I too was at the Calgary presentation. I liked the simplicity and lack of glitz. I felt I was getting a look at the people in management the way they really are. There was obvious tension between Jens and the Calgary-based consulting geologist on Toodoggone, Hawkins or whatever his name is. Jens is a bit like the "mad geologist", completely dedicated and excellent in his field, but awkward in terms of social graces and protocol. He pissed Hawkins off with his interruptions, which were well intended, and Hawkins did indicate there were differences in opinion on where to drill next in B.C. This could have been avoided with more preparation. It was obvious that Hawkins hadn't seen the slides he was to speak about before the presentation and his personality is the opposite of Jens. I felt Southward and Gray were up-front and honest. I was impressed with the sensitivity toward maintaining strong relationships with the locals and government officials. There's a lot of experience there and I left feeling management knew what it was doing. As you described in the Edmonton conference, they started by reviewing their projects and the management structure.
Ojalali: Pre-feasibility to be completed this year. A third of the assays on Jambi and Tambang remain to be announced and Dennis said it could be another month or two. Airbornes and sampling are beginning on the rest of the property but they won't drill until they have a COW in hand (2-3 months?). Dennis said there were 100 people on the job in Indonesia. He said they've gone from 6 rigs to 3, now 2 and maybe 1. He told me about Barrick identifying four sites of 3M oz. each on the property and that they have Barrick's report. In my layman's opinion, I think there's little doubt that this is an economic deposit. What concerns me is how will they bring it into production. Dennis prides himself as a good operator and seems determined to operate any exploration property ANZ is involved with. Where do they get the money? Will his ego get in the way of shareholder value? I think he's too old for that but I'm sure he'll try to keep control.
Toodoggone: They have identified 13 lo-grade/hi-grade target areas and are using a contrarian technical philosophy when applied to all the previous exploration done up there. They earn 55% after spending $5M, $3.5M spent so far, and can buy another 5% for $4.5M. Hawkins called it a semi-massive sulphide deposit and is spending the winter trying to put together a study that combines all previous drilling by other companies in addition to their own in order to make the best drilling site selection later this year. There does seem to be a difference in opinion in that regard between geologists, but I consider that healthy, even if it's mildly embarassing in public. This project, IMHO, looks hopeful with the creek results but they will have to do things that no other company has done up there in order to be economic. There is a chance.
Erin Ventures: Dennis said Erin management had been in Yugoslavia and that he hadn't spoken with them recently. He said he would be in contact with them this weekend. He referred to the borax project at least twice as the object of discussion, stating that he thought it would self-finance, that ANZ would only make the deal if it was in the best interests of shareholders and that ANZ was the operator.
The only other relevant details I can recall were statements like we're into " corporate juggling to not exhaust the finances ", " Jones Gable is the pro on the stock " and Southward seemed pleased with them though some shareholders weren't , and " while we've been asked to be the operator of the Coleville diamond property in Venezuela we aren't interested until certain people are off the Coleville board ". Also, Peter indicated the ANZ website would be up at the end of next week. What all this means for the share price I don't know. Obviously there's good management and good properties but a tough environment and not a lot of money. Hope this helps. |
