WHAT you NEED TO KNOW about the MINE/MILL.
I get pretty distracted when I’m in a crowd of people and want to talk to all of them, and as a result I TEND to loose focus of what I intended to do. Consider me a cross between the raccoon and the squirrel in the movie “Over the Hedge”. I APOLOGIZE IN ADVANCE for any deficiencies and anything that I may have left out that you wanted to know.
I sat with Vinman and JiffyJ at the meeting…….. also met GOACS, Belgie, baventu ,gold 1600, vonclair and exploreau….. (sorry if I missed your name and you were there too)……… for the amount of folks at the meeting there was a sizable representation of RB's GPXM board. The company asked for hands to see how many of us were there…….I didn’t turn around.
: )
Several of the employees along the way told me they actually pop in to see what’s going on here.
The meeting was SHORT AND SWEET........ THE Q&A WAS ALSO SHORT AND SWEET.
MOST of it was about the vote and disclaimers etc etc…….. introductions.......... then the vote with questions answered as to WHY we should vote YES.
I wasn't there to vote.......... I was there to get answers and I figured I'd get plenty of face time on the TOUR.
NOTE: I DIDN’T focus on talking with Rob Martin, on this trip as he has always been available for me when I needed questions answered. SO I focused on the folks that are advancing the mine and producing at the mill………. Spoke extensively with Corcy Anderson at the SHM……. Dave Tretbar, Earl Harrison and Craig Patrick at the Mine/Mill tour.
I DID mention that the common shareholders seemed to be left out of the picture and the concern about further dilution by adding MORE shares and the concern that the company would use them al NOW and only gain around 60 mil at current share prices.
The Company stated that for the cost of 48 million shares of additional dilution (in an undercapitalized position) they were able to save the company and advance the mine from near bankruptcy to production. They inherited 15 million in debt and 5 lawsuits . Almost all the legacy litigation and debt is settled or restructured.
The 250 mil share increase – the company stated they had NO immediate plans for the new shares and that they were needed to provide financial flexibility and prevent the company from become the prey of others. The company would rather be predator than prey...........
Incentive shares are needed to attract top talent - 50 mil preferred are to obtain higher $ and act as an anti-dilutive.
AS the company moves forward, they need employees that are EXPERIENCED PROVEN mine managers/miners. This will expedite the growth of the company from a one trick pony (which we basically are) to a growing company with increasing cash flow and a growing stable of mines and mining properties.
The company started the meeting and announced that they had 180 mil shares outstanding, and had accounted for and had votes for 123.4 mil shares from 4500 SMALL shareholders. IF you averaged that out amazingly it comes to 40K shares a person(180 mil/4500). You can imagine the nightmare that this company HAD trying to contact enough for a quorum.
The letter writing campaign is about to begin? MORE AGRESSIVELY. (heh heh we'll see......)
ARBITRATION IS IN THE DISCOVERYMOTION - ARBITRATOR IS RELATED TO RIP VAN WINKLE.
The company could not legally us the term ORE until last May..............
We couldn’t legally refer to our mineralization as ORE until last spring. Company joked about the DEA - we have shown a profit with no “legal” assets..........
As I began to talk to shareholders and the employees of the company MANY of the things that have been predominantly posted on the RB board appeared to me to be insignificant, UNSUPPORTED and even laughable.
IF you are here as a long term investor, aren’t worried about the short-term NOW is the time to back up the truck……IF you are a swing trader it’s yerass if you get caught on the wrong end of a swing.
The Mine is out in the middle of nowhere and the corner store is a long way away.
I was led to believe that despite the fact that it can get VERY cold out there at the Mill in the Winter (35 degrees on Saturday night) and that the wind chill is a factor. The weather is NOT a significant show stopper to production although apparently the ore can freeze due to the moisture content of the ore.
The mill is operating at full capacity 24/7 and is averaging 1-2 supersacks of moly a day on average. IF we have a “PERFECT” production month (30days @ 2SS) we are looking at 60 super sacks MAX until ANOTHER ball mill is installed. The company is currently looking at a few possibilities now (Dave mentioned 2 1800 ton ball mills they are checking out), BUT they may not be feasible depending on price/condition etc. etc.
I asked about the Lone Mountain Mill/property 15 mi. from Tonopah….. he said there may be some EPA issues there and that the mill/property is not feasible at this time and may never be.
The ball mill in it’s “original” condition was fitted with what the company felt was the “improper” liner pattern BUT needed to produce moly and cash flow BEFORE making repairs to it. In essence they KNEW it was just a matter of time before it was going to break. UNTIL NOW, the company has had to be REACTIVE in it’s business dealings to bring the mine/mill online and show a operating profit. NOW they can/have moved into a PROACTIVE stance and can pre-empt and plan out events. They HAVE the correct pattern and spare liners for the mill NOW. They implemented a 2 week inspection of the ball mill interior where they will shut down the ball mill crack the hatch cover, and inspect the interior for any problems that may need attention.
Dave Tretbar conducted the tour of the mill for the company and is employed by the Llc . Dave was well spoken and is PROACTIVLY motivated (as are the MINE crew and supervision). IF anyone is capable of extracting the MOST moly from the ore and increase recovery rates for less, I suspect it would be him/them along with Corby Anderson. Dave said the crew working the mill had to learn/be trained on processing the moly thru the mill, so there was a learning curve for the new employees as well as the experienced metallurgists as they stated up the mill and tweaked the operating efficiencies of the mill. He say’s they are all motivated, intelligent folks and he’s happy with the workforce there at the mill.
