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I found this update that is not on Mexus' website nor ihub.
CARSON CITY, Nev., Oct. 17, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mexus Gold US (OTCQB:MXSG) ("Mexus" or the "Company") today announced that it continues to have discussions with potential JV partners. Over the last 4 weeks the company has hosted numerous geologists, engineers, and experienced miners who are confirming the company's belief that the potential for this property is substantial. President Paul Thompson added, "Recently, Julio Baltazar (VP), Guillermo Baltazar (Mine Superintendent) and I have presented our information and knowledge of the project to a group of geologists representing a major mining company. We have agreed to resume our discussions in four weeks during which they will complete their internal surveying, mapping and sampling of the property. We have a high degree of confidence that this group of very professional miners will conclude that the valuation and future potential of the project does indeed exist and provide them with a basis to continue our discussions. I'm encouraged that the company is investing such a significant effort through the sheer size and manpower to conduct their due diligence in a relatively short time period."
http://www.virtual-strategy.com/2014/10/17/mexus-gold-us-update-negotiations#axzz3GiDwMr2J
There will be drill results at some point and any JV partner that enters into business with us after such DD is a very bullish case for the company because their expertise and independent data add a lot of credibility to the story. Profits and shiny bricks add even more. A deal will be done eventually in my opinion because their property is too exceptional and advanced to ignore. I hope they pull up some nice visible gold in the cores and the metals prices move up a bit to expedite the process.
This is all happening at junior mining light speed and yet may still feel like it is locked in molasses. Patience will lead to profits here eventually.
Mexus is also up 60% on 600k - it just goes to show that when things do turn it will be quick and furious and large moves will be had on low volume, whether it be a decline or an uptrend.
This steam engine will thunder forward eventually and I can see the water just starting to boil, we only need more pressure. It is building even though the train has not yet moved.
Take care everyone.
All they have to do is increase their stake and make an offer. Newmont is well aware of what is happening with Novo. They used to own 0% and now they have 30%. One day they may very well own 100%, and they only need 21% more for control. In my mind the CEO's ties to Newmont and their investment in Novo makes it highly likely that if the company is bought out Newmont would almost assuredly be the buyer. (IMO)
JT (Jay Taylor): I am very excited about Novo Resources (NSRPF) and its Pilbara gold project in Australia. CEO Quinton Hennigh has begun work on a bankable feasibility study for lower grade surface material. It’s free milling gold, which should be very low cost, almost like a saprolite in the amount of effort required to win the gold from the hosting material.
Newmont Mining Corp. owns 32% of Novo, and management owns a big chunk of stock. Newmont just finished using its propriety bulk leach extractable gold (BLEG) surveying technology to outline huge masses of prospective land for finding what the company hopes will be the next Witwatersrand deposit. I expect that, before the end of this year, its resource will grow very dramatically. Novo is also going to put down a couple of deep holes this year.
TGR: You mentioned Witwatersrand. What’s the connection?
JT: The Witwatersrand Basin in South Africa has produced 1.5 billion ounces of gold, about one-third to one-half of all the gold ever produced. Quinton Hennigh, who is a geologist, believes that he has found the same kind of environment at Pilbara. If Novo were to hit what is known as the carbon leader that’s typical of the Witwatersrand, then I think this stock would be a rocket shot to the moon in no time. I was talking to Rick Rule about this recently, and Rick says if Novo really intersects that carbon leader, which is deeper down in the ancient seabed, then it will have to stop worrying about putting together a bankable feasibility study and just drill the heck out of this thing.
Quinton has studied Witwatersrand rock and has been developing this hypothesis for many years. Novo is an Australian company, so political risk is relatively limited. Pilbara has the prospects of near-term production combined with the possibility of a major discovery. Novo is very well financed, with about $14M in cash.
TGR: Some investors are put off Novo because it isn’t listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX).
JT: That doesn’t bother me, but I expect it will be listed on the TSX or another senior exchange shortly. Novo is actually very illiquid now. To give you an example, I probably have more shares of this company than I should. I wanted to sell some to buy something else I thought looked attractive. The stock was at just over $1.10/share when I went to sell. I sold 1,100 shares, and that transaction took it to just below $1/share.
http://investorplace.com/2014/09/stay-liquid-coming-gold-price-silver/5/#.VD8Ot1e0eCm
George Putnam, CEO of EMC Metals, commented:
"This PEA represents the first public disclosure by EMC of the economics of the Nyngan Project, and we are very happy with both the financial and operational result. The good mineral recovery from HPAL shows the flow sheet to be well chosen, and the modest capital estimate and output reflects an appropriate size project with which to initiate scandium market growth. This PEA puts EMC on a fast track to complete a feasibility study in 12 months and be first to production with an appropriate scale scandium project by Q1 2017."
William Harris, Chairman of EMC Metals, commented:
"With this scandium project, EMC has the ability to satisfy waiting markets for a specialty metal that has never been available in quantities that meet commercial minimums. With this PEA, EMC demonstrates that work done over the previous four years can now be consolidated into a rapid development schedule that positions Nyngan to meet this opportunity, profitably. We are enthusiastic about the potential of this project for the Company and its shareholders."
EMC's trading was actually halted yesterday pending its material announcement. I didn't even notice this announcement until today and I follow the stock very closely.
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - October 14, 2014) - Trading resumes in:
Company: EMC Metals Corp.
TSX Symbol: EMC
Resumption Time (ET): 12:15
IIROC can make a decision to impose a temporary suspension of trading in a security of a publicly listed company, usually in anticipation of a material news announcement by the company. Trading halts are issued based on the principle that all investors should have the same timely access to important company information. IIROC is the national self-regulatory organization which oversees all investment dealers and trading activity on debt and equity marketplaces in Canada.
http://www.stockhouse.com/news/press-releases/2014/10/14/iiroc-trade-resumption-emc-metals-corp
Wow, that is absurdly overpriced. That is the most expensive non-numismatic silver bullion coin I have ever heard of. If they sell a bunch maybe lode can finally turn a profit (sarc). I guess that is one way to raise their average silver price sold.
