Glass Earth to seek NZAX listing after $10m IPO
This gold prospector will launch their prospectus on 11th September.
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Glass Earth to seek NZAX listing after $10m IPO
This gold prospector will launch their prospectus on 11th September.
Has anybody managed to obtain a copy of the prospectus for the IPO?
An interesting philosophy for their data gathering information around the country. I would only be slightly concerned about New Zealand's bad for business Resource Management Act posing a hindrance for any progression when it came to any type of excavation of the land.
Further thoughts would be appreciated if anyone has had a closer look at the prospectus.
I got this email from ASB today.
You may also be aware there is a small issue of Glass Earth Ltd. The issue price is .25c per share and the company intends on listing on the NZAX market. We do have a small allocation in this issue. If you would like a copy of the prospectus please let me know as soon as possible. For additional information please visit the following website, www.glassearth.co.nz.
You can get the prospectus on their website.
Glass Earth prospects for gold and cash
27 September 2006
By BRUCE MCKAY
It's been a long time since a goldmining company listed on a New Zealand stock exchange. There is only one other gold prospecting/mining company listed here and that is Heritage Gold.
It listed 20 years ago and today commands a market capitalisation of about $4.6 million.
Oceana Gold has its primary listing in Australia, though its production is all in New Zealand.
Now, another prospector, Glass Earth, plans to list as an overseas issuer on the NZAX market. In an initial public offering, it is issuing 40 million 25-cent shares to raise $10 million. For every two shares bought, the company will issue an option exercisable at 35 cents before October 6, 2008.
Glass Earth is a New Zealand-based company with its primary listing on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the ticker GEL. Subscribers to the share issue will be buying securities in a foreign company that has all its activities here.
Odder things have happened, but it could have been simpler to have a New Zealand-structured company with a listing in Canada, rather than a Canadian company with a listing in New Zealand.
Glass Earth has secured prospecting rights over large chunks of the North and South islands.
In the North Island it has rights over 9701 square kilometres, centred around the Hauraki Gold Region and the Central Volcanic Plateau. In the South Island the company has 21,600sq km in Otago.
Being able to secure prospecting rights over 31,300sq km of the country probably reflects as much as anything a lack of competition in the bidding for prospecting rights.
Recent mining activity in New Zealand has been all about energy exploration; precious metals have taken a rather distant back seat.
Glass Earth reckons it can be more successful at finding commercially viable deposits of gold because of its technology. This comes in two parts.
The first is a massive database of information about previous mining activity in its prospecting areas. Glass Earth holds prospecting licences for most of the Otago Province and, given the history of goldmining in the area, there is bound to be a lot of useful historical information. This information would be gathered together and turned into a database for computer analysis.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe second part is new technology that allows the company to "see" below the surface layer of materials covering the country. This is where the technology and lots of big mining-type words will start to confuse.
It is believed that in the central North Island, mining companies have failed to find gold because of the inability to get below the layers of ash, pumice and whatnot from volcanic eruptions. The volcanic process itself has thrown out a lot of gold and somewhere below the layers of ash are commercial deposits.
The technology would be put in an aeroplane, which is flown up and down over the prospecting site in a defined grid pattern. The data collected is then analysed to find out where the more interesting prospects lie.
The final part is to get into the field and drill into the prospects to see whether the data gathered matches up with the drill samples.
If the samples are encouraging then more holes are drilled till a site is deemed economic. At that point, the Energy Ministry would be applied to for a mining licence.
That, broadly, is the theory. This is mining by computer rather than teams of geologists marching up hill and down dale looking for a suspiciously interesting outcrop of rock.
Mining by computer won't replace geologists in the field but it should make their lives easier by pointing out accurately where to look.
Of course, flying aircraft, crunching huge amounts of data and drilling test holes isn't cheap. Of the $10 million being raised, $5.65 million will be spent in the central North Island. The company has about 21 "targets" ready for drilling in the area.
In Otago $2.5 million will be spent on "airborne geophysics" and data crunching. The Otago pros
Going to keep an eye on this one to see how it PANS out over he coming weeks. Pie in the sky or not.?. See how it goes. Wonder how much effect it will have on HGD's price?
Quiet market debut for high-tech prospector
Saturday October 14, 2006
By Adam Bennett
Investors in high-tech gold prospector Glass Earth have yet to strike it rich after the company made a subdued debut on the NZAX alternative market yesterday.
Glass Earth's shares, issued at 25c, eased to 24c on light turnover worth just over $12,000. Options, which were issued one for every two shares, traded at 5c, pushing the total value of the stock to 26.5c.
The Wellington-based company said an initial public offer of 40 million shares had been fully subscribed, with Canadian miner St Andrew Goldfields taking 48.3 per cent to keep its stake at present levels.
Chief executive Glenn Laing said the listing would provide financial backing for the company's gold and silver exploration and development programmes.
The company, which has technology that can detect gold beneath layers of ash, holds exploration permits in Waihi, Otago, and the volcanic Central Plateau.
Does this mean that there will be no interim test results for 4 months?
Glass Earth Announces Commencement of Major Airborne Geophysics Campaign
Otago Region Airborne Geophysical Survey
The airborne geophysical survey will cover an area of over 22,000 square kilometres and is the largest airborne survey of this nature ever flown in New Zealand. The airborne geophysical survey is contracted to Fugro BTW Limited. It has been planned to obtain a detailed geological understanding of the area allowing targeting of new areas with the potential for hardrock and/or alluvial gold. The survey will involve the helicopter-borne "RESOLVETM" EM system combined with a magnetic gradiometer. This system targets the top 100 metres of the earth's crust (the zone of interest for Glass Earth). Two helicopters each towing a 9 metre ResolveTM drone will carry out this geophysical survey which is expected to take about 4 months to complete.
NBR reported today that GEL intend to commence active mining in the 3rd 1/4 this year.
i was initially drawn to this outfit a while in otago watching a helicopter towing this "torpedo thingy' over head......I hold 5000 shares and bought another 5000 today.
i do not think they have got any Mining Permits in Otago yet?
will be interesting where they intend to mine this year as L&M took ages to get their consent for the Earnscleugh project
So looking on Crown Minerals site at current Mining Permits not many around i would be very careful at the moment..
especially at their cash burn rate....
HGD should have a permit shortly......hmmm
Might be a good idea to keep an eye on the Crown Minerals site to ascertain when the actual mining permit is applied for.
Note there are several types of permit applications.
The following link will get those interested to the search page if you want to check it out further.
http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms...ate/CMINPSMINL
Cheers
BP
Glass Earth should be an interesting watch this year. They appear to be an earnest bunch of geologists, and although they have trimmed back on staff, are still working on using their own resources to get more cashflow (hence placer mining). The big picture is still to find another major resource(s) for farm-in operations, as I understand it. The exciting thing about this business is that nobody has ever made the effort to carry out a large-scale survey over NZ with the latest gear before. Which makes their gathered data worth working on. And the odds of them finding something big? fairly good I'd say.
These guys basically put a Exploration Permit on anything that wasn't nailed down and killed big areas for the little guy and his dredge,lots of there ground isn't commercially viable for a big operation but is for a few guys small scale,pissed off allot of people in the south island as they will never work the stuff the little guys wants to.
Same with some of there north island ground where the nature of the field is small patchy rich pockets,having a permit on half the bloody country doesn't automatically mean they will find something viable to mine.
