Gingerich at Parliament Gingerich addressed the Standing Committee of Natural Resources at the Canadian Parliament in October 2011. Easiest way to find the full transcript is to google "John Gingerich Canadian Parliament," the transcript should be the first result. He's a lot more honest and pessimistic than he is in press releases. Highlights:
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Regulatory difficulties:
" We have a four-month season, and often if we come up with a target, it takes over four months to get a permit to put a drill on the site. That adds to our costs. Time delays are a serious impediment. That's an area in which the government can make changes."
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Cost of exploration in Nunavut:
"This is to illustrate the fact that Canada is the major source of exploration dollars, but most of what you will see will actually probably end up in the lower provinces. Quebec and Ontario are the two number one attractions for most of that money. Nunavut has seen a fair amount of increase of late, but we're forgetting that their operating costs are four to ten times higher, so the effectiveness of that dollar is much reduced."
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Power issues:
"One thing I'd like to bring up is that we're seeing that on the power issue. It is a huge impediment. I'd like to point out how we're seeing the high costs being generated in power."
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Gingerich's solution to Nunavut's energy problems, and possible new energy company spin-out, is barge-based LNG power plants:
"These are coastal communities, so barging and these types of solutions could be out of what we call our beta sites and would lead to solutions that not only could be applied to Canada's north, but would lead to a business that could be sold around the world. We actually did our white paper on this and realized that there was a group looking at Indonesia that had 78 barge-based power plant opportunities at 50 megawatts apiece. That's about an $8-billion business."
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Also, a nuclear plant in Nunavut! This guy will talk about anything:
"Clearly, I think small nuclear has potential."
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On AXI's relationship with investors, and how he's having trouble raising cash:
" I can't get a permit for four months. My season is only four months long, so this forces me to lose a year in exploration. My investors, who are looking, of course, at a return on capital, need news. They need to see the upside if I am to go back to raise new capital. It's impossible to meet the investor requirements now, because another company will say, “Why don't you go south where you can operate more efficiently? It's a problem."