See mine & Bitzers post 25/9 to refresh your memory of what is actually involved in these studies which are quite extensive to say the least.We've waited this long. So long as they cross the T's & Dot the I's quite frankly I'm happy to wait further and keep accumulating at these levels. Had an order @ 8 for sometime which was finally filled the other day.
Below is the cut & paste from the Excalibur ann just to refresh your memory..
Following the 2008 drilling programme, which increased gold resources at the Tennant Creek Project to more than 1.2Moz, the Excalibur Board appointed the Oyster Consulting Group to scope out some development alternatives. The preliminary draft presented a number of possible options that require further work before a decision can be made to commence full feasibility. The Oyster study includes commercially sensitive information which will be necessary for any negotiations with potential joint venture parties. The Excalibur Board will release its 2009 programme after full consideration of the results of these studies..
Part 2- My apologies for the length of the post nevertheless it contains some interesting info especially the presentation clip.
Below are some random excerpts that have been taken in part from guest panel members at the Mines & Money conference in which AB represented Excalibur as a guest speaker in Dec 2008. To my way of thinking it was money well spent just for the exposure.
At the end of this post I have also included a link to his presentation given at the conference where he was one of several guest speakers. It runs for 11 mins unfortunately I would love to have heard more of the Q & A at the end. -----------------------------
Mines and Money, regarded by many as the best mining conference in Europe, hosted 2,500 delegates over two days. Judith Mosely, partner in charge, managing director, mining & finance, Société Générale, said that consolidation was the prime driver for the mining industry with an incredible growth of merger and acquisition activity in the last four years, while credit has been plentiful. Even in difficult times, acquisitions still happen. Permitting and licensing have become a major challenge and there remains a shortage of good mining projects.
She expects a slowdown in financing for M&A deals as utilities look for vertical integration. What is going wrong? There is a lack of certainty over how long it will improve. She said the capital markets had provided major difficulties for all mining companies. The juniors are struggling, especially those without a portfolio of assets, while the majors are managing their balance sheets with belt tightening and postponing some projects. “The weak will not survive the current crisis and jumbo acquisitions will be reduced, but the consolidation drive will continue.
Michael Lynch-Bell, partner in charge, mining, Ernst & Young, said: “I want to bring some optimism to the proceedings.” He said mining was extremely important to E&Y and his firm worked for 25 of the top 30 mining companies. He said the dollar must weaken at some point soon and the situation of low stock with low prices was not sustainable. He said there was a fear that recession could turn into depression. “Yes,demand has fallen but long-term fundamentals tell us this is not sustainable.”
The majors were reviewing costs and projects. The mid-tier companies had cut back on exploration and were looking at alternative cash raising, whereas the juniors were in survival mode and the have-nots must act quickly to find a partner, an accquirer or an ‘angel’ (investor). He said the quality of the management was the key. “We believe in recovery not Armageddon,” he said, forecasting recovery in late 2009 and 2010 as metal demand begins to rise.
Despite grim uncertainties in the market, the theme of the investment fundamentals session adapted to a somewhat positive undertone – faith in long-term demand for commodities. Fellow speaker Graham Birch emphasised that the “investor dilemma” in the current economic climate was to balance the short-term moves against the long-term outlook. Because of the extreme volatility in the market, few people were paying attention to the long-term fundamentals, he said. If you have a long-term view, risk versus reward is in your favour at the moment, he said. “The key is don’t throw the baby out with the bath water; there is long-term value which should be weighed against short-term fluctuations.”
Although an escape from the banking meltdown, coupled with a stronger US dollar, could trigger a selloff of investment gold in the short term, falling world gold production and developing market demand growth would result in a higher gold price. There has been a significant fall in global mine production which peaked in 2001, down by 6% year-on-year in the first half of 2008, down 1% in 2007 and 3% in 2006, he said.
Asked what the panel thought would be the best performing commodity and the best-performing sector in 2009, Mr Dawes voted for oil and possibly gold. Mr Holmes said he was bullish on palladium and silver and suggested that one of the minor metals such as bismuth, cadmium or graphite might excel, just as cobalt did last year.
Mr Birch conceded that although the current dire economic situation would get worse before it gets better, he welcomed the next phase of the cycle, which promises to be “extraordinarily powerful.
In closing there was also some interesting discussion regarding other minerals such as copper and silver
Attendance by press was particularly satisfactory with participation by a good cross-section of industry and _ financial publications as well as national newspapers.
(20min delay)