Cheers
Miner
Well Miner, I would hope that after taking several million $ in an IPO, that GEL would do exactly what they said they'd do with it. Without large exploration permits, there'd have been no point in bringing over the scanning equipment for a look around. They are looking for large scale mining opportunities, and already linking up with Newmont in Waihi, to provide some of the muscle.
But in a way, they are going to try some of the smaller scale prospecting you're keen on, down south. Looks like starting with a movable crusher/screen and the hiring of some locals, to get some cash for further operations (see website).
With all the data that they have available, their first bit of sluicing should be interesting.
- elZorro -
elZorro for you and other share holders I hope they find heaps of the yellow stuff,in the mean time though they have tied up countless creeks and rivers that the small guy could work,that they never will as only talking ounces.
As far as I know they wont let the little guy on,years ago when was detecting in oz SBM used to let us on there ground to detect as they were not after what we were and in time would open cut,this also helped keep the small towns out in WA going as people like me needed supply's etc.
Depends which side of the coin you look at it from.
Cheers
Miner
Thanks for that Miner. Sounds like you have a lot of field experience, I just fish the streams.. Here is some data clipped out from a press release in February this year.
"One of New Zealand's biggest gold exploration companies, Glass Earth, has started detailed testing of placer gold potential on its Otago mining leases. Placer gold is particles that have accumulated in sediment, and Otago has historically produced a total of about eight million ounces from such deposits.
"With the continuing financial turmoil, Glass Earth is moving to assess the viability of generating a sustainable source of cash flow to further fund its primary objective of hard rock gold exploration".
Test drilling had started on the first of several areas in the Otago permits covering 14,000 square kilometres, and preliminary negotiations were underway to secure equipment and experienced local staff.
Glass Earth said feasibility studies were currently underway, and if successful, it could be placer mining by September or October."
I'm not sure how the investigations are going, but there is probably plenty of mining gear available in the Otago region. I guess as soon as the snow melts we'll start hearing some more.
-elZorro-
(Can't think of a byline)
Finding gear down there should be the least of there problems,post a link if you have it of where they are looking to work as allot of places for big boys have already been gone over.
Remember having stuff in the ground and getting it out are two different things,more so for hard rock,I know of a place that runs at 2.5 ounces a ton(assayed) but will never get it out,should start a company drill it and sell you guys heaps of shares on the results :-).
Cheers
Miner
Hi Miner, I've found a TV3 item using info probably from Simon Henderson, the head geologist.
"Glass Earth Gold moving towards production
Fri, 22 May 2009 4:12p.m. TV3 news
Exploration company Glass Earth Gold is moving towards bulk testing of a Central Otago prospect as it contemplates placer production in the area.
Placer production involves the mining of alluvial deposits for minerals.
Glass Earth said today significant effort was being put into preparation work with a view to mining starting early in the third quarter.
The 175 shallow holes completed in the Ida Valley region led to the focus of initial attention on the McAdie Prospect at Poolburn.
Bulk testing of the prospect was due to start as soon as land use and water use consents were in place, Glass Earth said.
Securing equipment and experienced local personnel for placer mining operations was well advanced.
Glass Earth has more than 17,000sq km of gold and silver-focused prospecting and exploration permits in the Hauraki, Mamaku, North Island central volcanic and Otago areas.
In the Hauraki region, Martha Mine owner Newmont continued diamond drilling of Glass Earth's projects, starting the highly prospective Wentworth/Glamorgan evaluation last month, Glass Earth said.
Infill resistivity surveying on the Muirs/Massey reefs in the Mamaku area south of Tauranga was due to start in July to help delineate two potentially new high level vein systems adjacent to the known Massey and Muirs reefs.
As an exploration company so far, with no mining or other significant income, Glass Earth records losses each year.
But for the first quarter to the end of March it recorded a net profit of $C11,000 ($NZ16,180) due to a one-off foreign exchange gain on the transfer of 90 percent of remaining Canadian dollars into New Zealand dollars.
Glass Earth said its mineral exploration costs were further cut in the quarter with most effort being put into advancing plans for small scale mining.
NZPA
Or try this ODT article from earlier in the year:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/....ow-glass-earth
which spells out the level of gold deposits needed for a return.
At the moment the GEL shares are selling here cheaper than they are on the Canadian market, the first time that's happened. It should be a good buying opportunity, compared to buying at the IPO price of 25c.
As for another IPO from you Miner, that would be interesting, but it does look like a lot of work to set up..
-elZorro-
Eternal Optimist
For those who are interested, here is part of the ODT article, as it is archived and I don't think the link worked.
I think there are several interesting points in this article.Quote:
Crunch time now for Glass Earth
By Simon Hartley on Sat, 21 Mar 2009 (ODT)
Glass Earth Gold, the country's largest gold explorer, has a "make or break" 18months ahead, as it moves from explorer to gold producer in the Ida Valley in Otago to generate much-needed cash flow. With resource consent applications pending, Glass Earth ideally wanted to begin tandem mining operations with 16-20 staff at two of four Ida Valley sites, targeting both alluvial gold and also operating a small "boutique" hard-rock extraction programme, chief executive Simon Henderson said in an interview with the Otago Daily Times in Dunedin yesterday.
Alluvial (placer) gold is accumulated particles eroded from hard-rock (trapped gold) formations and now found in river systems' sediment around Otago. Placer gold formed the backbone of the province's gold-rush era from the mid 1800s, accounting for about 8 million of a total 11 million ounces extracted to date.
Depending on the outcome during the year after a start between July and October, 3000oz of alluvial gold would be the break-even target, and could be boosted by a further 6000oz from small hard-rock production.
That cash flow may enable Glass Earth to finance and continue drill-testing at its five other "Macraes-type" hard-rock sites around Otago, identified from 20 prospects from a 14,000sq km aerial survey in mid 2008. Drill-testing at present employs a geology team of seven.
With the mining sector trying to raise cash in tough times, "greenfield" exploration companies have been hardest hit; 80%-90% are now out of business or deferring work. The sector was in for a "three- to five-year hiatus", Mr Henderson said.
"I'd say it [the next 18 months] is a make or break time for us. The bottom line is we won't run out of money; we could raise more or look at a merger."
An existing private alluvial gold production operation in the Ida Valley may smooth the way for resource consents. Glass Earth has recently drilled 122 test holes to an average depth of 4.5m at four sites around the Ida Valley with "encouraging" results, but grades have yet to be announced.
• What the stats say
Glass Earth capital raising ($NZD)
Oct 2006: $10 million in TSX/NZX float.
Aug 2007: $6.3 million further issue.
Jan 2008: $7.5 million, private Canadian placement.
Dec 2008: $2.4 million cash in hand.
GEL have raised a reasonable amount of funding already, and look to have used it wisely on surveys and unique data gathering. The books show they haven't spent a lot on frivolous capital equipment. While the GEL SP might be low at the moment, it's not a reflection on the value of their data if held/used by a major player with the funds to do more with it.
-elZorro-
Eternal Optimist
It's an interesting business, mining. While the big operators are extracting tonnes of gold and silver (Macraes OCG, approx 200,000oz gold p.a., Martha Hill Newmont previously at least 100,000oz gold p.a.) with the attendant big budgets, a smaller operator like GEL is hoping to use the latest technology to find another of these huge gold depositions.
When you think that Martha Hill produced 5 Billion dollars worth of gold (at current prices) between 1882 and 1954, it's a big operation if you get it right.
As Miner commented, show us the money. They've looked all over the country and chosen Ida Valley as the first test site for a placer operation. While this is a stopgap cashflow measure, it's also a test of their detection technology. I presume they can start giving the market some more news soon. Maybe a revamp of the website would help, GEL..have a look at NZO's.