Weren't the originals ~$50? I thought that was overpriced as well. The whole thing seemed kind of gimmicky, since there were millions of ounces of Comstock silver produced (I have some in my vault) and GSPG was producing in '03. So Comstock restarting in '11 isn't some event that should herald a 100% let alone the current 400% premium, especially since Comstock silver is common.They should be like FMJ or one of the others that sells actual bullion instead of a coins with with dubious "collectable" value.
The only scenario I can envision where a Comstock 1 oz round is worth $100 is when silver is at $85/oz.
The stock was at .12 CAD this morning on big volume, over a million shares traded. The reaction on the OTCBB is muted as usual. This should give us some positive momentum over the next little bit (IMO). The PEA Looks good to me and my recent .075 buys are sitting pretty.
Results of Preliminary Economic Assessment on Nyngan Scandium Project in Australia
EMC Metals Corp. (the “Company” or “EMC”) (TSX: EMC) announces today that it has received a Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) on the Company’s 100% owned Nyngan Scandium Project, located in New South Wales (“NSW”) Australia. The PEA, entitled, NI 43-101F1 Technical Report on the Feasibility of the Nyngan Scandium Project, prepared by the engineering firm of Larpro Pty Ltd, of Brisbane, Australia, and supported by Mining One of Melbourne, Australia and Rangott Mineral Exploration Pty Ltd of Orange, Australia, confirms the technical and economic potential of the Nyngan Scandium Project (the “Project”). The PEA has been independently prepared as a technical report on the standards prescribed under NI 43-101 F1 Technical Report.
PEA HIGHLIGHTS:
Capital cost estimate for the Project is US$77.4 million,
Operating cost estimate for the Project is US$636/kg scandium oxide,
Oxide product volume is 35,975 kg per year,
Project Constant Dollar NPV10% is US$175 million, (NPV8% is US$217 million),
Project Constant Dollar IRR is 40.6%,
Oxide product grades of 97-99% are estimated, and
Scandium recovery estimate is 84.3%.
http://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/news-releases/2170-tsx/emc/34792-results-of-preliminary-economic-assessment-on-nyngan-scandium-project-in-australia.html#.VD68e1e0caM
John Kaiser's Tips for Escaping the Resource Sector Swamp Alive
"The leading scandium company is EMC Metals Corp. (EMC:TSX), which owns the Nyngan deposit in Australia. It should have a PEA out this year and a feasibility study and a mining permit in hand by the end of next year. It will initially be a small-scale project, 20–30 tonne scandium oxide likely, but that will be enough to demonstrate to the industry that scandium can be produced in a scalable primary mine. Once the industry sees that, there will be all sorts of offtake interests in scaling this up to 100, 200 tpa and beyond. The deposit is so large that such a scale up is conceivable. Similar deposits have been found in Australia by other juniors that are less advanced in sorting out the metallurgy of these near-surface laterite deposits.
TMR: EMC is also exploring in Norway. Is that a new frontier for scandium?
JK: The Tørdal pegmatite field is one of the known scandium-enriched places in the world. Mozambique also has similar pegmatite deposits with grades over 1,000 ppm. The problem with pegmatite deposits is that they tend to be irregular and small, so it's difficult to put together a large tonnage of a consistent grade. They also have complex mineralogy, though in the case of Tørdal recent work by EMC suggests that the scandium reports to a mineral that separates easily from the rest of the rock.
In the Australian laterite deposits, the scandium is embedded in the lattice of goethite, an iron-magnesium oxide that is dominant in bauxite (aluminum) and nickel laterites. Figuring out the right combination of acid and temperature to liberate the scandium takes a fair amount of test work, but it is doable and EMC has worked on it since 2010. Although Australia will become the dominant scandium producer, production from Norway and other parts of the world is important because the aluminum alloy industry is concerned about security of supply. If there are supply problems with the Australian deposits, end users, such as aircraft builders, want to know there are alternative supply sources long term. As awareness of scandium spreads, and the implications for the aluminum industry get understood, led by EMC's pioneering example, a Canadian exploration boom targeting intrusive complexes around the world will blossom."
http://www.investorideas.com/news/2014/mining/10142.asp
Am I correct in reading that Van Den Berg Management has filed announcing they have accumulated 22 M shares of CMI?
sc13g
"To be able to file a 13G instead of a 13D, the party must own between 5% and 20% in the company. It must also be clearly understood that the party acquiring the stake in the company is only a passive investor, and does not intend to exert control. If these criteria are not met, and if the size in the stake exceeds 20%, a 13D must be filed."
Ownership.
(a)
Amount beneficially owned: 21,363,727
(b)Percent of class: 25.29%
(c)Number of shares as to which the person has:
(i)Sole power to vote or to direct the vote:21,363,727
(ii)Shared power to vote or to direct the vote:None
(iii)Sole power to dispose or to direct the disposition of:21,363,727
(iv)Shared power to dispose or to direct the disposition of:None
So I think they had some before and then increased their position over the threshold where the need to report. My guess at least.
Gold may very well have put in a triple bottom today. Maybe the third time is the charm? We have been going down for 3 years so most of us are not feeling optimistic and everyone is frustrated. This is exactly the type of mindset that will mark a possible market bottom. When gold goes up for 3 years in a row we will feel good again and those days will come, and on those days we should sell.
