RE: RE: June 27 interview with Brent Cook Brent Cook is one of a kind. He is a skilled geologist who covers the junior mining sector and takes a realistic/skeptical view of the entire sector. He is modest in his approach, suggesting that what he does is make educated guesses as to what will happen based on what he has seen in the past. He has made a some comments about VTR in particular. I think he would be the first to say that no one should take his word as gospel on any particular project. His comments on VTR as far as I can see have only addressed the Kiaka project. Someone here, Explorer14 I think, had an email from him too. But I believe he is on record as watching the results for Kiaka South with interest, suggesting that good results could make the entire Kiaka project economical. I understand that he is very selective and he might cover hundreds of stocks and his portfolio may only have around ten at a time. So I think it is a good sign that someone of his calibre is watching Kiaka south with some interest.
We have good geologists employed by VTR as well. And geologists who have a long history working in West Africa. I like the story of gold mining in West Africa. Brent Cook does not seem particularly enthralled by West Africa.
The comment I found most interesting in this most recent article was that he does not see where the new speculative money comes from. I think it is closer at hand than anyone realizes, and the shareholders, retail and otherwise, who left the sector in the last year and a half are waiting on the sidelines, and it is my sense that they will be prepared to re-enter the market. He seems to think that having seen or experienced the carnage the same investors/traders that drove our market higher will not re-enter the market again. Possibly, but I have never thought that. And the reason of course that so many entered the junior gold mining market in the first place was the price of gold. The reason so many left was a fear that the price of gold was going to fall dramatically. Assuming that does not occur, I say we see a return of those same investors to the sector.
The economics of the Kiaka project are there. Brent Cook himself has said, I believe, that anything less than $700.00 opex is going to be looked at by a major. But his point is valid and it applies to Volta: if the economics and the numbers are so impressive, why no take-over bid from the majors. There are majors afterall with lots of cash looking for good projects.
I think that VTR is still a work in progress, and our numbers are going to get better both in terms of increasing the ounces of gold and reducing costs. Currently, VTR is priced as though the junior gold market sector is a lost cause, and the Kiaka project will never get off the ground. So with any kind of positive news on the macro or the micro front I believe we will see a substantial increase in our share price.
To some extent people who study these small companies, such as Brent Cook, can be viewed as art lovers studying pieces of art. At the end of the day, you intuitively like a company's projects and it strikes a chord with you - or not. I like most things about Volta and I am excited about the Kiaka project and I think our best days as shareholders are yet to come.