-elZorro-
Here's something for you Miner:Quote:
Remember having stuff in the ground and getting it out are two different things,more so for hard rock,I know of a place that runs at 2.5 ounces a ton(assayed) but will never get it out,should start a company drill it and sell you guys heaps of shares on the results :-).
How about up to 13oz/tonne historically reported at the Rise and Shine Prospect? That's 370g/tonne for a small part of the diggings, and an RC drill showed 28g/tonne over a 1 metre interval. Newmont were happy to expand Martha Hill for 3g/tonne average.
http://www.glassearthlimited.com/pdf...PR_10Jun09.pdf
-elZorro
No response from Miner yet.. but someone has been buying a lot of GEL shares at a good price.. hmmm..
A little bit of extra information for us all about Glass Earth, in this new link:
http://www.minesite.com/nc/minews/si...ash=d2a2941e7d
The next few months are going to be really interesting, lots of irons in the fire.
-elZorro-
My apologies, I thought the new link would bypass the login requirement. This article is giving a good history of the last year or so for Glass Earth, and some new info on how they are going to carry out placer mining at no risk and minimal cost.
Does anyone have some more detail they can share?Quote:
July 03, Minesite.com: The third of our trio is Glass Earth Gold from New Zealand which was hit even harder than most in the fall-out during the second half of the year because its major shareholder, Canadian-listed St Andrews Goldfields , sold out. It sold its first batch of shares in April 2008 which brought its holding down to 30.5 per cent and more followed. Another parcel of shares was given by St Andrews in payment for a debt and the recipient could not get on the telephone quick enough to his stockbroker to sell them. The result was that the shares fell in an almost straight linefrom C13`cents to C2 cents and though there has been a bit of recovery to C4 cents, chief executive Simon Henderson is certainly not happy to do a placing at this level.
Instead he is going to generate cash flow in short order from alluvial gold and hard rock gold targets in the Otago region of the South Island where his company has a massive land position. The seven million ounce Macraes gold mine operated by OceanaGold Corporation is on the eastern side of the Otago mesothermal gold district. It has produced two million ounces of gold in its lifetime and exploits gold mineralization without quartz veins in a ductile –brittle shear zone. Simon Henderson describes the terrain on the property controlled by Glass Earth, which adjoins Macraes, as ridgey – the ridges are where the hard rock mineralisation outcrops, while the valleys contain alluvials. The secret is that Glass Earth has a 50:50 deal with Bob Kilgour, a veteran of 30 years alluvial mining in the region. Bob has all the equipment and Glass Earth has a mass of geological data and technical know-how. Together they make a good team.
Glass Earth has a history of operating at the cutting edge of exploration technology, hence its name, and as far back as 2005 it conducted the largest airborne geophysics campaign ever undertaken in New Zealand. Its expertise is in understanding the 3D nature of ore-forming systems. The location of placer or alluvial gold is a rather different matter, but about eight million ounces are said to have been recovered in the Otago region over time, and geologists from Glass Earth have identified that the vectors to the main mineralising structures, recognised to host significant hard rock, lie directly under placer gold deposits. In other words the gold has not moved far from its primary position. Simon Henderson has picked the McAdie prospect as an initial target following the completion of 175 shallow RC holes in the Ida Valley region. Bulk testing will start as soon as water and land use permits are in place and production could commence in October.
Other work in the Otago region has highlighted that Macraes-style low angle shear related mineralisation is often overprinted by small multiple high grade quartz veins which host coarse gold. These shallow oxide ore systems are proving to be amenable to the mining and recovery methods used in placer mining. All that is needed is a mobile crushing and separation plant. If the vein quartz shows a recalcitrance in releasing the coarse gold Simon says “you just bring in a crushing contractor and take it down a size or two”. This is gold mining as it used to be in the old days and there is nothing wrong in that. Two initial targets – Ophir and Sparrowhawk – have been identified and tests on both show that they are amenable to gravity separation. There are plenty of others which need further testing, but this simple style of hard rock mining is expected to start before the end of the year.
In the meantime on the North Island the expertise of the company is being put to good use in a joint venture with Newmont Mining around the Martha gold mine which produces around 150,000 ounces of gold per year. The most advanced prospect is Goldwyn on the Hauraki project 16 kilometre north of Martha, and here a high level epithermal gold system is the target. Already a two kilometer long soil anomaly has been identified and drilling is in progress. Epithermal gold systems similar to Martha are the targets, and another has been identified at Wharekiriponga which lies between Goldwyn and Martha. Drill testing is planned once the programme at Goldwyn has been completed. The historic Muirs Reef gold deposit some 60 kilometres to the south of Martha is also being explored around the old workings. It also has similarities to Martha as a complex epithermal alteration system.
The ultimate object of Glass Earth is to discover a large hard rock gold deposit, but the company only has around C$1.4 million in the bank. If gold production from placer deposits and from the shallow oxide ore systems at Otago proves viable the cash flow will be used to accelerate exploration. At least Glass Earth avoids any signficant capital expenditure through its joint venture there, so it could be onto a modest winner.
-elZorro-
Apparently not...
I did find this link about the latest Newmont Waihi work on Glass Earth's permit.
http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms...archterm=glass
I also watch the Canadian listings for GEL, this is where the bigger action happens. You'll see the SP trend is steadily upwards, and some shareholders have obviously done very well already, as the share climbed back to something sensible from its artificial low. There is now a small number of shares on offer, and about 10x more volume on the buy side. The NZ market is back in synch with those prices (the shares are identical).
http://cxa.marketwatch.com/TSX/en/Ma...EL&sid=3034331
GEL seems to keep the market informed, and there should be a press release out soon, to mark July's progress.
-elZorro-
EZ.....please do not be put off by the lack of response to your postings...i have been there...i raved about SMM...ABA...in the early days before they took off....I have been trying to get a response for GRD....on the Oz site....virtually nix.....just hang in there...cheers...
hold 10000 GEL
No worries Troyvdh, it's just a bit embarrassing having no reply posts. Maybe you and I should just ping messages back and forth for a few days and I'll cheer up..
But seriously, I think GEL is entering an interesting phase, and with fingers in lots of new areas it's a no-brainer that sooner or later a great big pile of money will be made (and shared by the shareholders). And wouldn't it be good for the NZ mining industry.
Thanks for the reply Troy! (DISC prev. held SMM shares)Quote:
Drill results conducted by Newmont Mining on Glass Earth’s behalf as part of the joint venture agreement should be finalized (assays including) around the end of July, beginning of August -attributed to Lindsay Carpenter email around 22 July 2009-
-elZorro-
OK, an update from Lindsay Carpenter overnight, who is the CHF Investor Relations agent for GEL in Canada. She states:
If you want the press releases first thing (they are posted in Canada first) then follow the Glass Earth link on their website to get on this distribution list.Quote:
Press releases are normally issued on a monthly basis and there will be an operations update in the coming weeks. With the Canadian summer happening right now, news flow tends to be slower.
CHF have a profile for Glass Earth which may include some extra data. For instance:
Here is a link to that profile.Quote:
At SparrowHawk, in-situ rock chips assaying up to 131 g/t gold in intermittently outcropping 1m wide veins over a width of 125m, and striking out over 800m, were the focus of a two-hole drill program which delivered valuable stratigraphic information, pointing to a promising zone in SparrowHawk South.
