Just posted on the GPXM website at www.golden-phoenix.com by Rob Martin, who was today named President.
THE REAL DEAL
Robert P. Martin
President
As a longtime shareholder, and now an Officer, of Golden Phoenix, I feel fortunate. In an age of hype and bluster, our company is proud to be grounded in everyday reality. As many of our loyal co-owners know, we have rebounded during these last two years and begun the steady climb back to legitimacy. This transformation-in-process has taken hard work and determination on the part of management. And it has taken patience and willingness-to-trust on the part of our shareholders. I’m sure its taken a bit of luck as well.
But none of this would have been possible if Golden Phoenix did not have a majority stake in a patch of the Nevada outback known as Ashdown. This four square mile chunk of mountain was a legacy that appears to be unique in the world; for it hosts what I believe could be the richest narrow-vein deposit of molybdenite presently known to man.
And this is why I feel blessed. For in our Ashdown Project LLC’s hands, and under its control, is a body of mineralization that represents the springboard for our company.
As we continue to get to know our mine, we are finding the vein we call ‘Sylvia’ to be as rich as past records indicated. Pinching and swelling between roughly three-and-eight feet thick, this wide plate of mineralization has yielded samples grading 10%, 20%, occasionally even 45%, elemental molybdenum. In a world where the typical moly mine might average three-to-six pounds Mo per ton, our southern vein resource averages 34 pounds. In the area that we are currently mining, we have samples grading over 100, 200, even 300 pounds Mo per ton.
Let’s pause to consider what that means. A ton of mineralized material containing 300 pounds of Mo would have an equivalent value of 10 ounces of gold. Even given the routine losses due to rock dilution, milling and smelting, this represents a bonanza-grade material to make even an old Comstock sourdough sit up and take notice. So while Golden Phoenix considers itself, first-and foremost, a precious metals company (and is proud to own its Mineral Ridge gold and silver property), our Ashdown mine more than lives up to that “precious” designation. It is, in three simple words, the real deal.
For me, being the real deal implies several of things. First of all, moly is not a flashy metal. It is a soft, grayish mineral that is rarely used in its pure form. Moly is one of those substances that no one needs a lot of, but everyone needs a little of. It makes stainless steel stainless, it makes oil and gas pipelines corrosion-proof, it makes industrial tools hard, and it makes friction slippery. Recently, it has found new and growing uses as a catalyst in fuel cells and a stabilizer in nuclear fuel rods. You can’t drill an oil well or build a ballistic missile without it. So it has a strategic significance to every modern nation on earth.
Which brings me to the second reason I consider Ashdown the real deal. Recently, China imposed a 16% export duty on everything molybdenum. China is a net importer of moly and it would appear they want to hold onto all they have. So the world price for moly has continued to remain strong over the past year, stabilized in the mid-20 dollar range, and may remain at historically high levels through 2007, according to industry leaders. What better metal to build our future on at Golden Phoenix. And what better time to do it.
And lastly, Ashdown is, for me, the real deal because we are finally producing a product and shipping it. Our first full shipment left last week, and over the next several of months we will be ramping up the rate of production. We now join the ranks of producing moly mines as the world’s newest and perhaps its richest.
So if anyone asks you why I feel fortunate to be a small part of this emerging company, feel free to tell them: Its because Golden Phoenix has positioned itself to be the real deal. |
