RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:Blow Your MindJust trying to recap the discussions and providing a few comments.
- The Century NI report dated June 2009 shows some impressive number, over 5.5Moz Au.
- Micron, under a court order to produce an RE in a short period of time, came up with a more conservative number, 2.44 MozAu, in Aug 2011 with a caveat that the RE could be increased if they had more time to analyze the data.
- Deloitte, Fall 2013, in the bankrupt documentation, listed Micon RE of 2.44 MozAu.
- ICG website: Slide 16 of Dec Corp Presentation listed the same number, i.e. 2.44 MozAu for Sigma.
Comments:
1. The discussion on Sigma RE is relevant to the exploration activity for Lamaque/Sigma Deep project on the north side of the current focus of ICG management "Lamaque Gold Project" which does not include the Lamaque/Sigma Deep exploration. Their website under "Projects" seems to send the signal that only Triangle and satellite deposits are important. The rest is just trimming.
2. In fact they should have added another heading under the Tab Projects "Lamaque/Sigma Deep' with some kind of description. Deloitte report is a good starting point. ICG can talk about the 2.44 MozAu for Sigma (they could include Century RE as well) and their "speculation" of 0.220 Moz for the West Plug and 1.6 Moz for the Main Plug (Lamaque) extension. Apparently, there are some drill data for the Main Plug (Fig 11 of Deloitte report, those green traces, with one reaching ~1830m deep) and the drilling was done from stopes coming from Sigma (at ~1250m level). So, the two separate companies were cooperating?
2. In addition, ICG can enlighten investors their current program on their study/analysis of the data above the 400m at Sigma. As of 2013, the water level (see Figure 11 of Deloitte report) was at ~250m below the surface. With some dewatering (at a rate of 1 foot/day, or 0.3m/day) by now the water level should be below 400m, and perhaps the bottom of shaft #2 (~470m) is now dry. By now, management would have a prteey good idea how much stuff they can get out of Sigma from those near-surface stopes (0.2 - 0.3 Moz, or more?). Such details (can workers and machinery go down to 400m to refurbish the stopes and to get samples?) would be of interest to investors.
3. As I look at it, ICG consists of two parts
- The Lamaque Gold Project: This is the front engine pulling the choo choo to production. That's fine for management to put the blinkers on to fucus straight ahead in a narrow path...but
- The Lamaque/Sigma Deep, etc: This is the back engine that push that choo choo along the exploration path. From what we have seen, the ounces are there, in the ground, and it's in the millions, could be in the order of 10Moz. The top 400m is just a "sratch on the (near) surface" (about 20% of the depth of Sigma deepest shaft). Granted that it's something that management can confirm with a bit of elbow grease using existing/available near surface infrastructure, but the rest of the RE as it's currently known and the current exploration program (only 1 drill for the wedge holes?) should be prominently displayed on ICG webpage. This is simply good PR for the company.
- BTW, just a thought...would there be a possibility for ICG to split itself into 2 pure entities, one for production and the other one for exploration?
GH