Placer Mineralization: Bulk testing of the McAdie placer (alluvial) prospect commenced on June 16, 2009; purchase of a 75 Cu M/hr GRU (gold recovery unit) will allow fast tracking to mining if resource testing and feasibility studies are positive.
http://www.chfir.com/content/clientprofile.aspx?cid=68
I'm not sure if this means that Bob Kilgour's team is already camped at the McAdie site and running material through their own equipment, or not.
-elZorro-
Thanks for the updates EZ, Im a novice(learning as I go) and appreciate the info found on this site as it gives me hints on where to look and what to look for. Do your own research is a great tip...but handy to know where to look.
Thanks Yankiwi and Delboy, no problem. I'm a novice too Delboy, so take everything I say with a grain of salt..
I stuck my neck out a bit far, but here's the emailed word from Peter Liddle (GEL CFO, Auckland) yesterday:
-elZorro-Quote:
A press release is imminent.
Cheers EZ, dont worry I wont hold you responsible.......for my masses of future profit...one day. Bought in around same time as yankiwi, seemed like good timing. And now we wait.
I see their website says "a reconnaissance drillhole was completed on Glass Earth's SheepWash prospect, just 4 kms south of the Macraes gold mine ... Assay results are pending."
I've been trying to get hold of a mate working at Macraes.
Spoke to him a year or so ago and he said that if any mine was South of theirs they were on to a winner. Or was that North? I was pretty pst.
I was going to say it'd be nice for the chart to look like OGC's in the last year or two - ie .22 to 1.78 ... well here's a comparison
http://www.cybersurfer.co.nz/ogc-gel.JPG
I thought that was interesting.
Try it with HGD and you get a similar result.
Significant rise in volume at the end of June/beginning of July which is always a good indicator but I also note a 60% rise/range since then too. Hope we didn't miss the boat.
Disc. avg. holding sub .07
Yep, good one, Doug's alter-ego.:)
Thanks DM, for the extra input on the Sheepwash prospect, it's all getting quite interesting. Does your graph show that (as the end points of the two shares are the same) GEL is performing like other similar explorers?
I read somewhere that Newmont are searching hard for more material to run through their plant at Waihi, so the JV there should continue to see action too.
Since there haven't been any press releases for awhile, the share volume changes we've seen might simply reflect GEL being well under the radar in the last year or so. It doesn't take much interest to have a big effect on that.
-elZorro-
I don't think we can read too much into the chart comparison except to say that OGC and HGD got beat up worse over the last year or two.
I thought this was interesting though, given that GEL is only over the valley so to speak
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/n...ectid=10587725
It's a dull and miserable old day here, and I was hoping to be poring over a GEL press release this weekend. In the conspicuous absence of that data, dartMonkey has my earnest attention.
Please DM, wrack your brains and try and remember what was said. Maybe a couple of beers will help..
Cheers, elZorro
The beer's not helping my memory ... :p
Although the Mrs is starting to look quite enticing ... :rolleyes:
Wouldn't listen to anything a monkey throwing darts at the Sunday paper has to say anyway ...
This might be of interest: -
http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms...-central-otago
Family around there tell me that they have started work on it in the last few weeks or so.
Don't get me wrong though.
I view this as an extremely high risk play.
It was down on the tsx last night.
They have zip assets really.
Note miners comments as regards economical viability of extraction even if there is gold there.
No money coming in.
Sweet fa left in funds ...
The list goes on. Set your stops.
Fair enough dartMonkey, I agree we need to be careful. Don't use up all your supplies on my account :)
One of the problems that St Andrews Gold (Canadian cornerstone shareholder for GEL) seemed to have a couple of years ago, was that a goldmine they owned was producing all right, but at a cost way above the returns. They mothballed it and started backing out of GEL to get some funds in. St Andrews was in turn part funded by a sizable investment vehicle in Canada. Some of those people are still big investors in GEL, as far as I am aware.
At the moment the TSX trading is very light (minuscule), so don't read too much into that. They're probably waiting for the press release too.
The testing at the McAdie prospect (among others) will hopefully demonstrate to interested shareholders like us, that the detection technology works, and that even with relatively inefficient extraction methods, a good return can be made by pre-selecting the areas to work.
If the 3 July article is correct, GEL has been fairly smart in looking to bring Bob Kilgour over. They don't need to buy or lease any gear for now, and if he's turned up (for just 50% of the gold recovered) then the prospects are quite good.
I did take the precaution of looking through the outside windows of their work facility in Rotorua a year or two ago, when I was over there on the weekend. It was well organised with drill samples on racks, nothing too flash on the equipment or vehicle side, and not too much being spent on the lease. It felt safe. Maybe they could organise an open day for shareholders, that would be a buzz.
-elZorro-
Hi Yankiwi, what is the software that generates the analysis on that graph? Assume it helps you pick whether the share is being bought or sold.
BTW, I did some in-depth research myself this morning: for each of the last few press releases that GEL has made, all came out on a Wednesday or a Thursday, apart from one on a Friday ;)
Hola el Zorro
this is what Yankiwi is using
http://www.directbroking.co.nz/direc...uperchart.aspx
Hi there Yankiwi and Hola to DM,
An ideal press release would include a JPG of some extracted gold being poured (or will it be flakes?) :).
At the end of the day it's not the absolute amount recovered, but more the fact that GEL will have an income stream, they're doing the business.
Thanks for the chart info :o. I had tried supercharts but not the special features down below. The MACD option seems to be the go. I copied this explanation from a bank site.
Quote:
Simple Moving Average (5, 10, 30, 90, 120, 180 day moving average): This shows the average share price re-calculated at each day for the number of days indicated.
Bollinger Bands: Plots a line usually set to one standard deviation either side of the average (you can set this figure yourself if you prefer). Plotting share price movements against the bands will help you visually identify the degree of volatility for the share you are analysing. When you see a share trading outside the Bollinger Bands you know that volatility is high.
Stochastic Oscillators Fast: Measurements of how close a shares closing price over a given time period is to its high or low prices for the same period. Chartists view these as leading indicators of possible future changes in share price. Very broadly speaking, closing prices that are consistently near the top of the share’s price range indicate buying pressure, while closing prices that are consistently near the bottom of the share’s price range indicate selling pressure.
Relative Strength Indicator (RSI): Compares an average of the closing prices where the share was up on the previous day with the average of the closing prices where a share was down on the previous day to develop a relative strength index.
The volatility of the index will increase the shorter the period used for calculation. The default number of periods for the RSI used by the National Bank Share and Bond Trading system for the measurement is: 10.
Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD): A trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices.
The default periods for the MACD used by the National Bank Share and Bond Trading system are: 26, 12 and 9.
I just found a June ODT link to an article about this, and the picture is not so bad, Miner.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/6...ed-large-areas
Still no press release from GEL, but perhaps overnight or tomorrow night we'll see one, on past form.
What do the Canadian investors think of GEL? I found a thread on Stockhouse (TSX) last week, haven't had a decent look at it yet. There are pros and cons about the share of course, but also some details there about the big investors.
http://www.stockhouse.com/Bullboards...3&l=0&pd=2&r=0
the problem is with crown minerals which has a flawed system which stifles the exploration of the nz resources, turning ground over is the go allowing different thinking, exploration methods etc ..
not tying it up with one operator in a prospecting permit which are to large to properly to explore (Real Estating) is not the go,
be very careful there is better opp. in the market than ge
unless you are just purely gambling ?
No Kenbeth, I have invested in GEL since the IPO, and I really like the technology they are using. I don't think anyone has ever run the geoinformatics system through NZ before GEL. I'm sure Crown Minerals and many research scientists here, are very pleased that they have. That's why some of their previously held research data was released to GEL, so that once GEL had added to it with their data, it could help the general resource.
