From J. Taylor's website:
Last week International Precious Metalsÿ announced that it had raised $1.25 million through an interim financing. One million shares were placedÿ with overseas investors at $1.25 and carry an attached warrant exerciseable at $1.25 on or before 3 December 1998.ÿ The company still plans to raise the additional capital that was previously announced in its November 14th press release. Proceeds from the interim financing will be utilized as working capital in order to continue the development work on the Black Rock project.
Alan Doyle also announced that all aspects of the company's project are progressing well, especially the development of an assay procedure that will quantify the platinum group of metals.
On Wednesday of this past week, your editor and a number of other investors and fund managers visited the office of International Precious Metals.ÿÿ Then, on Thursday evening I was honored to meet personally with several members of IPM's senior management team. A more detailed summary of my views from my personal meeting as well as the group meeting is provided on this week's weekly hotline message.
Maxam Gold Corporation, also told a group of investors about their project in Arizona.ÿ I was very impressed with the level of detailed work carried out by this company and the extensive data they had available to show us.ÿ This was the first time I met Dick Hewlett who is basically the scientific brains behind the Maxam process. His professional credentials are about as impressive as any you will ever see.ÿ I was also impressed by Max Cooley who will operate the Maxam project.ÿ Max held very responsible positions in managing projects in the past and I believe him to be a very capable.
ÿ Maxam made a host of very positive announcements last week. For example, reverse circulation drilling validation confirmed head ore gold grades of between 0.052 oz./ton gold and 1.014 oz. gold/ton. The company also announced that a high grade zone scoredÿ 0.346 oz. gold/ton and that 1.4 million tons of this higher grade ore exist on the property.ÿ The existence of platinum has also been confirmed according to management and management also stated that it believes it may be able to establish a commercial ore body to a depth of 99 ft.ÿ The 99 ft. level is being discussed mostly because of the simplicity of the permitting process to a depth of 99 ft. Below that level, the permitting process becomes much more difficult. Based on work carried out to date, management has said that it expects to use a chlorine/Bromine leaching process for recovery of gold, silver and platinum.
Earlier this year, the company targeted October 15, 1997 as its target startup date for commercial production.ÿÿ Chairman Dale Runyon stated that if gold and silver were the only targeted minerals for recovery, that date would have been met. However, Mr. Runyon stated that Maxam has also targeted the removal of various toxic elements such as lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury.ÿ By so doing, Maxam believes it can avoid more costly permitting for the handling of these metals that are left behind. At the same time, since markets exist for these elements, Mr. Runyon believes Maxam can generate revenue from the sale of these toxic metals.
ÿÿÿÿ With respect to all these rosy projections, I deeply hope Maxam can pull it off.ÿ However, I would like to caution subscribers that most industry experts are very skeptical about the company's ability to succeed along the lines it is projecting especially when it comes to the economic removal of the toxic elements.ÿ I would also like to caution you to understand that, unlike IPM, Maxam has no 3rd party verification of its assays or its process.ÿ Now I have the highest regard for the integrity of Maxam's management, so I am absolutely sure that the company means everything it is saying. What I do mean to say is that almost everything is hinging one man, namely Richard Hewlett. Perhaps Maxam can pull off production as projected but that would be unusual in the most straight forward projects which almost never go as planned.ÿ A complicated and new process such as Maxam is projecting is likely to run into more than the normal number of hitches as it commences production, especially since there is no 3rd party verification.ÿ Still, I like this company very much and therefore suggest an allocation of up to 5% is warranted for speculative portfolios, with the understanding that you may be required to tie up capital longer than you think in the search for above normal returns.ÿ Call Dale Runyon at (309) 699-8725 or All Hubbard at (602) 314-4907 for additional information. |
