AXG - Antipodes Gold [formerly GEL - Glass Earth]

[elZorro]

Partial surrender of GEL by 0.38km2 on the books today also...

EZ, by now GEL should definately be making money from Ophir Gold I would expect.

(1) 38Ha relinquished within a month or two by GEL..good news for someone?

(2) Ophir Gold - wonder what that equipment looks like, and who is running the other sites, contractors or GEL staff? Have you seen the Ophir site Aotea?

[Aotea]

(1) 38Ha relinquished within a month or two by GEL..good news for someone?

(2) Ophir Gold - wonder what that equipment looks like, and who is running the other sites, contractors or GEL staff? Have you seen the Ophir site Aotea?

Ophir Gold is Bob Kilgour the GEL alluvial advisor...I dont know the site. It should be making money now one would imagine.

As for the 38ha, thats been surrendered by GEL to me.

[elZorro]

Ophir Gold is Bob Kilgour the GEL alluvial advisor...I dont know the site. It should be making money now one would imagine.

As for the 38ha, thats been surrendered by GEL to me.

Attachment 2196

I guess you've had a great year then Aotea..looking forward to hearing more about it later!

[elZorro]

The news just gets better: I hadn't noticed the new text on the front page of the Glass Earth website, quoted below:

Bulk testing of several prospects in the Otago Region is either
underway or completed. With a Mining Permit granted for the
McAdie's project as well as access and council approvals granted
mining is now underway.

In the McAdie's photos, two medium-sized Hitachi diggers/excavators are seen working, with another person beside the GRU. There is water flowing, so most issues seem to be resolved. As long as there's enough gold in each tonne handled, GEL should be making money .

[elZorro]

Hi Yankiwi and other GEL holders:

Back from holiday and looking forward to 2010, all is improving. Been so busy at work there's no time to post..

Early this year we should see the Gun Club MPA being approved/started, and start seeing some figures on placer/alluvial production at McAdies and Ophir, along with a steadily improving bank balance at Glass Earth head office.

Around this time GEL will probably be employing extra geologists and field staff to work on their extensive PPs and EPs spread around NZ, and getting more drilling done.

So I'd expect a lot of news releases (at least one a month), and some more of the images that the GEL webmaster has been collecting. These are all really helpful, each one says a few thousand words, and I'm feeling better and better about my investment.

As an aside, have a look at ASX:ARM, (Aurora Minerals) - these guys look a bit like GEL, started out with a dual listing, had gold prospects and all sorts of mineral areas to look at, but in 2009 found a huge Manganese deposit sitting at or near the surface in Australia. It's so rich (50% by weight) you can scoop some of it up and ship it in bulk without further processing. Suddenly this minnow (MV about 50mill a few weeks ago) could build into a business worth over a billion dollars. Their share price has doubled in the last two months, it went up 7% yesterday, and I'm picking at least another 6% today.

By 3pm: not looking like a smart prediction, as some profit-taking sellers have appeared.

But I've been reminded:

Links for Aurora in

NEW ZEALAND: At Macraes West Gold Project: JV with Canadian-New Zealand company Glass Earth Limited (GENZL). The Macraes West prospecting permit area comprises 1,173sqkm and covers the possible westward extension of the Hyde–Macraes shear which hosts the Macraes mine mineralisation.

So our own GEL has links with Newmont, Aurora, Ophir Gold, L&M and OGC, among others. We're in good company.

[elZorro]

The relevant web page from Aurora's website is here:

http://www.auroraminerals.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1644

But although this is a big area and in a great spot, the 1173km2 PP was number PP39267, which was due to expire on 26 Feb 08. It's not available to view on the CM site, it's expired. (See GEL's strategy report for 2008-2009, includes a great map of the mentioned locations and a permit list). Ophir Gold and GEL do have some areas very near the Macraes mine, but a good chunk of the other areas nearby are taken by OGC.

Maybe some of PP39267 was incorporated inside PP39322, which has been extended and expanded over this period, before getting reduced over time.

[elZorro]

We're not far off the time when GEL will be reporting on its gold recovery, and I'm a bit curious as to the royalties due to the Crown, and accounting issues. According to the NZMIA website:

The tax legislation contains several provisions for companies mining 'specified' minerals. The list of specified minerals includes gold and silver but not coal.

For tax purposes, these "specified minerals" companies are required to divide their income and expenses between mining and non-mining activities. The tax rate applicable to both types of income is 33%.

Where the mining activities result in a tax loss, this loss may be set off against income from non-mining activities, although the benefit of the mining loss is reduced by 50%; ie $300 of mining losses are required to be offset against $200 of non-mining income. The reasons for these unusual offset arrangements relate back to a period when mining companies paid a lower rate of tax than ordinary companies.

Mining companies are prohibited from grouping their profits or losses with other mining companies or with non-mining companies.

Despite these limitations, the tax regime for mining companies is generally regarded as concessionary. For example, it allows mining companies to immediately deduct their exploration expenditure and any expenditure incurred in the development of the mining licence. Thus buildings, mine-shafts, plant and machinery, production equipment and storage facilities, which would ordinarily be capitalised under standard accounting conventions, may be deducted immediately for income tax purposes.

These concessions extend to 'associated mining operations', a term which describes facilities situated in New Zealand for the accumulation, initial treatment and transportation of gold up to the stage where gold is in a saleable form and in a location suitable for sale.

Mining companies are also allowed to deduct their estimated expenditure for the next 2 years on exploration and development. The estimate is reversed in the following year and therefore is included as income in that year. The mining company can maintain its deferral however, provided it continues to budget for further exploration and development work.

There is also a concession for carrying tax losses forward. New Zealand companies are usually only permitted to carry losses to the extent that they have 49% continuity of shareholding. However, mining companies are permitted to carry forward their tax losses even where there has been a complete change of ownership, where:

The losses have resulted from exploration expenditure or development expenditure incurred on licenses which are retained by the company;
The losses are offset against assessable income arising from mining from the same or geologically contiguous licence areas.

Royalties……

The Crown Minerals Act 1991 contains the right to charge a royalty on any mining permits.

The Ministry of Commerce has recently imposed a royalty on minerals owned by the Crown. The royalty is the greater of 1% ad valorem (value of production) or 5% of accounting profits. The prescription for calculating the ad valorem royalty (AVR) and the accounting profits royalty (APR) is set out in minerals programmes issued by the Ministry in October 1996. Separate documents cover coal and other minerals, though the royalty provisions in both are very similar.

I think GEL's books are based on a Canadian system, which means the costs for exploration are brought in only in the year that permit is surrendered. I'm not sure about the capital costs for mining equipment over there, but Aotea, you are no doubt going to be able to buy dredging equipment and other gear, and claim the costs immediately. That's quite a good deal.

And the royalties don't look high either. Can anyone give us an idea what a mining company would get for their raw gold in today's market, near NZ$1125 per ounce spot price?