The point is, what is that data worth, just a few million, or a lot more?
yes i agree with you with the technology,but crown minerals should have done it themselves as for example the NSW Government’s New Frontiers $16.5 million exploration initiative. and similar programs in South Australia as well,
problem is the system not the companies
cannot blame them if they can tie the ground up..good commercial practice..
Hi Kenbeth, a lot of our CRI funding (research) comes from FRST. On their site there is this reference:
This shows that way back in 2003, GEL were setting the stage for the results that we should be seeing soon.Quote:
Box 2 Glass Earth Ltd/Geoinformatics Data Intervention Project
In 2003, Glass Earth Ltd (GEL) sought all of the geo-science data GNS held for the GEL permit area in the Coromandel and Taupo volcanic regions, to develop a comprehensive 3D geological and structural model for epithermal gold and geothermal exploration. This data intervention project comprised a programme of data identification, collection, validation and modelling, through a number of partnerships with data custodians and 20 primary data sources, including GNS. This assisted the targeting of the subsequent airborne geophysical surveys to improve the 3D model developed by Geoinformatics.
The negotiation with GNS over 12 months was difficult and long for a number of reasons. Access to the GNS databases had to be negotiated with a large number of individual scientists determine actual ownership (which for some datasets rested with current or former clients), and the format and level of detail of the data to be released. Some GNS scientists were concerned that the GEL project would pre-empt regional synthesis research planned for the future. Others were concerned that the data would be used incorrectly or inappropriately beyond its compiled scale, thus reflecting badly on the custodian and GNS. A few perceived that GEL would make money from “their” data, so wanted to maximise the price for what were predominantly publicly funded research results. There was also debate about the data collation and integration techniques GEL were going to use, and the potential value of aggregated geo-scientific data.
Finally a licence fee was agreed at a cost of $20,000, on the basis that the data and the derived database would be given back to GNS on completion for their own use, but not for sale(4).
GEL spent $1m to convert the GNS and other data sets into a geo-referenced 3D digital database, and to analyse and interpret the knowledge from the original FRST-funded and DSIR legacy data. This new work equated to the equivalent of 10 person-years work (26 staff employed over 5 months), including geoscientific teams in Australia, New Zealand and India. The subsequent airborne surveys and the follow-up development and interpretation of their fully integrated 3D database and visualisation system took the total GEL spend to $5m.
10.11 This example was a successful partnership between a CRI and a private sector company. FRST-funded data were provided at a modest cost and further investment by the private sector unlocked their commercial value. However, it is also an example of where private sector funding, in the absence of FRST funding for database development, lead to the derived products being locked up in industry IP and not accessible beyond CRI research use. Such derived products have value for a wide range of other users. It also demonstrates the sort of costs involved in developing the value of data, and the time and thus cost of negotiating agreements on individual data sets where their maintenance and development is not fully funded.
(4) The data licence covered 11 databases, including 2 nationally significant databases (“Regional Geological Map Archive and Database”, and “National Petrological Reference Collection and PET Database”), with the understanding that GEL would further investigate another 10 GNS data sets. These additional data sets were separated because they would require considerable work by GNS staff to supply and/or their supply required permission from third parties. GEL was charged conversion fees for data search and extraction required for some of the additional 10 data sets, mostly in the case of hard copy files and maps.
Thanks for that Yankiwi, I nearly asked again today but decided to be cool..note that there are stringent requirements on a press release because it has to fit TSX specs as well. Big day for GEL NZ on Tuesday, strong buying. I noted that the TSX showed some volume last night too.
Dartmonkey, do I have to learn Spanish now? Hola DM!
Como estas dartMonkey,
I, too, am fortunate that my daughter has started on some French and Spanish at College. I did bookkeeping during that stage, now I'm stuck in the office..
It's a crying shame we have to wait until next week for the GEL press release, maybe they're having trouble totting up all the gold eh?
Yankiwi, I cannot fault your logic: the profit was there. How long would it have taken you to get 25% at the bank?
For myself, I'm in long term, and the reason for that is partly a fascination with the scanning technology, and partly my reasoning that the data and its findings are worth a lot more than the SP would suggest.
My sentiments to El.If they survive this "grand correction"then we should be quids in.Fingers crossed!
Timo, GEL won't have any trouble surviving at their current spend and policy (however the rate of new drilling would have to be lower than it was). It won't take much gold recovery from McAdie to double or triple their staff capacity. And that's before they ask the market for anything. I note also that they are working either with, or near, the two big gold miners in NZ (Newmont and OGC). I think they're in a great position.
I was curious to see where GEL is going to be working:
There is a McAdie Road near Poolburn, which is about 40km north of Alexandra, Otago. Bob Kilgour operates Dunstan Mining Ltd, in Alexandra, so it's not far away.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?hl=en&...55017&t=p&z=14
I also found a site that describes a great-looking scenic tour around the area.
http://www.promotedunstan.org.nz/PDS...eBrochure.html
Timo, GEL won't have any trouble surviving at their current spend and policy (however the rate of new drilling would have to be lower than it was). It won't take much gold recovery from McAdie to double or triple their staff capacity. And that's before they ask the market for anything. I note also that they are working either with, or near, the two big gold miners in NZ (Newmont and OGC). I think they're in a great position.
Yes I agree el,they have great tech. and appear to be managing the current situation very well.Hence GEL is my biggest position in my precious metals portfolio.Alot of potential but there is risk of course.
Hi Timo, yes there would be some risk, but how else can ordinary people get a share of this exciting prospecting business? It can't be riskier than spending your capital on setting up a new cafe or a bar (say) and then hoping people will come in the door - ordinary people do that all the time.Quote:
Yes I agree el,they have great tech. and appear to be managing the current situation very well.Hence GEL is my biggest position in my precious metals portfolio.Alot of potential but there is risk of course.
Here's a press article about Bob Kilgour's family background re goldmining near Alexandra. Seems to me he'll know what he's doing..
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/news/26238#share
It looks like a smallish operation in the 1930s recovered up to 10lb of gold a day, that's US$150,000 a day!
Sounds like the right guys to have at the goldface so to speak.
Cheers for the article el.
No problem: it's wonderful, this google engine. Wish I'd thought of it..
Keeping an eye out for anything to do with GEL in August, no luck. The CHF site in Canada hasn't been updated since late June. There is this bit of related news on NZ gold production, just out yesterday from Crown Minerals.
Enjoy!
http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms...past-30-years/
Here's some more info for the GEL puzzle: alternative income perhaps..
http://www.contrafedpublishing.co.nz...+glitters.html
-and it's also a useful status report on all the NZ gold prospectors.
Go back a couple of years and Lindsay Clark wrote this article:
http://www.contrafedpublishing.co.nz...+thwarted.html
The Geoinformatics data system could be used to find all sorts of minerals and resources, including geothermal power. You will note that there is a company called Glass Earth Geothermal, a wholly owned subsidiary of GEL.
I just wanted to say thanks for all the information you guys post. It really helps me stay in touch with what's going on with GEL. I have owned GEL for about a year now, and am eagerly awaiting news.
Greetings from Canada
Welcome to the forum Canstock :)
We're hoping you'll be able to give us some insights from your side of the world! There's probably a bit more traffic over there on Stockhouse generally: this site might get under 100 postings a day but quite a lot more are 'just looking thanks'..
I see still no press release overnight :( , but maybe it's just a few hours away now. Possibly the last few bargain GEL shares are sitting over there on the TSX, but the total volume for sale is about 300k (Normally over 1mill). So we're all just waiting at the moment.