Over the years I have called several bottoms almost exactly - and caught none of the tops because I was too greedy and emotional. In some cases I even recognized that they were tops but convinced myself that it didn't matter, that I was smarter, that my stocks were immune etc. I am harder on myself than anybody and I always try and learn from my mistakes. After seeing many 1000%+ gains wiped out after 2011 I made a new rule for myself: "When convinced of my own genius, sell at least half, recoup my initial investment remind myself that I am just a man, as fallible as any, and that arrogance does not defeat discipline." If I could have sent that on a postcard to myself in 2011 I would have a lot more capital kicking around to buy all the bargains that exist today.
It would be nice to see a sustained rally and really bounce hard off the $1180 level but who really knows? I sold a few silver rounds recently and was able to capture $23/oz (cad), $5+ over spot. There is definitely a huge difference between real metal and paper prices and I am still optimistic that physical constraints will ultimately force metals higher in the long term, to the benefit of many mining companies of various stages of development.
Apples and oranges. I am just trying to call them as I see them. You obviously do not understand my position even though I have clearly stated it numerous times. The post you call negative is about as unbiased as you can get. I think you're looking for boogie men that don't exist. I am amazed I am accused of being negative on this board when I have repeatedly said the stock is likely worth $10 in the long term! A potential gain of a thousand percent is negative! If I said I believed lode was worth a hundred dollars a share would that be bearish? Only on this message board.
That doesn't change that you are wrong every time you state lode hits an all time low. You may think it is semantics but it does matter.
Both of the sides on this board are very polarized, and just like many things in life the people with extreme positions on either side tend to have tunnel vision and suffer from confirmation bias. The truth is never black and white. The longs are positive no matter what and the bears are negative no matter what. Most people tend to be locked into one camp or another instead of being a market agnostic and trying to play both sides of the coin.
DD, you knew lode was going down in advance for the reasons outlined on this board, so you could have easily shorted any amount of lode. Many investors use the short and long sides of trades to hedge their positions. Although I would never personally short a junior unless I knew they were being ran into the ground and going bankrupt imminently.
I am currently neutral on lode, in the short term I am bearish and in the super low term I am bullish based on where I believe gold will be in 5 years.
Lode is what guys like Rick Rule would call an optionality play. Lode doesn't make any money at current prices and the company's value as of now is quite dubious but $2000 gold will mask a lot of incompetence and inefficiencies just as it did prior to 2011. Lode is only undervalued if gold prices rise, or they turn a profit at current prices.
Saying that lode's current share price and predicament has nothing to do with the gold price is wrong. It is also equally wrong to say the only thing wrong with lode is the price of gold. Both positions are not intellectually honest.
No. That is split adjusted. You will note the years 2008 and 2007 predate the year 2010, please divide by 200 if you want the old numbers. I will give both. As I said before, the all time low for lode is 7 or 8 cents split adjusted, meaning in current terms, it is still up about 11x relative to its all time low. The pre split equivalent was the equivalent of about 0.0004/share that went to 0.065 a share in 08 and this is the same this as an 8 cent stock going to $13 bucks and now trades at ~$1 if the split is considered.
For reference guys an "all time low" means a low for the entire stock's history, not a two year low or a five year low - those are just lows for their respective periods.
I focus on the TSX and didn't see the after hours volume, thanks. What is it with people selling their gold and gold shares at illiquid times? Why sell futures at 2am or shares after 4pm when the bids are thinnest?
Bob, there was a strange after hours decline of a small number of shares that I was commenting on. It took RBY to $1.25 even though the entire day traded way above this price. 1500 shares is nothing and just a poorly timed trade but it would have been a million shares or something sold after hours I would look for an explanation.
Lots of weird stuff goes on in these markets.
Up 15% in a day not too bad. Just like I predicted nearly 6 months ago there are already more scandium companies and discoveries. Just like with lithium, graphite, and other rare earths the number of companies will probably go from 2 or 3 to 30-100 junk juniors before this story truly gets rolling. I think that there will be a big bubble in these types of shares eventually and EMC should lead the pack. EMC's deposit should/could be the catalyst that ignites and creates a new mining sector. But it could very easily be one of the other scandium explorers.
There is Platina, Good, Metallica, EMC, a couple no names, and the big miners with sprawling land packages. I bet there will be a lot more in 2 or 3 years. According to JK's charts Platina's deposit is the most valuable per tonne (EMC is right behind) and Metallica is the most advanced project while EMC is between the two, and is the most balanced and cashed up. I still need to do more DD on the others, but a basket approach may very well be the most effective to play scandium over the next few yeas. Platina has also allegedly received interest from Bloom.
The titanium industry is already beginning to trickle produce scandium with Robert Friedland's technology:
http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20140827/pdf/42rs267zcwb4nk.pdf
Supply will be created. It is inevitable. Seeing Friedland's name pop up in scandium discussions is also a good publicity thing. He sees an opportunity as well and he is a pretty brilliant guy.
"[The] purpose is to remind KRO Members of my big hedge against this scenario[of a gold decline], namely the emergence of scandium as a transformational metal for the aluminum industry that reaches into many positive visions about the future. EMC Metals Corp (EMC-T: $0.085) has now raised $1.8 million toward its $3 million target needed to force conversion of the US $2.5 million loan into a 20% interest in Nyngan and Honeybugle, appointed Jim Rothwell to its board, and announced that it will crank out a PEA within the next couple months prior to completing a feasibility study by the end of 2015. The importance of the PEA is that the market will no longer need to rely on my speculative DCF to get a sense of the value potential of Nyngan. It will also give the market the means to develop models that scale production to accommodate rising scandium demand, for this story is not so much about some junior producing $50-$100 million worth of some obscure metal. It is much more about building the stepping stone for the creation of a $1 billion annual market for scandium oxide with EMC as the prime mover.