IF the ball mill ever goes down again it takes 2 hours to switch over to the tailings pond and obtain 85-95% recovery. IF you look at the photo of the tailings pond, you can SEE impressions of the hose used to process the tailings when the mill went down on the surface of the hard tailings. Permitting has bugun for a NEW tailings pond be done next year sometime in the spring . The current tailings pond is filling up quick with moly both in the water and tails(dry moly).
The mill has plenty of room to expand and as far as I can tell the company believes it’s the NEXT logical step. NO estimated date for expanding the mill, BUT it will need the ground leveled and a concrete pad poured. The crusher capacity exceeds the capacity of the mill and was idle while we were there. It DOESN’T run 24 7.
The mill is NOT subject to some of the encumbrances encountered by the mine because it is on private land out of BLM jurisdiction.
There is 30-45 days mill feed at the mill NOW that averages between 1 and 15% moly.
The NEXT thing you need to know is the current state of the mining business. Being CYCLICAL in nature the available workforce and mining equipment rises and falls. NEW equipment is OVERPRICED and a two year wait. Previously existing mining equipment dating back to the 1940s is STILL in use (our ball mill for instance). I forgot who said it but a lot of idle mining equipment in Nv was apparently bought refurbished and sold to China………..
The mine sits at altitude 2 miles from the mill looking at the mill from the mine it doesn’t seem that far. The ore goes downhill to the mill……..
There is moly on the surface of the property both above and below the KNOWN ore body.
The mine can OUT PRODUCE the mill AT WILL ………..NOW.
HOWEVER it is pointless to do so AS IT’S not cost effective. They stay 30 days a head and then go back to stope/scram development work.
As a result of the Utah mining accident priority is going to the establishment of a secondary escape. The geology of the moly rock is such that as it’s mined (or not) it tends to slide fracture. One of my samples actually did that as it was being handed to me…pieces just slid off sample….which drove home to be the true nature of the deposit. IT is greasy and shiney and has the color of pewter…….
There are currently 3 operating stopes, expected to increase to 6 before the end of the year.
The NEW employees are having a noticeable impact on production and ore body development at the mine due to their EXPERTISE in “chasing” veins. IT is the type of ore body they PREFFER to work.
There are crews of people working the mine that have been a TEAM and worked together at various mines for YEARS. SOME of our employees are 3 and 4th generation miners YET I was told that simply because you are family it doesn’t guarantee you a job because of the no nonsense and unforgiving nature of the business.
To BE VOUCHED INTO A MINING JOB is a HUGE compliment, basically because it means you’re COMPETENT, HARDWORKING and your PEERS are willing to put their LIVES in your hands.
The outcome of advancing this mine to it’s max capacity both in terms of profitability and reserve expansion has a huge inpact in the employees future employment prospects. ASIDE from the respect gained from the mining industry for being a part of such an operation, THIS will become part of their mining “résumé”. For a miner it is a huge feather in their cap to have the name of a successful mine attached to them.
These guys don’t take it lightly, and I am personally aware that some friends and family were not hired because IF you VOUCH for them and they do something stupid and someone gets hurt or killed your reputation as a miner goes down the drain……AND POSSIBLY YOUR FUTURE LIVELYHOOD.
The miners I spoke to told me they PREFFERED to work this type of deposit.
OUR company has acquired and hired people that KNOW this business…at BOTH the management/employee skill levels, we have COMPETENT KNOWLEDGEABLE PEOPLE.
Food at the barbeque was good for me but bad for the wife…..anyone else???
Brett (baventu) got to go in to the mine and do a video…… they are attempting to come up with a DVD or a website file shareholders. SO we will all get to appreciate WHAT is they are doing and the underground maneuvering issues associated with the type of ore body we have. If you LOOK at the pics of the Ashdown mine on the web page you can see some of the downdip mining drifts the timbering in the pics are the clue.
The process to evaluate/restart MR has begun this week. I was in a discussion with Jim (GOACS) and Craig Patrick about MR, and I was told that 2 years to MR production is TOO pessimistic. I told them that SO FAR and predictions for the company on the board as far as achieving various mining goals were on average 6-9 months out. Craig said he’d take that as a challenge. I told them to keep reminding themselves that I said they COULDN’T do it in under 2 years while they were out there at MR working. Earl Harrison WORKED the Mary mine before for another company.....................
The LAST 2 WEX employees are being released and or have quit………. Save the Llc rep…………
Sprott Shares
Sprott initiated the investment into GPXM with the intent of holding its shares, and have even expanded into holding molybdenum they acquired from Thompson Creek. They have no reason to sell shares at a loss, nor to short a market in which they paid more for the shares to begin with. They do have an incentive to see the share price rise as they hold a half warrant at 40 cents for each share purchased. Comparing stock prices for Adanac, Roca, Win-Eldrich and other moly mines , they have all corrected 40 to 50 % in the same time period. It is the company’s view that the summer mining correction, amplified by the mortgage lending scare is the reason for the decline in our shareprice.
Let me add that IF you had the warm fuzzy feeling that I got after doing this thing, you would be thanking your lucky stars that there is probably one last chance to acquire shares of the company at these price levels.
WE are in GOOD hands…………. |