Maybe some of the FA gurus on this forum could post us an idea of what valuation technique you can use on a company like GEL, some scenarios perhaps - or we could just fabricate a press release :D -
Regards,
As the last GEL press release was on a Wednesday, and timed just before the start of trading on the TSX (9.36 ET), I'm going to bet one can of beer (cold) that the email from Canada will reach NZ at about 1.30 am tonight, NZT :)
el I'm not a betting man! HaHaHa!But I'll join you in a tipple.Can you believe they serve Guinness cold here now.So much for the Celtic tiger.
P.S.The IMF has said Ireland faces stresses greater than those of any other advanced economy.I'd have to toast the NZX and ASX to helping me put food on the table.And also all you guys for your invaluable forum.Slainte
Well Zorro - it is 8:46am now, despite what the clock on this site says, and I did not get rich overnight - sigh! And it is now 4:46pm in Toronto.
Mine's a Heineken please.
Morning Timo and Cannibal, sorry my powers of prediction are not so good at the moment! So for another day at least, we have to put in an appearance at work. I owe you both a beer! I think I should be able to get a package to Wellington cold no problem Cannibal. Timo - might be an issue :).
But, if Peter Liddle is true to his word, there will be a press release tonight most likely.
No worries el.Found a couple of over 20 yr old bottles of whisky in the my deceased father inlaws shed the other day!
Is that whisky or whiskey? Slainte!
Yankiwi posted this last week
I also sent an email to GEL today, asking when a market announcement could be
expected.
The rapid reply from Peter Liddle "Next week"
If he wants to meet that deadline he is leaving it late - especially if he prefers to announce on the TSX first.
Up 10% on the TSX overnight with volume of 500k+
Hey there from a new GEL holder. What results are you expecting this week?
It is great to see so many comments on this company. Not much on the Toronto
boards.
N
Hi there everybody, I have just phoned Peter Liddle in Auckland, who was quite relaxed but had to admit that they've probably missed the deadline for a press release this week. He is waiting for some data from somebody, and has put pressure on them to deliver that, but it's not done yet.
I did not discuss the contents of the press release (that would not be on).
But he seemed calm and unworried..
Cheers,
No, but he did mention there were some in Toronto for CAN5.5c, and was pleased there was more interest in the company being shown. He thought it was a good result that the two sharetrading forums had made a connection.
I got the impression he would have liked to say more (but couldn't), and even that is good enough for me at this stage.
Thanks Zorro - saves me checking every 10 minutes!
Interesting - CAN5.5 cents = NZ7.45 cents. Quite a bit cheaper than the current price here of 9 cents.
They were 6.8 on the TSX yesterday...
Yes, but over there, 300k volume can be light trading. I can't see the depth on the ask offers, but some are looking for CAN9.5c. Direct Broking have organised purchases on the TSX in the past (have to be above a certain value though, not sure if they're still doing it), and you can do paperwork to bring those shares back to the NZ exchange later.
As usual, a time machine would be handy, so we could go back and buy some shares at the post-crash price :).
But as no-one has been keen to part with any of their NZ: GEL shares for less than NZ9 cents for the last 2-3 days, those that are left on the TSX look a good buy.
You rock el Zorro!
Thanks for the update.
It's been nagging at me a bit: is NZ a significant gold producer considering the size of the country? I've got some figures here from google, so I hope they're accurate.
Humans worldwide have mined about 158,000 tonnes of gold (just 5080 Moz), and 65% of that was recovered since 1950. 1 troy oz gold =31.1 gram.
NZ had a late start adding to the pile - it was around the 1850s before many miners turned up - and we have contributed 35Moz in total.
Current world production is about 80Moz p.a., with NZ producing 0.5Moz of that (0.6%).
Based on land area, we have 270,530 sq km, so 0.18% of the land. We have historically produced 0.69% of the gold recovered worldwide, so we're punching about four times above our weight.
I'm not a geologist, but one summary I read talks about major gold deposits in South Africa being one type of source, and land masses near the volcanic ring being recycled versions of those deposits (that would be us).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...d4c2b5cabd8bb7
And I found the last comment very interesting, because scientists very rarely overstate anything.
Quote:
The overall proportion of gold concentrated in known ore bodies is only 7 × 10− 7 of the estimated total amount of gold available in the continental crust. This is less than the solubility of Au in common crustal fluids. A high potential for the existence of voluminous, hitherto undiscovered, gold resources may thus be inferred.
H.E. Frimmel, Division for Geodynamics and Geomaterials Research, Institute of Geography, University of Würzburg, Am Hubland, D-97074 Würzburg, Germany
Good day El Zorro
Thanks for the interesting research! Enjoy your week-end.
N.
You're welcome Ngao. That handle looks Maori in origin, but you're in Canada?
I just had a look back on the thread, and none of us mentioned the Rise and Shine Prospect that GEL bought in to, in June this year. It's mentioned in a press release on their site, and some more detail here:
http://www.guide2.co.nz/money/news/b...-shine/11/8629
I think GEL must have some very good data around this prospect, as they jumped in when things were fairly tight financially. Another good point, it strengthens their links with OGC and Macraes.
Ngao, can you help fill us in with CanAlaska and their uranium mining? It's apparently even more profitable..
El Zorro, Where did you come upon this one? It is new to me but their two page fact sheet on investor section of site is very interesting. There is also a 5 page analyst report dated August 13th at:
www.hotstocked.com
Ngao is/was a suburb of Wellington where I lived for 4 wonderful years.
Sorry for oversight El Zorro, just read your ref to Rise & Shine and see your connection to CVV.
N.
Ah, now I get it..you have a fair idea about the geography here then.
Yes, CanAlaska (CVV: TSX) sold down their position at Rise and Shine and Bendigo, to GEL. Their SP has dropped from 75c to as low as 4c over 3 yrs, but is now stable at 17c from the look of it. You Canadians are tough on the smaller companies..but on the rise there's plenty of money to be made.
I rediscovered (on the GEL website!) this brochure from Crown Minerals, dated 2004: Explore NZ Gold, and it's extolling the virtues of NZ for mining prospects, and going back over our mining history. It even mentions some of the ground that GEL snapped up not long after. It explains the types of gold depositions that we have here, with one big map that's quite interesting too.
http://www.glassearthlimited.com/bac...formation.html
Er - The Wellington suburb is called Ngaio...
Sorry, Cannibal. It has been a while. To be more accurate, I could have said Crofton Downs :O)
Hello Smokin Cubans, what an entrance! Maybe you need to get out more..
I'm not sure all of us are National voters :rolleyes:
I wasn't going to point out the spelling, it was close enough, we figured it out Ngao :)
Muirs Reef (is it the name you liked SC?) is still one of the spots GEL is test drilling, I guess we'll find out more soon. And no, I'm not placing another bet on what day/night for the NR. Peter L. didn't say.
More support for the NZ9c price today, all good.
Wow - time sure changes things. It was 40 years ago - saw first moon walk while there. There wasn't any church - just a huge playground built over a tip in the bowl of the crator. I think the idea was to let it settle 10 years before building on it. At that time it was a community of young people starting out with first homes.
I'm sorry to be so off topic - but hope for a news release soon.
Yes, we're all keen and waiting - guess you'll be one of the first to read the press release though :)
Ever wondered why the releases can be tough reading?