More here: http://ceo.ca/2014/09/20/john-kaiser-proposes-alternative-gold-bug-narrative/
Also anecdotally I had a friend purchase a scandium alloy firearm recently. It is happening, slow and steady.
Was there something released after hours that explains this drop?
Hecla Increases Interest in Canamex Resources Corp.
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho, Sep 30, 2014 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Hecla Mining Company (NYSE:HL) announced today that a wholly owned subsidiary of Hecla has entered into a subscription agreement pursuant to which it has agreed to acquire 3,095,238 units of Canamex Resources Corp. (“Canamex”). Each unit is comprised of one common share and one-half of a common share purchase warrant ()Units”). Each common share purchase warrant is exercisable for a period of two years from the date of issuance at a price of $0.30 per share. The 3,095,238 common shares comprised in the Units to be acquired by Hecla Canada represent 2.4% of the outstanding common shares of Canamex upon completion of the private placement to Hecla (which itself will form part of a larger private placement which will be completed concurrently). The 1,547,619 common share purchase warrants comprised in the Units to be acquired by Hecla represent 42.6% of the common share purchase warrants to be issued by Canamex as part of the larger private placement. The Units will be issued to Hecla at a price of $0.21 per Unit for total gross proceeds to Canamex from Hecla of $650,000.
With the completion of the transactions contemplated by the subscription agreement referred to above, Hecla will exercise control over 17,237,149 common shares representing 13.3% of the outstanding common shares of Canamex and 1,547,619 common share purchase warrants. Assuming the exercise of only those common share purchase warrants held by Hecla, Hecla would exercise control over 18,784,768 common shares of Canamex or 14.4% of Canamex’s common shares.
The ancillary rights agreement (the “Ancillary Rights Agreement”) between Hecla and Canamex dated November 21, 2012, continues in effect. Pursuant to the Ancillary Rights Agreement, for so long as Hecla holds more than a 10% interest in Canamex (calculated in accordance with that agreement), Hecla has: (a) a right to nominate one person to Canamex’s board of directors, (b) a right to nominate one person to Canamex’s technical committee, and (c) a pre-emptive right to participate in any future proposed equity offering of Canamex in order to maintain its pro rata interest.
The common shares and common share purchase warrants comprised in the Units will be acquired for investment purposes by Hecla. Hecla does not have any present intention to acquire ownership of, or control over, additional securities of Canamex. It is the intention of Hecla to evaluate its investment in Canamex on a continuing basis and such holdings may be increased or decreased in the future.
In completing this investment Hecla is relying on Subsection 2.3(1) of Canadian National Instrument 45-106 – Prospectus and Registration Exemptions as Hecla is an accredited investor. For the purposes of Canadian National Instrument 62-103, the address of Hecla is 6500 N. Mineral Drive, Suite 200, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, 83815, USA.
I will be buying aggressively down here. We are now priced under the last PP and there is plenty of value generation going on under the hood here.
I have been trying to find the blasting permit application and some info on it, but it has eluded me.
I have found references in other mining PRs about how they often are the one permit that delays a project and takes longer than necessary. It appears the Mexican military issues them and they are quite stringent. I read references of people waiting two months at the end of the expected permit window to get it. I do not know what that permit window is but 2-6 months would not be surprising. There are still a lot of mines stalled waiting for these.
Looks like we need another modification for land use permit as well to build our MC and heaps but these tend to be quick in my experience.
Other than that drill holes will turn up eventually which I think should pull up some impressive numbers given the area. The JV is still in limbo and the gold price action lately probably has not helped. It would be nice if it went up $200/oz and lit a fire under these negotiations. Drilling will strengthen our negotiating position. Let's pull up some visible gold and get those geologists excited!
Patience often leads to profits.
Take care everyone.
CARSON CITY, NEVADA September, 30 2014- Mexus Gold US (OTCQB:MXSG)(“Mexus” or the “Company”) confirmed today that the plan for the Santa Elena/Julio property is to move forward with a placer and underground mine operation. The placer move has already been approved but in order to proceed with underground mining the company must obtain a blasting permit. On September 20, 2014 CEO Paul Thompson and VP Julio Baltazar met with representatives from Hanka, an industrial provider of explosives. Hanka will provide knowledge and support as the company pursues this permit. The company hopes to submit for this permit in the next week.
The company currently has a 30 year mining permit and the necessary land use permit to operate the placer. Mexus plans to seek an expansion of its land use permit to include a small heap leach gold and silver recovery plant. The company owns a 600 GPM Merrill Crowe recovery plant and the mining and crushing equipment to do approximately 1,000 ton a day. CEO Paul Thompson commented, “We believe we can get 1.2 grams per ton which would produce approximately 38 ounces of gold equivalent per day. Our plan would be to increase the production to 5,000 ton a day as efficiencies are gained.”
Mexus’ diamond drilling project, which was scheduled to start on September 15,, 2014 is now scheduled to start October 20, 2014. The contracted driller, Matt Westervelt, had medical issues which caused this delay. Mexus has already drilled four diamond NH drill holes to 200 feet. On September 25th, the first 108 feet were delivered to a Reno, NV assay company. The results of this assay will be released when received. These first four holes were drilled in a shear zone identified by our geologist, Cesar Lemas. (see report)
The company will pay for this expansion with the support of our shareholder base, using our expected EVA tax returns, and the $4,000,000 receivable which is due early next year. In addition, the company will use revenues from sales to help build out the project as it proceeds.
Mexus continues to negotiate with several companies concerning a joint venture. CEO Thompson concluded, “We have numerous companies contacting us and doing their due diligence on the property. That being said, we are in a position to move forward alone if necessary. If a company makes us a fair offer, that is a win for the shareholders, then we will partner with another company. We believe the advantage of partnering with a company at this point would be the ability to increase production at a faster rate. Again, this has to be a win for our shareholders. Our end goal is to bring the Santa Elena/Julio property to full production in the shortest time possible. ”
Yes, you are missing something. On October 1st 2007 the share price was $0.10. In August of 2008 the share price was over $13.00; the current share price is $1.29. That is 13x its all time low! So in fact lode is nowhere near its lows, although its individual performance has been poor.
