, it's dangerous out there!
I think SCY is the best scandium junior because they are the oldest and most professionally managed. In mining, since making any kind of mine often takes 5-10 years+, being the oldest and having spend the time to do "RD" via drilling and studies is a huge advantage. They will almost assuredly be the world's first primary scandium mine. They are not the world's first scandium mine, that title likely belongs to some unpronounceable Russian uranium mine that operated in the 60s.
I also really like SCY's deposit, the intercept lengths are awesome and the grades are very good, combining for some huge tonnage, and hopefully world supply.
Some of these other companies like Friedland's Clean Teq or Nio might beat SCY to producing a small amount of scandium but they won't be the first to produce in size and from a scandium dominated deposit. Clean Teq's scandium property is about 2 years or more behind SCY in my estimate and I am skeptical of nio's ability to produce scandium because it seems like they jumped on the bandwagon and I doubt they have done the science to unlock the scandium from the ore in the same way the SCY has. I am meaning to do more research on their new release and see how they mean to process it. Even in gold mining heap leaching is well understood and yet every individual mine has to do the studies to match their crushing equipment etc to their deposit. I doubt anyone is close to matching SCY in this regard.
It might actually be for the best that CT or NIO produces a trickle of scandium first, proves the market and encourages an appetite just as SCY will come online with its mine. All of the ~30 ish + random companies that claim the be in the scandium business only a small number are serious and none of them are even close to where SCY is. If it were a race SCY would be meters away from the finish while the others are just lining up at the starting line.
My definition of "next little while" is probably different than yours. Over the course of 2015 I expect the scandium story to become more well known and that shares in the most advanced projects will appreciate regardless of news-flow.
This year I would expect a few more drill updates and some news on mining licenses and maybe some potential claim acquisitions. They also said they are doing EIS work so there will probably be some environmental permitting and other final paperwork. All of this will lead up to a bankable feasibility study and and production decision by year end. It is a no-brainer IMO so then there will be some publicizing, then financing and capital raising with the goal to be mining in 2017. Somewhere in there they probably get their potentially lucrative patents granted. I would speculate that the patent process would take six months to a year.
Probably lots more on the way too, those are just some guesses. The patents were a surprise and may end up being incredibly valuable, but I haven't seen the patents nor do I have the expertise to evaluate them.
My general sense is that SCY will become progressively more expensive as its story becomes more well known since there is plenty of value here.
Anyway, take care.
http://www.scandiummining.com/i/pdf/Investor-Review-December-2014.pdf
The deposit is still being drilled out but what they have so far is most of the metallurgy cracked, patents filed, and a 43-101 with 12M MT of near surface 261 ppm scandium. The scandium price is tricky since the market is miniscule. Scandium's ultimate success will hinge on miners like SCY reducing the price via supply, but first to market will capture large profits. Depending on which prices you use you can get a gross value of the discovered minerals (without any processing etc) of somewhere between 3 and a hundred billion dollars for this 20 million dollar company. A more fair and reasonable price to start off with is somewhere between 10-50% of the most commonly quoted price ($2k/kilo) so I tend to use $1k/kilo or less which corresponds to $1/pmm to keep things simple. Using half of the lowest quoted price gives a gross value of 3.2 billion dollars and they have likely increased this to around 5 billion dollars with the great drilling results that have been posted and are ongoing.
Given its position I think SCY should be worth 5-10% of its gross value, or 160-320 million dollars. To get to even 5% is an 8 bagger. SCY should be trading at 50 cents, not 10 cents IMO.
There aren't many posts on the board, I encourage you to read them.
Take care.
Most of that is just the Canadian dollar tanking. It was .77 CAD:USD I think. So what seems like a huge spread is perhaps not quite so large.
Do you have a source for that estimate? It sounded like the road had issues dating back to before Comstock was even incorporated, although it does sound like the pit is creeping close to the road. They probably will end up fronting at least half the money as a PR move if nothing else.
Dumpster I am also surprised you never commented on this:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/comstock-mining-inc-licenses-mineral-130100342.html
SCY hits an intraday high of 14 cents, up on huge volume of 1.3 million shares.
C'mon, can we do one more cent this week? Everyone knows what's after 15? The big quarter!
Up, up and away - SCYWARD!
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled silence punctuated by moments of me talking to myself.