The press release from GEL has to follow the NI 43-101 rules from the Canadian CSA (2001) and the JORC (Australasian) rules for disclosure. I found a copy of the 43-101 rules here:
http://www.osc.gov.on.ca/Regulation/...l-projects.pdf
and some notes from laywer-style people about things to watch out for:
So it's not going to be an easy road writing an exciting press release, until the prospect/resource in question has been thoroughly delineated. I guess we shareholders will have to read between the lines a bit ;)Quote:
NI 43-101 - Some tricks and traps Mineweb excerpts only..
National Instrument 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) and administered by the provincial securities commissions that governs how issuers disclose scientific and technical information about their mineral projects to the public. Brian Graves of Canadian law firm, McCarthy Tétrault details some of the areas in which mining and exploration companies need to be particularly careful in their disclosures.
Author: Brian Graves (McCarthy Tetrault*)
Posted: Saturday , 10 May 2008 TORONTO -
Since National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) came into effect in 2001, most market participants would agree that the quality of technical disclosure by mining companies has much improved. There are, however, still areas to which issuers and underwriters should continue to pay attention, both to avoid the need to correct or re-file technical reports and disclosure documents (with resulting expense and delay) and to ensure they are taking adequate steps to protect themselves from liability. The following selected points to watch are drawn from our recent experience and from recent commentary by securities regulators.
Use of Terminology. Issuers are still sometimes running into problems when using the terms "feasibility study" and "preliminary (or pre-) feasibility study." Because the popular use of these terms can be imprecise, they are specifically defined in NI 43-101 and their usage in technical reports and disclosure documents must be consistent with these definitions.1 Technical reports that use these terms in reference to less comprehensive studies will need to be re-named and re-filed, and any disclosure made in reliance upon them similarly re-cast.
Economic Analyses. To the extent a lesser study, such as a scoping study, results in IRRs, NPVs or other measures of economic viability, even if not a feasibility or pre-feasibility study for NI 43-101 purposes, such a study may be considered a "preliminary assessment" and its disclosure permitted, subject in certain cases to cautionary statements being included in the disclosure. However, an economic analysis of a pure exploration target, where not even inferred resources have been delineated, is not permitted.
Use of Proceeds. Where a technical report is prepared in connection with a prospectus financing, and some or all of the proceeds are to be used to fund further exploration or development of a property, the "use of proceeds" section of the prospectus should be generally consistent with any recommendations for further work that are made by the qualified person (QP) in the technical report.
Websites/Presentations. Remember that NI 43-101 applies to all disclosure of scientific or technical information made by or on behalf of an issuer, and not just to disclosure in paper or printed form.
Appropriate QP Sign-off. If a QP is purporting to sign off on all technical information disclosed in a technical report or company disclosure, the issuer should ensure that the QP is appropriately qualified for all the information on which he or she is opining.
Conflicts with Foreign Disclosure Rules. Sometimes inconsistencies between the disclosure rules in Canada and those in foreign jurisdictions can make compliance a challenge.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 A "feasibility study" refers to a comprehensive study of a mineral deposit in which all geological, engineering, legal, operating, economic, social, environmental and other relevant factors are considered in such sufficient detail that the study could reasonably serve as the basis for a final decision by a financial institution to finance the development of the deposit for mineral production. In popular usage, this is sometimes referred to as a "bankable feasibility study." A "preliminary (or pre-) feasibility study" means a study of project viability in which the mining method or pit configuration, and an effective method of mineral processing, have both been determined and which includes a financial analysis based on reasonable assumptions about each of the foregoing factors that are sufficient for a qualified person, acting reasonably, to determine if all or part of the mineral resource may be classified as a mineral reserve.
*McCarthy Tétrault is a Canadian law firm that delivers integrated business law, litigation services, tax law, real property law, labour and employment law nationally and globally through offices in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Québec City, as well as London, UK. This article was first published in Mining Prospects, a periodical publication produced by McCarthy Tétrault's Global Mining Group. (http://mccarthy.ca)
Thanks for the tidy post Yankiwi, at last some news :).
Bob Kilgour has a substantial interest in Ophir Gold Ltd, and the mine at Ophir is not far away from the McAdie Prospect, a short drive from Alexandra. So is this 50% equity interest, the subject of the press release earlier about Bob Kilgour's team doing the recovery work for 50% of the gold? Maybe it's a contra deal, and Dunstan Mining will work on GEL areas elsewhere under similar arrangements.
Of course, the GEL aerial work may have highlighted promising areas near the Ophir EP, and as GEL had all the surrounding area, it makes sense to do it this way. It would be a good job for the GRU they talked about, and those grains of gold sound quite big (4-10mm diameter) ;).
The press release came out at start of trade in Canada, and had no major effect on the share (see Stockhouse thread).
http://www.stockhouse.com/Bullboards...6&l=50&c=2&r=0
Islander 16 (Canada) commented:
I think there must be a lot more news to come, there's not much in this press release that couldn't have been put together quite quickly.Quote:
New JV with Ophir Gold Ltd. News just released 1 hour ago. Hasn't made it to their website yet. Looking very positive going forward in generating their own cash flow with POG well over $900 US$. No possibility of any SH dilution as drilling programs will be fully funded internally. Current SP still looks very cheap for this company imo.
Hi all,
Defintely some real potential in the sites, but obtaining sufficient water is going to be the big ask. All surrounding watercourses are overallocated from a regional council perspective.
something to think about for the punters...
Welcome to Sharetrader, Aotea (the posting side anyway) :)
You make a good point: shareholders don't have any detail about what sort of a process is involved in getting future consent for even small-scale mining.
I'm sure the population of 50 at Ophir (currently) isn't wanting GEL to be flogging all their water and making a mess of the river that runs through there. But it is variable: flow 0.3(min) to 600 cusecs (m3/sec) mentioned somewhere on google. Guess at a push they could store some in a dam and recyle it. I've seen quarries doing that, and the crushing operation uses very little water, but lots of power.
Aotea, I like your comment:assume this applies to the ones mentioned around Ophir. It looks like a nice place to visit, with lots of history. I found this:Quote:
Defintely some real potential in the sites..
Quote:
So laugh with me now or cry with me now
As you tramp those memoried tracks
For they all lead down to Ophir Town
And the old time town of Blacks.
(Todd Symonds)
Thanks elZorro,
Have watched on for a fair while, and always have plenty to say.
Have quite a lot of experience working for the regional council in Otago, know the river very well.It is what is considered to be overallocated several times over and the only way you could get water is to do flood harvesting or buy a mining right, a historic mining permit for the water take, and then get it fully reassessed by the Council for all the tosh they consider now. Also, the landowners value thier mining rights more than they do their wives as it is the only thing that keeps most farming operations viable there. The entire Manuherikea catchment all all in the calculations by Council, so minor tributaries are in the same position. Could drill very deep bores potentially though....
Holding: hgd, lmp, syft, clv, esi, hfa, kas, tex.
This is very handy info Aotea, will help us consider the issues a bit better. I just found some new news!!
http://www.odt.co.nz/print/70735
GEL expect to be totting up bulk testing gold from McAdie and maybe Gun Club by the end of August (this month) :)
GEL: TSX traded well last night, should be CAN6c by overnight or better.
Any comments?