Alias, since you made a statement like that without taking even a second to look at a chart I am skeptical of your evaluation of their investor videos and the conclusion you reached. What specific aspects of them tipped you off that the company was a scam?
LODE is not a scam. It is just another mining company with issues, just like a lot of the sector at the moment. Those issues can be fixed or compounded and I don't know which route they will take. I am optimistic, just a lot less than I used to be.
Lawsuits already nearly destroyed this company once in the Steve Parent days in the early 2000s. I don't see how we could possibly go back to that unless there is some kind of self cannibalizing class action lawsuit. Kind of like what happened with GORO. All they did was waste time, money, and create some bad PR. As far as I know that was the only outcome and from what I understand a common one in those types of situation.
There have been many legal battles over the past few years against LODE by the CRA and Comstock has won them all. I can almost guarantee your prediction of another lawsuit will come true - since they launch a lot of them, another is quite likely.
Lode's legal position is quite strong I think, although they can definitely be forced to waste a lot more time and money than otherwise necessary - which is the goal of groups like the CRA.
I believe LODE is listed on the NYSE under criteria 3 which requires a $2+ share price. We have been below that for a while. Anyone familiar with the process? Does it matter? Do they have a year or get a warning? I am not sure if it is like the CVE where they suspended a lot of the requirements and fees temporarily to prevent massive de-listings. But the rest of the market is at all time highs so some exchanges may not be so generous.
More from our favourite group of California-style environmentalists:
Comstock Mining Inc. Refuses Support for Independent Environmental Data Review
by Joe McCarthy
Silver City, NV - The Comstock Resident’s Association’s (CRA) recent request for funds to obtain third-party analysis of health and safety data associated with mining activities in Gold Hill and Silver City has been denied by Comstock Mining Inc. (CMI).
This denial has prompted CRA to consider pursuing support from both the Nevada Mining Association and federal programs to enforce a standard for the mine’s commitment to the community’s sustainability and safety. Additionally, CRA will be applying for a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) through the EPA to fund the third-party analysis and data interpretation of environmental test results.
“We are disappointed that CMI has denied this request as we believe it’s an opportunity for them to uphold a standard that’s been set by larger mining corporations across the State,” said Joe McCarthy of the CRA. “Not only is CMI operating in a historically sensitive area, but they are also in the midst of Nevada’s largest Superfund site. We firmly believe this comes with great responsibility.”
The community sought financial support from the mine in an effort to independently review environmental data related to current mining and exploration activities in the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site. Designated in 1990 as a federal Superfund to clean up hazardous waste in the area associated with historic mining, the Site includes a study area of over 200,000 acres spanning Washoe, Carson City, Lyon, Storey and Churchill counties.
According to Superfund guidelines, all activities within the site must be carefully monitored and follow specific guidelines. The EPA requires companies operating within a Superfund site to offer transparency in operations. Unlike CMI, other mines in Nevada provide residents with Community Involvement Planning and display the plan on their corporate websites.
According to McCarthy, “Our goal is to collaborate with CMI for effective community relations like what is found in Elko, Ely and Eureka and with larger mining companies such as Barrick and Newmont. Unfortunately, we will now be forced to pursue a TAG grant which will utilize taxpayers dollars to fund the third-party analysis we believe should be of the mutual interest and obligation of CMI.”
McCarthy cautions that the failure of CMI and CRA to reach an agreement regarding third-party analysis may have negative consequences for future mining requests at Superfund sites throughout Nevada as it has become a controversial, poor example of working within a historically sensitive community.
About the Comstock Residents Association
The Comstock Residents Association is a Community Based Organization representing the interests of the residents of the Comstock, including Silver City and Gold Hill. These two proud communities consist of hard working Nevadans, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1960’s, who have restored historically relevant residential properties and opened a variety of small businesses. CMI initiated open pit mining of a historic mine located in Gold Hill, just outside of Silver City in 2012.
CMI is currently operating both its mining and exploration operations within the Carson River Mercury Superfund Site. In the 1995 Site Record of Decision, the EPA assessed the health risks from toxic substances, specifically mercury and arsenic and lead. Mining as a future use of the area was not part of EPA planning or reflected in zoning at that time. However, in September of 2013, CMI announced its intention to expand its mining operations into residential areas.
As a result, the Lyon County Planning Commission to protect the property rights of the residents denied CMI’s master plan amendment request as well as zoning changes. The Planning Commission’s recommendations, findings and unanimous decisions were overturned by the Lyon County Commission. As a result, approximately 200 acres that were previously designated as residential and rural residential are now classified as “resource,” which allows mining exploration and open pit mining within 100 yards of family homes.
http://www.carsonnow.org/reader-content/09/16/2014/comstock-mining-inc-refuses-support-independent-environmental-data-review
I don't know what Cobbey is talking about in the comments below the article. Although it is true the last 17 or 30 quarters there have been no profits, but lode has only been in production for 8 and a lot of costs have been imposed on the company by this group both directly and indirectly.
PoS and PPS not doing so hot.
Those are some nice AIS cost numbers! Still way too many companies that are three or four times that.
What do you mean? Jim Cramer's endorsement is something to be avoided and not sought after (IMO). Are you implying paid bashers are operating on lode's board at Cramer's behest in some kind of boiler room conspiracy? Please elaborate.
Take your emotions out of your investing. Call me an asshole or an evil short seller or whatever story you need to concoct to sleep at night but that will not change the veracity of my words. In the future you might try using debate over ad hominem. People, myself included, will be more receptive to that.
