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Gold/Mining/Energy : Maxam Gold Corp. OBB:MXAM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Larry Brubaker who wrote (6151)	10/17/1998 9:01:00 AM
From: Richard Mazzarella	Respond to of 11603

Larry, what is COC? Is COC having a hired consultant who retains control of the ore to metal reduction? If that's the case, some of Maxam's results hold. If your COC (and my COC) means hiring a consultant specifically to do the COC, only the COC, and then go away, yes there have been problems. Let's look at some of the problems. Naxos had high COC numbers that couldn't be replicated. Maxam had recovery COC that had instrumentation problems. Does that mean we should now reject all COC? That could be one conclusion. COC hasn't the panacea we all desire. I agree that the ideal situation would be a report from a company on OPT that are then confirmed by COC, but until then the whole investment situation depends on whether one trusts company competence and management. After suffering with the desert dirts over the last couple of years it has become clear to me that there are "special" technical issues that cause problems. If the solutions to these problems were so obvious, Barrick would be mining the desert. The formula for probable success is a joint probability where each probability element must be satisfied very close to 100%, a tough nut. First there must be a reliable assay. We have seen assay evolution to where it's probability is now high. Maxam has shown they have an efficient recovery leach and is currently working on the absorber end of recovery. The probability for successful recovery is becoming greater every day. There is also the issue of metals location. Tim has said many times that a company will never be successful in metal extraction if it doesn't understand the mineralogy. Maxam is working on that with its paleo-channel mapping technology, IMO that will always be work in progress. Only in the last year has Maxam appreciated the paleo-channel issue, it would be easy for any COC to miss good dirt without that knowledge (BRX a case in point?). So what is Maxam doing to hedge its joint probability bet? It will use its mapping technology to find the highest grade area at Peoria. That with the BLM watching and COC in that area should hedge their bet where the success probability is very high. I'm convinced that we soon will see just the COC you and I desire. As soon as the resource is audit proved with COC, MXAM could be fully valued for that resource in the ground. I still trust Maxam management enough to believe we will be successful. I guess the issue for investors is if they want to speculate now with the stock price low or wait and pay more as the resource is proved. IMO multiples only come from believing and investing in something before the crowd does. I'm still happy with my Maxam investment average of $0.4+ because I still expect multiples from there, I can wait for those gains. Others may not be as comfortable with an investment here for lots of reasons, I respect that. I know you have always been fair and honest in your posts. Perception however is the engine for speculation. Perceptions can't always be proved and can be wrong. I have my bet on the table.