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Gold/Mining/Energy : SOUTH AFRICAN MINING -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (314)	10/4/1998 11:08:00 AM
From: sea_urchin	Respond to of 472

Th' latess fum Durban Deep --- fo' th' benefit of th' folks down Noo Orleans way. Durban Deep pulls out th' stops DURBAN Roodeporet Deep's management team embarks on an internashunal roadshow this hyar weekend as th' market capitalisashun hovahs above R1-billion - not bad fo' a mine closed down three years ago by earlier management. Unner right direckshun, th' mentality has shif'ed fum shetdown through survival t'growth. Th' team will hoof it to th' Denvah gold cornference an' then t'Noo Orleans. Some 55% of th' group's equity is owned in South Car'lina an' 4% in Europe, wif th' balance in SA. Chairman Roger Kebble's message is thet th' compenny has fine assets, soun' operashuns, a strong management team unner Ichabod Prinsloo an' a clear growth strategy. He aims Durban Deep t'be th' preferred investment vehicle among low-grade miners. "We will focus on marginal operashuns as this hyar is whar we kin add bess value," says Kebble. Th' misshun now looks postible: t'be th' wo'ld's largest, best, growth o'iented, low-grade gold prodoocer. Eff'n negotiashuns t'buy o' inter a joint venture wif Avgold's Hartebeestfontein does not pan out, Durban Deep will look elsewhar t'retch its targit of 1.2-million ounces a year an' a top 10 wo'ld placin'- current produckshun is 645 000oz. "Gold Fields might spill a few crumbs our way an' we is talkin' t'ERPM about some assets." Kebble notes thet while th' past couple of years haf been tough, Durban Deep is now fine outta survival mode. "Th' rise in th' ran' gold price has given us an oppo'tunity t'plan - sumpin we've nevah had befo'e." Costs - $510/oz a year ago - haf been brought below $300/oz, o' R80-million a quarter, an' limited hedgin' lif'ed income in th' June quarter. Kebble'd like hedgin' t'unnerpin marginal ounces an' th' capital programme mainly required at Crown, as enny fool kin plainly see. Durban Roodeporet Deep wholly owns th' mines Blyvore, Buffels, Durban Deep an' Wess Wits, it recently inco'po'ated th' dump retreatment operashuns of Crown Consolidated, an' it has a stretch of blue sky in th' Argonaut projeck. Argonaut is th' name given t'th' area down dip of th' Durban Deep mine, th' entire projeck area spreadin' 30km t'jest east of ERPM. Surface access is postible fum old shaf's along th' entire reef but sub-vahtical shaf's o' declines'd be needed t'retch resarves fum 2 400m t'5 000m deep. Durban Deep is th' smalless of three SA gold miners corntributin' t'th' R54-million Deepmine projeck, in which 16 elements of ultra-deep minin' will be researched at ejoocayshunal insteetooshuns throughout SA an' elsewhar. Private fundin' an' indestry will etch pick up a third of th' tab. Well bust mah britches an' call me streaker. A pre-feasibility study of Argonaut infers 52-million tons of resarves at 8.6g/t an' a fundin' proposal will be finalised af'er shareholders is consulted, cuss it all t' tarnation. Kebble knows shareholders is divided on th' projeck. A 3-dimenshunal seismic survey an' drillin' of surface bo'eholes will be unnertaken in th' next two years t'give a bankable feasibility study wifin 30 months. Phase 2 will involve strippin' an' re-equippin' existin' shaf's an' minin' shaller resarves while developin' t'th' sub-shaf' posishun, which will be sunk in phase 3. "Argo c'd be a-comin' on stream 6 o' 8 o' 10 years fum now when both th' wo'ld's an' SA's gold produckshun take a smack. Shet mah mouth! It c'd be a nice filler fo' SA," says Kebble. Wif 18-million ounces of gold in situ already above th' pay limit, Durban Deep has other blue-sky prospecks, not least of which is "limitless" resarves eff'n th' gold price climbs further. Wawk is bein' done on th' Western Deep Levels tribute, on th' Bird Reef at Durban Deep mine, on surface dumps at Buffels an' Blyvore as fine as on surface san' an' slime at all th' operashuns. "We haf 16 projecks which will be up an' runnin' in three months," says Prinsloo. In addishun t'Deepmine, Durban Deep is also participatin' in th' Amanzi projeck (fo'merly Swamp) t'solve th' water problems in th' entire Wits basin, as enny fool kin plainly see. Kebble'd like t'see Durban Deep maintain a 10% cash operatin' margin an' build up three months of wawkin' costs as cash covah (aroun' R280-million). Shareholders sh'd not speck a dividend until these objeckives haf been retched; thar is now about R90-million an' th' ho'izon is 18 months. Durban Deep has outperfo'med th' gold index in th' past few months an' is currently R22.50. It is th' kind of share t'reack quickly an' sharply t'changes in th' gold price, so fo' gold bulls an' traders, this hyar is it.

To: sea_urchin who wrote (314)	10/4/1998 1:29:00 PM
From: James Pearson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 472

Bonjour Searle, I have the following question for you... You said «You can see why I am so apprehensive of investing in the low-grade, old gold mines which are, by necessity, labor intensive. That's why Mr Kebble & Co is really sailing against the wind.» As I have always had a lot of respect for your thoughts I would greatly appreciate reading your evaluation of Rangy with regards to the following question: Are Rangy's operations, as a whole, more or less labor intensive than those of Durban ?

To: sea_urchin who wrote (314)	10/4/1998 2:54:00 PM
From: .Trev	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 472

As usual your comments are perceptive and pertinent . Thanks. They also confirm what I had only suspected, that the exploration venture was a bit out of sync for Iscor.Probably they took $3 million out of petty cash for a bit of a flutter. The properties involved are in PNG and the Solomon Islands.Probably to Iscor's frustration the money is being spent very slowly and very carefully. I can well understand what you mean about exporting ore and buying back finished product, it's a parallel situation to what has gone on here for years in the forest industry with raw logs leaving Vancouver by the boat load and coming back in as finished plywood. Once again the Sat Financial Post is full of LTCM and it's machinations and ramifications. Actually in a way I'm glad New York has reclaimed it's title as the "Scam Capital of the World" from Vancouver. After Millican and Millicent I won't trust any future Millipedes that come along. Not that I got caught by either of them. Like you I tend to stick to home turf. There's also a full page in the Post on Mandela's sales pitch for investment (from Canada) in SAf TO BUILD A WORLD OF PEACE AND HARMONY. As for you, I never did find out what brand name was supposed to be on THAT BOTTLE but I bet you drink dekaffirnated coffee. Happy Trails