Here is a research paper I found on the Crown Minerals site (Simon Henderson lead author) that describes the use of the GeoInformatics system to reduce the time to discovery and increase the probability of success.
http://www.crownminerals.govt.nz/cms..._papers_41.pdf
The very end of the short paper has this passage:
I need to do some more research to find out how many of these were drilled or dropped from the list, but that's quite a bit of prospecting to be done, from just one part of the area GEL holds. Remember Martha Hill has yielded over 10Moz so far, an internationally significant resource.Quote:
Conclusions
Glass Earth has carried out a structured risk managed process guided by the Geoinformatics Data Intervention to examine the Coromandel Central Volcanic Region as a virtually unexplored epithermal gold province under cover of Recent volcanic ash. Intelligent, intensive, interrogation of digital data had provided a new geological and structural model of the geology of the CCVR.
Compiled with new ultra-detailed geophysical data this has led to the defining of new calderas, structures and temporal relationships between gold and rift developments and enabled direct targeting of signatures representative of potential gold deposits.
This multi-layered strategic approach to exploration has taken green-fields areas of 14,000 sq.km to drill targeting within two years.
21 targets prioritised have alteration, structure and geological characteristics similar to that of the world-class epithermal gold deposit Martha, Waihi. Up to 70 other potential targets have been identified.
GeoInformatics (Canadian based) are perhaps too good at their job - they have discovered and mapped out a resource called Whistler in Alaska (4.4Moz inferred), and amalgamated with Rimfire to form a new company called Kiska (KSK:TSK) just this month. I'm not sure if that means they will still be offering their services to GEL if needed.
With GEL now handling real ore, (as pointed out by other posters), just how hard is that going to be? There is no doubt that GEL will find gold in their prospects, but it needs to be enough to be viable, either small-scale or large-scale more hopefully. I googled around a bit and cannot find any numbers as to the probability of a given drill(s) being a positive result. Maybe there are others here who could give an idea. It would depend also on the science being used.
But, if you look at Martha Hill, that can provide some figures. Assuming the average gold grade was 3g/tonne, and it has yielded 10Moz, I assumed the ore moved was twice as heavy as water, so 47 million cubic meters of it was processed (plus overburden moved). But the ore would have fitted into a space about 360mtrs x 360m x 360m. That lines up with a satellite map of Waihi quite well. It's not a big area, quite compact.
I can see now why GEL wanted fairly tight spacings on their electromagnetic and gravity surveys.
I missed this article earlier, and it's quite useful in spelling out how the operation near Ophir will be done. An inferred resource of 109,000oz is looking interesting. The breakeven point of 3000oz refers to the alluvial output (nearby Ida valley) needed from one year of operation of some unspecified mining gear, perhaps the GRU.Quote:
Glass Earth takes 50% stake in Ophir
By Simon Hartley
Created 20/08/2009 - 05:00
Toronto-listed Glass Earth Gold has taken a 50% stake in private gold explorer Ophir Gold Ltd and will spend at least $250,000 on evaluating Ophir's prospect near Omakau in Central Otago.
If a decision to mine is made, the 50:50 joint venture's objective is to undertake open-pit mining at Ophir and process the ore, with Glass Earth's share providing some cash flow for the exploration company.
The joint venture is another step by Glass Earth to move from being a gold explorer to producer and underpin its future with some cash flow.
Glass Earth has raised $24 million in several placements since 2005 and to the end of June this year had about $1.85 million cash on hand, enough to finance it through to July next year, Glass Earth chief executive Simon Henderson has said.
Ophir had numerous highly prospective mineralised reefs, as well as near-surface gold-bearing gravels, contributing to the excellent potential of the overall joint-venture area, Mr Henderson said.
The Ophir tenement covers about 640ha near Omakau, northeast of Alexandra, and had delivered 1200 ounces of gold by 1939.
Test drilling by Ophir Gold in 2006 estimated up to 109,000 ounces averaging 3.99g of gold per tonne of ore mined.
Mr Henderson said should a decision be made to go ahead, Glass Earth would be responsible for funding the design, permitting and installation of a processing plant, but Ophir would reimburse Glass Earth for its share of the plant acquisition from its after-tax profits.
Glass Earth has also undertaken to contribute "additional ground" around Ophir Gold's existing permit.
Mr Henderson said the predominance of coarse gold raised difficulties in adequately testing such mineralisation by drilling, and he preferred to tackle the appraisal for mining by bulk testing of ore around several of the vein systems.
"Irrespective of the smallish scale of the initial mining approach, it may provide positive cash flow for Glass Earth, especially as gold prices remain high," Mr Henderson said.
Privately owned Ophir Gold raised $700,000 in a private placement in mid-2006 and undertook a 17-hole drilling programme, increasing its estimated gold resource more than eight-fold.
Ophir Gold had earlier in the same year completed a similar programme costing $400,000.
The company had in 2007-08 considered raising $2 million in a private placement and also listing on the New Zealand stock Exchanges's alternative NZAX board, but that never went ahead.
In mid-2007, there was a board reshuffle, with founding directors Dr John Scott and Central Otago miner Bob Kilgour standing down from the board, but retaining their shareholdings, and being replaced by Ray Polson, of Dunedin accountancy firm Polson Higgs, and Alistair Ward, of investment bank Campbell McPherson in Auckland.
Since then, Ophir Gold's more than 7 million shares have been held by nine separate companies and 32 individual shareholders - about a third of whom are from Otago.
Ophir Gold Ltd is the 100% shareholder of Ophir Gold Exploration Ltd, whose directors are Mr Polson and Mr Ward.
In a similar cash-generating development, Glass Earth is continuing with a separate project in the Ida Valley, where it is concentrating on two of four gold prospects.
The company has a break-even target of 3000 ounces of alluvial gold and potential for a further 6000 ounces from hard-rock mining in the Ida Valley, but to date there have been no test results released giving a resource estimate.
Among Glass Earth's extensive activities around Otago was a $4 million, 18,000sq km airborne geophysical survey in 2007, under the largest permit ever issued in New Zealand, which was assisted by a $1 million contribution from the Otago Regional Council for collation of water-related data.
Source URL (retrieved on 25/08/2009 - 09:24): http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/7...50-stake-ophir Links:[1] http://www.odt.co.nz/
Newsletter #12 was posted to the GEL website today, it's already been sent to Otago locals near the prospects, in July/Aug.
Before you have a look at this, remember I have briefly checked a GEL workplace, and they don't spend money unnecessarily..:)
http://www.glassearthlimited.com/pdf...wsletter12.pdf
The bulk testing gear might be small, but I wouldn't mind being there during the washup :D. I guess the big GRU is looking a bit more respectable by now, and ready for use.
be trail-riding again round the cromwell ranges soon might take me pan next time find me some nuggets
http://www.marketwire.com/press-rele...L-1036532.html
Needs some analysis, but some big positives:
Muirs Reef signalled as encouraging signs of major epithermal gold deposit, more work being done there.
More work at Bendigo/Rise&Shine re farm-in.
The GRU is in fact a 40 tonne alluvial gold dredge that works in its own pond, a bit like this one only smaller perhaps?
http://www.mineralswestcoast.co.nz/dredge.html
It has been purchased with help from someone like Dunstan Mining, and has already been refurbished. It can handle 70-80 cubic metres of ore per hour (about 150-225 tonne/hr).
Some prospects have been dropped and their exploration costs depreciated, but GEL still has 6.3% of the total area of NZ to work with. Big holdings in Otago (esp), CVR and Waihi area still, with Marlborough?
JV with Newmont in progress at Goldwyn (aptly named I hope).
The limited books data shows a frugal outfit (esp. compared to Telecom).
Now all we need are some yield figures for various areas..
We will get a better idea of what GEL is getting into in the coming months. They will start to surrender 1/3 of thier EP and then another 1/3 (i think) after that. They have certainly overlooked one nice spot, and have gifted me a surrender to seek my own mining permit...