I explained why W didn't take it private. It is in his best interest to keep it public. He cannot milk public shareholders and the stock market if it is private, nor can he easily reap the full value of the company if it were to prosper.
There are lots of reasons and you touch on some.
Mainly I think it was because they let their debt fester for far too long at Winfield's benefit and there was no incentive and probably no ability for Faber to change the situation. Some of the loans were in default for something like 2 or 3 years at the end. (I believe this was his plan) So Winfield was able to completely crush the early shareholders and go from the equivalent of a small creditor to a controlling shareholder when his debt was finally rolled into equity in 2010 (iirc). That was when he made some of those weird comments about wanting price to be lower.
This leads to mistake #2 when they raised 35 million this was more than enough to see them to profitable production and was intended to be the final low level raise. Instead it was just the first of so many it became a running joke amongst people I know. Management was not a good steward of that money period. I hesitate to even count them but it is probably like 6 or 7 raises in that time and that is completely crazy. They let their WPC permit lapse and decided they were going big time and they changed their applications and restarted a lot of the permitting process they had already completed. I think the state passed some other laws that slowed things down too, but 99% was managements decisions about how to deploy that precious capital. Then everything cost way more than expected, took way longer than expected, and the CRA probably did have a real effect draining away and wasting precious development dollars. So lode got into a cycle of raising money at ever lower prices just to keep the wheels turning even though they are not spitting out any money.
There probably is too much staff and something wrong with their mine plan if it is taking this long to earn even a single dollar. Yes there is overburden and some low grade stuff but two or three years of it? Madness. You make a mine plan in the first place to avoid this! Why does such a small mine need ~120 employees? I have no idea. It seems unnecessary for what they produce but this is linked to the first two points. All the PEA and prep work is done for the sole reason of determining how to mine a given deposit at a profit. IMO they have failed. Management is supposed to be a steward of that precious money and deploy it in a way to generate shareholder value. Value is created by advancing the mine to production and profits. Production without profits is pointless and so is spending fifty million on development work and then ignoring the data. So either a lot of the technical work early on is botched, which I find hard to believe given the professionals and amount of money involved, or the tech work is good and was just badly managed. I think it is the later, but even if it were the former it would still be the CEO's fault since he decided which technical people to employ. Maybe we are mining too big of an area, or too small, I don't know - but lode should know - since they spent fifty million figuring out the answer. If they don't have the answer the blame lies completely with management.
Shareholders are in the long term scheme but at first it was as rubes to be taken advantage of and then later on I believe they are intended to be the people that drive the common stock to its ultimate highs and get fleeced again (like the 08 folks). Longs can still make money here, as always, by hoping to cling to Winfield's back as he rises in the next cycle. That's fine and I think it will work. Just instead of going to $50 a share we will only do maybe 5-10 because so much upside has been undermined and leached from shareholders over time. Winfield will buy tropical islands and some shareholders will still be down from 2008 and we may never reach our all time high again, or not for many, many, years. Hopefully I am wrong (I want to be, since I still have a small % of what I used to own here). Like one of the other posters said $2k gold makes up for a lot of mistakes. But all gold projects should be able to make money at current prices and not hope for some pie in the sky price that may, or may not happen.
Take care.
Mexus will not go bust. Worst case scenario is they are forced to run the printing press and our upside is papered over and we drift into the sub-penny stuff. It may seem like a distinction without a difference but it means that Mexus stock will definitely exist in two years. If we wait that long and there is still no interest and gold is low it might be time to pack it in and reassess. Right now Mex is at about 250 M shares up about ~50M in the past year or so. We are good up to 350M shares (about 2 years of lingering/subsistence) I think after that it starts getting into the realm of reverse splits and other "fun" stuff.
As for the drilling it is a typical somewhat vague and somewhat informative Mexus PR:
August 19, 2014
Mexus Gold US reaches agreement to begin drilling its Julio/Santa Elena property; San Felix update
CARSON CITY, NEVADA August 18th, 2014- Mexus Gold US (OTCQB:MXSG)(“Mexus” or the “Company”)
Mexus announced today that it has reached a tentative agreement with a driller to operate the companies two track mounted core drills. The initial agreement is to produce 2500ft of core drills. The results of these core samples will give engineers the information needed to lay out a reverse circulation program. The reverse circulation operation will include 30,000ft of drilling to a depth of 300ft.
Along with Geologist Cesar Lemas report (Cesar Lemas Report) and the data gained by drilling the quartz veins and the adjacent shear zones, we hope to prove a 500,000oz gold resource with little over burden.
CEO Paul Thompson stated, “I’ve met with a mine engineering firm and they are preparing a drill program for us. This is just a start for Mexus and will give us a stronger position when dealing with potential partners.”
Mr. Thompson added, “I had a meeting with a group in Arizona this weekend who are very interested in partnering with Mexus. We’ve been in discussions with this group for quite some time and I’m now hopeful a deal can get done in the near future.”
San Felix Sale Update
Mexus recently received an update from Benjamin Lagarda of Silver Pursuit. Mr. Lagarda assures Mexus that the project is going as planned and 2015 will be a good year for Silver Pursuit and Mexus. CEO Thompson added, “I’m comfortable with what Silver Pursuit has done to date and look forward to seeing their project progress.”
So are drills turning? I don't think so although they may have started the 2500 ft which would be 8 or 9 holes and since Mexus owns the drills instead of ~80 grand it would just be labour which is big savings over time and may substantially reduce the cost of the drill program. When are they going to start? Presumably sometime soon but not before a deal is done, again presumably with the mystery Arizona company. The driller and the engineering firm are separate entities as far as I can tell. There is a hundred holes in the program to an easy open-pitable depth. All we need is a partner...
