Tagged with: PayDirt

Oct 2008 - Low Nickel Price

Why is the Nickel Price Back Below US$5/lb?

Our column in the December 2003 edition of Paydirt, referred to the nickel price closing at US$12,080/t (US$5.48/lb) on 7 November 2003, with the 27-month LME forward curve then above US$10,000/t (US$4.54/lb). According to WMC the real long-term average nickel price was ~US$5/lb, or possibly ~US$6/lb in the opening presentation of Brian Hurley at the Paydirt 2003 Nickel Conference.

Nov 2008 - China Impressions

Impressions of China Depend on What You See

In the first two weeks of November 2008, we visited China looking at prospects in Guangxi and Yunnan in the first week, followed by the annual China Mining Conference with ~3,700 participants held in Beijing in the second week.

Nov 2008 - Understanding Gold

Understanding Gold

Quite a few comments have been written about gold and its expectations since October 2008. Particularly after the US$100/oz fall within two days to 23 October 2008, hovering above US$700/oz despite significant demand for physical gold, and subsequently rising US$100/oz to over US$800/oz similarly over about two days around the 23 November 2008.

Feb 2009 - Enough Shares

Do You Have Enough Shares on Issue?

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, as it so simple afterwards to recognise the possible mistakes. Golden Tiger (GTX) is an exploration company that is holding an EGM on 11 March 2009 to “close down and dispose of it operations” in China, because it appears to have run out of funds.

Mar 2009 - Removing Stigma

Removing the Stigma on Daisy Milano and Wiluna

Usually when a mine acquires a reputation for being “difficult”, often due to the expected geology being different, or the mine has poor ground conditions, or it has the tell-tale succession of owners, or it is refractory, then it acquires a stigma or an “avoid” perception. It consequently then often becomes “unloved” from both an industry and stock market viewpoint.

Mar 2009 - NW/SE Special?

What is so special about NW/SE

No matter where you go in the world, the number of orebodies that we (ERA) have encountered where the feeder structure is or appears to be striking NW/SE or NNW/SSE is simply staggering, especially for gold.

May 2009 - Picture Sizing

Reducing the file sizes of pictures

Often we receive reports from companies and others containing one or two pictures that are 1meg to 5meg in size, or see reports where the pictures are fuzzy and out of focus or have poor resolution.

Jun 2009 - The Next Avoca

The Next Avoca

The stock market is always looking for the next Avoca, namely a resource stock in which the share price rises by a multiple, and the market cap of the company rises up through A$100m, A$300m and possibly even the $500m levels.

Jun 2009 - Gold Re-Emerges

Australia’s Gold Sector Begins to Re-emerge

The re-emergence of Australia’s gold sector has taken longer than we thought it would, but it is gradually emerging.

Jul 2009 - Dykes & Faults

Dykes and Faults can be an Opportunity

We all know the theory, a dyke gets injected in a weakness in the earth, sometimes there are dyke swarms. Occasionally a dyke and/or mineralisation is injected along a fault – and in general they are regarded as a nuisance.

Aug 2009 - Innovations

Recent Innovations to Reduce Costs

In their presentation at Diggers and Dealers, Norton Goldfields (NGF) devoted some time to recent innovations that they have applied to reduce costs. When we wrote our (ERA) July 2009 Panoramic (PAN) report we referred to the significant cost and capex savings that Panoramic was achieving across its mines by up to $40mpa including the use of the new Sandvik 6-wheeled trucks at Lanfranchi.

Sep 2009 - The Last Shoe

The Last Shoe to Fall

Its finally happening, the “last shoe” appears to be falling, the IMF are going to sell 403t of gold. The IMF have been threatening to sell gold for many years. Maybe it will be the last major “central bank” sale, but this time round, it may be taken up by other central banks (that have previously sold gold), or China or other Asian banks seeking to diversify their US$ currency.

Oct 2009 - What Slowdown?

Slowdown...what slowdown?

As one of the ~3000 delegates commented at the recent China Mining 2009 Conference held in Tianjin TEDA in October 2009, “it’s as if 2008 did not happen, China has just carried on from 2007”. An understandable comment having attended an extremely bullish second opening session in which China’s GDP was expected to increase to 9.5% in 2010, and the third quarter numbers to be released later this week (ending 23 October) were expected to beat analysts’ expectations.

Nov 2009 - China Rail Tops

China Rail Leaps to the Top League

We spent ~5.5hours (it was one of the recommended routes) going to the China Mining Conference in Tianjin TEDA from Beijing in October 2009, being bus from Beijing’s international airport to Tianjin and then a more than 1hour cab ride from Tianjin to Tianjin TEDA (the conference organisers failed to supply the detail that Tianjin TEDA was about 50km from Tianjin [near the coast at Tanggu]).

Jan 2010 - The Lucky Break

The “Lucky Break”

Occasionally in underground mining, a company has a “lucky break”, unexpectedly intersecting mineralisation that completely transforms the geological understanding of the mine, the area, and its mineralisation.

It is usually more easier in an open-cut to see what the mineralisation has done based on looking at the walls or the floor, but underground it depends largely on development.