I was reading the 1995 Annual report last night and it is interesting to note that for fiscal year 1994, Claude produced over 50,000 ozs. of gold. In 1995, the amount dropped to 44,000 ozs., explained, I believe, largely due to problems with processing and a lower grade of ore being refined. I was pleasently surprised when I read that one of Claude's goals was to produce 150,000 ozs. per year by 2000. When I spoke to Neil McMillan, a few weeks ago, he indicated that management was pleased with the progress they were making.
Certainly in their favour are excellent process facilities with under-utilized potential, a good work-force, and excellent existing deposits which consistently show higher grades. These factors should contribute favourably to decreasing production costs. Also, there are additional revenues from oil and gas interests that make this play interesting (appx. 2 million annually).
Although CRJ realized some "extraordinary" costs in 1996, I think that over the next year they should see some positive gains, provided of course that the POG fights back to the $370 level. My 2 cents, Best Regards,
Mike |