We will see what we get this week. We have been patient (for the most part) and we are right, if we but sit tight we will be rewarded.
Take care.
TM
Yes, the Mexico staff has flown to Phoenix. There is no real reason for them to be there unless it involves some kind of deal or final negotiations. It appears the closest to some kind of JV or deal yet. We will get a deal eventually whether it is Monday or six months from now.
DP also pointed out something I didn't think of. Mexus recently announced a pretty extensive drill program and the obvious unasked question is how do they pay for such a thing? We might have our answer next week.
I personally have no preference. We get a deal and the stock goes up, good. We don't and I buy a lot more, good.
Sure. I did use strong words so I should defend them. John Winfield structured the entire company in a way that he would benefit himself no matter what happened. Gold price goes up? He wins, stock appreciates, he gets fatter NSRs. Gold goes down? He wins and gets more dividends and a larger percentage of the company. If the company struggles for a few years and then takes off? Best case scenario for him and he wins mega big, having acquired the greatest amount of the company possible (due to low pps) and so when gold and silver go into a bubble and he will finally be a billionaire and can get into the better parties he craves. Much of this gain is at the expense of the common shareholders. In a way this is his prerogative as the man who put up the bulk of the money and time actually acquiring the pieces of the company. He took a lot of risk and put a lot of time and money into this and should be rewarded if this is a success. I get that. But that doesn't make him an honest man nor excuse his business practices. JW at one point had all of GSPG's loans in default, which is what he wanted. He knew it would happen because they were a development company years from production and they had no possible way of repaying anything and he was lending large amounts at high rates that reset to even higher rates when they went into default. The interest rates and some of the CD terms were border line criminal but he had his ceo, Faber etc, just rubber stamp whatever was on the desk. You can find quotes of Winfield on the net saying he wanted the share-price to go down. At first glance that would be a very odd comment, except when you consider that all of his exorbitant lending to the company is rolled back into equity and he will own a larger percentage of the company the more his debt festered and atrophied over time. It appears to me Winfield would rather own 90% of a small pie rather than 25% of a gigantic pie. Winfield is one of the biggest elitists ever and is a guy that almost assuredly cares more about dogs and cats than people (outside of his personal circle). I actually got the vibe from him that he is kind of a psychopath and that he views people, aka common shareholders, as things to be taken advantage of. All of his history seems to back this up. Including events in his personal life, the loans, the numerous past lawsuits against him, lode's structure and game plan, and even the blueprints and tactics he used building his hotel companies and other businesses.
Big money always gets preference BUT by structuring the company in such a fashion he has hugely eroded the PPS and confidence over time. Like I said earlier, in a way its his company so he can do what he wants. But that sort of mentality (all for me, screw the little guys) is not conducive to supporting the common share price and getting people to invest. And this mindset ends up hurting the company in the long run because now they must raise money at a lower pps and there are more shares than otherwise would be. I can guarantee you the price would be higher if Winfield was more a "what's good for the goose is good for the gander" kind of guy rather than a "me, me, me" kind of guy.
If it was my company I would roll all of the corporations together instead of holding a bunch of fractured pieces that undermine the greater company. I also would not have strangled lode with debt in the same manner just to increase my position. Why does Winfield have so many entities where only he receives dividends and NSR? Instead of having just one company he has satellite vulture/tick companies that feast and suck blood from the main lode entity.
Corrado is complicit because he is Winfield's man to the core and all of his bonuses and incentives are based on metrics that may deliver zero value to shareholders but ensures that Corrado will be a very wealthy man regardless. He is close to accomplishing all his goals and getting some absurd number of shares despite creating zero shareholder value. How could that be? His options should be based on eps or something that would actually incentivize him to produce profits. The stock could be at a dollar and gold dips and profits might be another year or two off. That is crazy and I definitely blame management for the lack of profits, the excessive dilution, and mismanagement of the project. If you would have told me years ago lode would not make a profit in its first two years of production with gold above $1200 with an open pit MC bulk heap leach style mine I would have said you're nuts. These types of operations are low cost and tend to make good to decent money right now at current prices for the vast majority of owners. Lode is not one of them. A mine should not have a one year, two, or five year ramp up period where they lose money on everything. That would be completely insane. Ten years of hemorrhaging money to develop a mine and then three to five years of mining with no profits all to get to year thirteen-fifteen? Yikes. No wonder the market is not impressed. Even after they earn their first buck what about the 100M that went into the project? How long will it be before lode earns a $100M? At this rate it is infinity years. Lode should have been in profits within one quarter. Two or three at most. Two years+ is complete madness and negligence on the part of management and the rough gold market is anirrelevant fact when grading management's performance since others easily make lots of money within the same types of operations and conditions. They should have known and prepared and scaled the business to conditions to ensure we are not a going concern. That is the whole point of the 50 million dollars they spent trying to figure out exactly how to mine their land at a profit. Why spend it at all if it was completely pointless?
This is just the tip of the iceberg but I will keep the rest of it to myself. I hope that at least somewhat explained myself. I still find the word "rape" to be somewhat apt, although I do apologize if I offended anyone (except CdG and JW).
I agree. Keep in mind those are likely the BS cost numbers that are completely irrelevant. I doubt the all in sustaining costs have dropped much at all, probably less than the decline of the gold price. So it is even worse than it appears. Lode is not going to 5 cents or 50 dollars anytime soon, both of those predictions are silly.
Profits have always been one of the most important things here. What value does 5 or 10 million ounces of gold have if it is not economic to extract? The answer, at current prices, is almost zero.
Lode has spent something like a 100 million+ dollars for the privilege of losing money on every ounce produced.
