Not at all Balance, I would imagine that the Glass Earth CEO, who is also the company's certified geologist person, will be busy while the rest of us are on holiday. Will this mean that data on WKP, which might have been held back via the Newmont connection in the JV, will be made public? Newmont have a lot more depth in their staff, and should already have a resources chart for WKP.
Hi Bucko, I doubt we'll get drill results in early January, but the revised 43-101 standard reports are due by 21st January. They will be much more useful for the market. In any case, there has obviously been ongoing interest in the latest private placement. It's possible it's not closed off yet, or that some funds haven't turned up in their bank account, allowing the paperwork to be completed. It's a positive sign that some well-heeled investors think there is plenty of room for upward movement in GEL's share price in 2013.
Glass Earth Gold is seeking to sell franchises within its Central Otago alluvial gold operations, and to make the venture self-funding for further exploration.
Chief executive Simon Henderson said the listed gold explorer had hit its straps with its alluvial operation before Christmas, producing 70 ounces to 80 ounces of gold a week. However, there was room for improvement.
The operation was cashflow positive for paying staff and meeting other overheads, but it could also pay its own way for further exploration in the area if production was raised to 120 ounces a week, Henderson said.
Glass Earth was operating two alluvial washing plants in the Manuherikia Valley, each employing five to seven people. "If we could get another 50 per cent increase in gold we would probably sustain not just the administrative costs and all the wages and salaries, but we would sustain probably all the exploration [in the area]."
Production could be lifted to the 100-ounces-a-week level by better configuration of machinery and better productivity, he added. "There are two big plants operating. They've been operating at about 65 per cent productivity. If we could get up to 85 per cent, we could get that increase in productivity."
Glass Earth is also looking to add two extra alluvial plant machines either through its own backing or by bringing in partners as franchise operators to process deposits in the Central Otago area.
"We're looking to do that [franchise] in the next two to three months. We have two other mining permits with the resources defined and we have two partners willing to do that work." The other permits were in the Ida Valley and Maniototo regions.
I like this focus on the gold recovery, after 2-3 months of work the company should be well on track for a stable cashflow at last.
The ODT has another article: some more good background on the alluvial work. The good grades are found 5 metres below the surface at Drybread, not too deep, and at least 0.3g/m3 on average. 50% above cutoff.
It looks like Simon has found a firm who will mine under tribute at the Gunclub permit, which is still valid and consented. This is a lower grade site but with some new hotspots delineated, maybe with the GEL RC drilling truck. Note the photo of GRU#3 running.
The tenor of the two articles implies that Glass Earth is looking around to see who will front up with the capital and work teams quickly, to allow more gold recovery, and of course they'll have to strike a deal on the proportion of gold paid over for that work. As I researched a while back, the core cost for a brand spanking new GRU can be under $200,000, and there are a lot of diggers and ancilliary equipment lying around in NZ. GEL has been oversubscribed, so they do have an option to buy, lease or finance into some more equipment. That way, they'd be far more in control, if they are certain of the grades and their expertise.
I don't know about "up to double their salary", but I very much like the idea of gifted shares that must be bought from the market. Share dilution is never fun. I wish you were on the board of directors.
Here are the main salaries and director fees from the 2011 annual report, below. The company is not paying over $200k to any senior staff, no matter what their qualifications are, the workload, or the risks involved. This confirms that GEL is a very lean operation.
Glass Earth has done well with the latest private placement, and some of the interest will be due to the generous warrant options. As previous investors have found, the options are not much use if the share price keeps diluting after funding shortfalls. But surely the tide is turning, and those who have jumped in now (including one or two big investors and NZ's ACC besides) could do extremely well.
There wouldn't need to be a lot of shares purchased on market for performance bonuses (while we're at it, why not suggest the same for the board members, who appear to be underpaid too) - but it would be the principle behind it. Maybe some should be purchased on both the NZAX and the TSX-V, which would also improve liquidity over here.
As for your nomination for the board, Gonzo, thanks.. but I've checked the qualifications of the existing board members, and we're very well placed there. They are streets ahead of any experience a small shareholder like me can offer.
Today is the 23rd of January, a quick search reveals no new BCSC reports, but these might not be published to the web just yet.
Technical Reports are being prepared. The company intends to finalize technical reports in relation to Muir's, WKP and Placer on or before 21 January 2013.
Not much else has been happening on the web that relates to GEL. CHFIR have tidied up their client page for GEL, it now mentions the correct set of board members, and the big change in the number of shares on issue. The main Glass Earth website states "current" work as at June 2012, a permit list dated Sept 2012, quite a few pages that could be added or updated. Once the private placement is complete, the issued shares page will need to be updated too.
The private placement has not been mentioned lately, but I'd expect the third tranche will be the final one, and it will close well over the $3mill they were looking for.
I get the feeling that there will be quite a lot of news that could be released in the near future, but the new 43-101 standard reports will be compelling reading.
WKP is being explored under the JV with one helicoptered diamond drill rig. It's been a while since the last assays were reported on. Newmont is likely to be focussed on the Correnso hearing, looking for resource consent for their latest mining site.
Here is a timeline and the paperwork generated so far, it's a big job.
At the moment Newmont is responding to the submitters, then the submitters get time to consider those replies, and the hearing resumes in mid March 2013.
OGC's report is just out: they spent $4mill on exploration in the last quarter.
Hi Bucko, I was hoping to see something as well. Any of us can step in and buy some more shares if we think they are selling too cheaply.
I just had a look at the NZPAM website, the website you look at when you're scratching around for news on mineral exploration in NZ.
Placer Gold International has been granted an EP in Southland. Waikaka. They've put a request in for more area in Southland. I thought they were helping GEL in a JV. Renison Consolidated has been granted all of the space around the outside of the New Talisman Mine (NTL) in Waikino. Last I checked they had a minimal MCap. Glass Earth was the former permit holder for that area.
Waihi Gold Ltd has applied (16-Jan-2013) for a 643.11 Ha extension to permit 40598. The original permit is due to expire on 21/5/2013, but this won't be happening of course.
EP40598 is the permit covering the area from around Golden Cross Mine and up into the WKP JV exploration site. So it's good to see that there is some paperwork being done on the area, and far from dropping back, the JV is wanting to extend the position.
heading south indeed! another 124,000 offered at 16cps and 150,000 at 19cps so theres a lot up for sale at the moment!
I have inreased my stake though at this price it was too good to say no,
I tend to agree with elzorro in terms of the future potential of this company and im leaning towards the 6-12 months before i hopefully see some real gains, Once the placers get up to optimum production and the company starts running a small profit and then again when we see more results from WKP/Muirs drills (more so for WKP as Newmont is the majority holder of the permit and they have the cash to go ahead with a project sooner rather than later)
Originally Posted by Balance
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