Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Gold/Mining/Energy : Century Mining Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tanoose who wrote (315)	12/8/2006 3:15:48 PM
From: longjonsilvers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 545

i found this on stockhouse: From the Investor Village CWEI Board - below is a discussion Northbeachfl2000 (who owns 830,000 CMM shares) had with Ms. Kent yesterday: Gold- Century Mining (TSEv:CMM) - Conversation with CEO - Peggy Kent Late yesterday afternoon, I spent roughly 1 1/2 hours on the phone with Peggy Kent - Century Mining's CEO. It was a very frank conversation that covered a lot of territory. Here are some of the highlights. My points to her: 1) As a result of the implications of the (recently failed) Pederosa deal, current investors lost faith in Ms. Kent's desire to protect existing shareholders in her quest to build a much larger enterprise thru dilutive acquisitions. The immediate result of this was a sell off in CMM's pps as existing shareholders headed for the exit. (I, for one, am quite happy the Pederosa deal never came to fruition.) 2) There are only 4 ways a CEO can communicate directly with his/her investors: (1) quarterly operating results; (2) press releases; (3) conference calls; and (4) company website content. CMM presently does none of them well. (a) CMM has never met its operating targets. This has to change. That's where Ms. Kent should spend her time right now - efficiently developing existing assets. (b) CMM's press releases are not particularly well thought out nor as informative as they could be. (c) There is no continuity between conference calls. What is mentioned in one CC as important is not even mentioned in the next. It is very important that she have notes in front of her re past CC's the next time she holds one. Keeping CMM's message tied together and coherent should be a priority if she wants to develop a loyal shareholder base. (d) The website needs a major overhaul since that is the starting point for any individual investor who does his own due dillegence. 3) Stop deluding yourself that you have potential "institutional" support or that the major banks/brokerage firms have a real interest in following your stock. Until your stock breaks out to new highs based on excellent operating results and known future prospects, that isn't going to happen - unless someone decides to buy you outright. Your stock's pps right now will be determined by your ability to deliver consistent, predictable increases in production, reserves, and FCF (per share); and by your ability to convince existing shareholders that you aren't going to dilute them to death. Positive word of mouth is your most important ally during this process. 4) Forget about doing any more M&A deals. You already own an immense array of development/exploration opportunities in Canada and Peru. Stick to them, and live within the budget constraints that your (now) positive CF provides. Growing slowly but predictably is not a bad thing. Come to grips with the fact that your stock is way to cheap on a valuation basis (when compared to your peers) to be used as a "currency" to grow CMM unless you want to dilute the hell out of current shareholders. By my calculation, CMM's pps has to rise at least fourfold from its current pps for this situation to change. 5) Take a hard look at Jaguar Mining (TSE:JAG) to see how things can get better for a small, unknown, growing gold producer who sticks to his knitting, lives within its internal means (and grows accordingly in a non dilutive fashion) and does not presently enjoy analyst support. 6) In real estate there are 3 rules: location, location, location. In corporations there are 3 rules: management, management, management. Right now you are viewed as the problem, not the assets that CMM owns. The market right now has no faith in your management abilities nor your ability/desire to protect existing shareholders from dilution, and CMM's current pps clearly reflects this. If you quit tomorrow and a competent operator (in the eyes of the market) was brought in to run CMM, your pps would at least double within a very short period of time. The only way this is going to change is for you to prove the market wrong over an extended period of time by delivering good operating results and by making as much of your reserve/resource base 43-101 compliant as possible while you do this. In short, concentrate on what's already on your plate vs what else is out there. Concentrate your efforts inside the company - not outside. 7) Because of the McWalters disaster running the Quebec properties (Sigma and Lamaque), many people in Toronto (who lost $150MM) are biased against having these properties listed again on the TSE. Don't worry about it. That will all change over time if you deliver solid results while growing production, reserves and RLI. Forget about listing in London or in the U.S. until you've clearly got CMM's ship heading in the right direction. As you can see, this was a very frank discussion, and surprisingly (to me) one that Ms. Kent apparently appreciated. In her response to my comments, she was very candid. During this conversation, it became very clear to me that she is one very smart woman with a type A personality. It was also very clear to me that she is receiving conflicting advice regarding how CMM should proceed from bankers, brokerages, analysts and institutional investors. I found most of this advice (as she related it to me) to basically be nonsensical (and I told her so), because it clearly did not reflect the realities of how a resource stock appreciates in value - the triple whammy - growing production and reserves/share, increasing commodity price, and expanded market valuation multiples. Since I already own 830K shares of this stock personally (avg cost C$1.13), I don't plan on buying more for my own account. However, I do plan on increasing the amount of CMM stock my children own. The risk/reward is just too compelling - particularly in light of this conversation with Ms. Kent. Could she be just stroking me? Absolutely, but I don't think so. In any event, the proof of her sincerity will be in her actions going forward. The three things that I'm looking for are no new acquisitions, a new tradition of underpromising and overdelivering in regards to quarterly operating results, and increasing reserves/resources that are 43-101 compliant. Time will tell whether this happens or not. My money remains on the side that it will.