I haven't been following their cash position closely but I think it is again starting to dip into the area where Corrado will consider another raise. He has the worst timing ever for these raises so he will probably do it shortly. If it is done at this level it would move lode to the low one dollar and change area (IMO). I think they have around ~6-8 M left, which maybe barely gets us to the end of the year if they scraped the bottom of the barrel. If we have a further decline in gold prices lode will be in for some serious pain and more dilution. A share-price below a dollar is possible in those circumstances.
Other stocks in the sector other than lode have been doing better recently for the most part. This could mean lode is undervalued relative to its peers but this is not the case since most of those peers have profits. Lode is unproven in its peer group of junior producers. Until they prove themselves expect subdued trading and a low multiple. Just trying to keep it realistic.
Long term it can still be a good stock if the metals cooperate but lode must perform and must earn profits and they have to make a material amount of them consistently and return value to the shareholders who have been raped by Winfield and Corrado's leadership.
I bought a bunch today. Long term this is golden.
No one wants cheap resource stocks. That is why they are cheap.
After you subtract the 4 million note Mexus is due and the value of plant and equipment it seems like Mexus' high grade properties are valued at maybe 2 or 3 million. It is worth more than that right now. The land alone is worth far more than our market cap in my opinion. I have dozens of companies that are trading at less than book value, low p/e, or have huge deposits or potential that is valued at near zero. One of my companies has the equivalent of a fifteen million ounce gold deposit at about 14-15 grams per tonne and this is basically at surface in a good district with a fully drilled out 43-101 with most permits in hand and the others on the way. Value? A few million more than Mexus. Interest? Nobody cares. That is just two of hundreds of examples. The prices of these securities are largely arbitrary when near a bottom. This gives us the opportunity as investors and speculators to act, and potentially make transformational wealth, or not.
I can almost guarantee you in within 3-5 years these assets will not be priced like this and that they will likely revert to the other extreme side of the spectrum, ie a state of huge overvaluation.
I know I might be selling the kitchen sink for a few more penny miner shares.
Take care!
-TM
Private placement closed recently. The cap on share-price has been removed. Just need some time and news to drive volume and price upwards.
Reno, Nevada, Aug 27, 2014 (Filing Services Canada via Comtex) - EMC Announces Completion of Common Share Private Placement for a Total of C$470,425 in Proceeds Reno, Nevada (FSCwire) - EMC Metals Corp. (the Company or EMC) (EMC) announces that it has completed a private placement of 5,534,411 common shares for a total of C$470,425 in gross proceeds, at a price of C$0.085 per share. The Company paid finders fees of C$2,975 on the transaction. A portion of the placement (31%) was sold to directors of the Company. The proceeds from the financing will be used for general working capital, and specifically for the advancement of the Company's Nyngan Scandium Project in NSW, Australia. All securities issued under the private placement are subject to a Canadian hold period expiring four months after the closing date.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/emc-announces-completion-of-common-share-private-placement-for-a-total-of-c470425-in-proceeds-2014-08-27-82321225
EMC Initiates Preliminary Economic Assessment on Nyngan Scandium Project in Australia
EMC Metals Corp. (the "Company" or "EMC") (TSX: EMC) announces today that it has selected the engineering firm Larpro Pty Ltd, of Brisbane, Australia, to prepare a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) on the Company's Nyngan Scandium Project in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, expected to be completed in Q4, 2014.
Work on the PEA will be completed at Larpro's offices in Brisbane, directed by Steve Laracy, Managing Director, along with a team of specialists with experience in hydrometallurgy specifically related to lateritic-type resources as found at Nyngan and elsewhere in Australia.
The PEA will incorporate and be based on considerable metallurgical test work independently prepared for EMC over the previous four years, along with engineering, project design work and economic estimates done previously for EMC management. The PEA will also utilize existing environmental and detailed mine planning work done on the property, previously incorporated in prior studies.
The subsequent objective will be to combine this baseline PEA with additional resource work, further optimized process test work, detailed engineering design, and refined accuracy levels, into a Feasibility Study on the Nyngan Scandium Project, over the next 15-18 months, for completion in late 2015.
Both the Nyngan PEA (Larpro) and the subsequent Nyngan Feasibility Study will be commissioned and independently prepared to NI 43-101 compliant Technical Report standards, for filing on SEDAR.
http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20140807-910507.html
My thoughts: It will be profitable to mine, the resources will expand, and hopefully this pushes us towards financing and off-take agreements which ultimately get us producing. I forget what they were previously estimating for their start up costs but it was very modest in comparison to the size and value of their deposit. A few tens of millions for billions and the potential to transform several world industries... it will get done.
I know of Mr. Rothwell from my experience investing in Shore Gold (diamonds), looks like good news to me. The board is getting fleshed out with more experienced executives. We aren't the only people who see the potential here.
Huge Spill at Mount Polley
http://ih.advfn.com/p.php?pid=nmona&article=63152742&symbol=III
http://globalnews.ca/news/1491377/impact-of-tailings-pond-disaster-on-salmon-run-could-be-significant/
http://globalnews.ca/news/1491413/consultant-says-tailings-pond-was-growing/
http://globalnews.ca/news/1491946/imperial-metals-corp-says-breached-tailings-pond-stabilized-statement/
I saw their tailings "pond" last year and its shear size took my breath away. Tailings "lake" would be more apt. It seemed to take up several km and was surrounded by an earthen wall about 60ft (20M) high. It also seemed so be located on somewhat high ground with beautiful lakes to either side. This is a tragedy for the area that at first glance appears to have destroyed both of the pillars of the local economy, mining and tourism.
The whole tailings dam looked quite strange to me. It was too high, too full, and not properly tested or engineered by the looks of it, especially with a recent breach in the past few months.
There is blood in the streets for now, but it may continue to run for a while. Imperial Metals may become a bargain at some point if you believe it will survive this disaster.