Boris:
Again, fair comment. I'm not trying to be coy or bashful but I see how it appears. I will have a couple of announcements within the next month or so. (I think you'll find we have put out an average of nearly two releases a month since I've been with Yamana and, I hope, each having some useful information. Usually positive too.)
Generally, I HOPE to have news between now and October on Washington state, PNG, Indonesia, Chile, Paraguay, Santa Cruz, Vanguardia, and Chabut, Argentina. What I don't know for sure is exactly when the information will be available.
As far as I can tell, the only thing that has changed for Yamana in the past 12 months has been the market. That has been, of course, a huge change. And one which has seriously hit us all. In my view, we got crushed, first and foremost, because we were seen as an Indonesian play. Second, we were hurt by the fact that we are a relative junior, with no world class deposits or production. Third, most recently, we've been hit by the price of gold. The former was a misnomer, the second is absolutely valid, but it is also the key thing we are working on. We still have one of the best junior exploration portfolios in the world. We still have money in the bank. We still have very strong support from our partners and board. And we have the additional strength of diversity: we are in three prospective regions of the world -- not just one-- and we have significant gold and silver targets, as well as promising copper, zinc, and other base metals targets. We are still going in what we believe is the right direction. As for the gold price, we were hit along with the rest of the sector. However, since we are not a producer, it would seem somewhat more reasonable, as some investors have told me, to see us as a forward play on gold. The price of gold in a year or two or three would be far more relevant for explorationists than the spot price today. (Yes, this is only an argument or a bias, but it is one which has tended to be true in the long run.)
Should the announcement threshold be lowered? I'm not sure. But as long as it doesn't threaten our credibility, I'll consider it seriously. Accepting the clear needs and demands of the market and our shareholders, I'll announce what I can, as soon as I have something to say.
(In passing, I beleive we have received and are receiving pretty good play from our '97 Annual Report, a document which surely rates the equivalence of a press release or two -- expecially since it went out to all of the major brokerage houses, corporate and investment banks in North America, as well as to over 4,000 individual and institutional investors. It is also available on the Internet, and is being advertised through several major financial and industry media outlets.
Meanwhile, the most immediate test of our perceived performance that I'm aware of will come on the 15th at our annual meeting when shareholders will give it to us straight up. I expect highly mixed reviews. We'll see.
Cheers
Greg |
