RE Jason Kaye's query:
How ya doin Greg?
I've been on vacation for two weeks and all hell is breaking loose at
YRI. Partners parting their ways, poor drill results what next!!!!!!!
That aside I have two questions for you.
What happened to all the interest in the Santa Cruz project? I thought there were several lookers to JV the property? If its taking this long to sign up a partner, they must know something us shareholders are unaware of.
Just noticed that IPJ a comparable company to YRI in every sense (cash, mkt cap etc..) is buying back shares of their company, which already lifted the price by 15%. Has YRI looked at the possibilties of a share buyback for investment purposes at these seemingly undervalued stock pricess?
Hope to see some good news this month out of INDO.
Thanks
jk
Jason:
Ah, a week in the sunshine and now back to the shadows?
Jason, each of your questions and comments are valid, but I believe you may be reading something into what we are (or are not) doing.
Fin del Mundo:
For Yamana, Westmin's departure was "the other shoe drop'd." Unfortunate, but, given the demands of their Chilean property at Lomas Byas -- very large, very low grade (less than .5% Cu) and very expensive -- their Wolverine property in Yukon and operations at Myra Falls, as well as the movement of the former manager of the Fin del Mundo project to their North American operations, it is an entirely understandable business decision. That's the way Westmin's people put it to us on and off the record. That is, it was not a geologic decision.
Westmin also noted: at least 16 areas worth follow-up; that drilling encountered economic grade and thickness in at least one hole; and, confirmed metal zonation typical of copper rich cores of classic VMS deposits, and demonstrated grades similar to some current VMS operations that produce at 3,000 tons per day.
"Poor drill results":
I'm not sure what you are referring to here. I guess you must be referring to the low productivity rate -- that is, the amount of drilling accomplished and the number of targets tested -- in PNG over the past few months. In this case, you're right. But that is fixable and is being fixed "as we speak". It happens, especially when operating in the Third World. But it is not the same as "poor drill results"... or did I miss something here?
Santa Cruz, Vanguardia:
Yes, we had some very agressive initial interest in Santa Cruz, some of which has turned out to be companies looking for a fire sale -- which this is not -- and some of which is still there. How long do you think it would take a company to look at 145 drill holes, on nine properties -- several 10 km by 10 km-- , covering thousands of square kilometers in Southern Argentina, examining epithermal systems consisting of large low grade areas, vein swarms and high grade veins, before making a multi-million dollar decision? Rio Algom worked there for one year and spent US$4 million. Everyone of the people from Rio who worked on the project or who were responsible for the project recommended they continue. Headquarters in Toronto said it didn't fit their corporate plan and that they were still a copper porphyry company.
Will we do a deal there in the next few weeks? Who knows?
Will we do a deal this year? Who knows?
Will we go ahead without a partner for the next season? Absolutely.
Can we afford it? My view is that even if we didn't have the cash to pay for a reduced program -- which we do -- we can't afford NOT to continue with a project which has produced 69 anomalous drill holes, 29 of them with significant mineralization, 15 different drill holes with at least 6 meters of 1 gram plus 8 holes of at least six meters of 2 grams plus 6 holes of at least 6 meters of 4 grams, all at less than 150 meters in depth. I believe that, in anybody's book, these 2 and 4 gram hits are ore grade intercepts. They also happen to come out of an area that has at least one world class gold deposit. ... and this doesn't even count the 109 ounces of silver with 1.5 grams of gold or the 98 meters of 1.2 grams or the disseminated gold next to Cerro Vanguardia.
No, there is nothing being held back from investors.
Due dilligence takes time. So does making any kind of deal which works for everyone in what I'm sure you would agree is a very, very tough environment.
IPJ and share buy back: Is this really what shareholders want Yamana to do with its money? I thought we were an exploration company whose focus is on wisely spending money in the right ground. Share buy-backs may have their place but as a way to temporarily boost the share price is not, in my view, a legitimate one.
Indonesia: As I've said, we like our Indonesian properties very much but we do not expect to say anything more until we have something specific and material.
I hope this (tirade?) helps to clarify a couple of things.
Greg |
