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Gold/Mining/Energy : Gold and Silver Juniors, Mid-tiers and Producers -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: siempre33 who wrote (65631)	6/8/2009 9:19:28 PM
From: Earlie	5 Recommendations Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 78411

Hi Siempre33: "The devil is in the details". (g) Let's take a look at a few items. First of all, a bit of Ventana history. - Ventana started trading in November of 2007. - The company acquired land adjacent to GSL's Agnostura property (which is drilled on 25 meter centers and is now a "proven" reserve). Does it take rocket science to examine Greystar's public domain maps and note the orientation and depths of the gold veins where they exit GSL's property? Only thing is..... the property line ends where the terrain drops away rather precipitously... with attendant added operational drilling and mining costs. So far, Ventana appears to have positioned its 2 drill rigs such that good results can be obtained, while slowly following the veins away from Greystar's property line. - Ventana announced a "New gold discovery" in June of 2008 (i.e., a year ago). Grades were good. The territory drilled at that point was still rather close to the Greystar property line and the drilling was spaced at 25 to 100 meters apart (i.e., fairly close together). - In December 2008, additional drill results were provided and the grades were still rather good. - In February and March, 2009, we got more drill results... and the grades were still solid. The company is now employing 3 drills. Recently, we received more drill results and again, the grades were good. Not to be picky, but a look at the Ventana map still indicates drilling that is fairly intensive over a rather small area. Ok, enough on history.... except to note that it is a very short history. Now to broader avenues. Some folks are comparing Ventana's "intersects" (multi-gram) with Greystar's AVERAGE GRADE (over a gram) for its entire Angostura property. I wonder what Ventana's "average grade" would look like..... even if one examined only its current small concentrated drilling area? (Note: Greystar has hundreds of intersects that are similar to those announced by VEN). If one is investing, it is also worth taking the time to examine the terrain explored by each company. Ventana is drilling in demanding topography (a canyon) where the drilling is not easy and where the mining would be difficult. Greystar's Agostura property encompasses more hospitable terrain. In fact, GSL's mining will take place via open pit. Ventana's current "discoveries" would likely require underground mining (and that only IF the results continue to be positive). This means that there are significant differences in future operating costs that would have to be considered. Have a look at Greystar's stripping ratio as an example and compare it with what Ventana's might be. Greystar has been drilling this area for close to 12 years. It has employed 9 drill rigs for several of those years. It now has a "proven" resource of 15 million ounces that will be mined at relatively low cost. It will take years before Ventana will be in this league..... and that will depend on the company's ability to raise the dough for the required drilling. (That said, I would be the first to say that Mr. Beatty certainly is one of the very best at raising dough"). Greystar also has its feasibility study well progressed whereas again it will be years before Ventana will be able to consider starting one. To provide but one example of the importance of this, we have no idea of what Ventana's oxide-to-sulfide ratio is (or might be), whereas we do know what GSL's ratio is. That ratio is important (especially with respect to early stage cash flow). Greystar has The World Bank as a lending partner. The World Bank will be providing $150.0 million towards the $600.0 million dollars required to fund Greystar's mining facilities.... and has assured GSL that it will bring other similar lenders to the table. I would be dumbfounded if Greystar has difficulty raising the sums required. Another point.... GSL will commence construction of its mine/mill production facilities in the near term. By the time Ventana has a proven resource would it make sense for VEN to also construct similar facilities? Indeed, would it be possible for Ventana to raise such sums when GSL's facilities are nearby and operational? Might Ventana (if it ends up with a decent "proven reserve") not be under pressure to sell its raw ore to GSL or to have GSL treat that ore? Time will tell. Final item: GSL has just released drilling results obtained on one of its other properties. The results look promising. I wonder what Greystar's reserves will look like a year or two from now? In summary, I think Ventana is one of the very best promoted situations I have ever seen and I say that as a compliment (there are times when I wish David Rovig of Greystar wasn't quite so determined NOT to promote but over the long run, his low profile approach makes sense). Should be fun for sure, as both companies are centrally located in what appears to be a burgeoning "gold camp". Which one to buy? Not an easy choice. On the one hand, you have brilliant promotion from a guy who has an established record for creating and selling off (at huge profits) successful mining enterprises. Additionally, he is posting solid drill results. On the other hand, Ven's market cap exceeds GSL's even though it is just getting started. Maybe a bit of Ven for adventurous fast-paced trading and GSL for the longer haul (or a near term "buy-out"?) Best, Earlie -