BAMAKO, Mali – This is intelligence from our two-week-plus tour of West Africa.
I spent most of the trip with a successful North America geologist and a European/South Africa asset manager.
1. Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM, Stock Forum) might branch further into iron ore in Guinea, attendees at a conference there intimated. I have no confirmation from Newmont. The metal is near the top of the list in terms of favourable demand-supply forces. The nation of Guinea has signalled it is willing to facilitate the nation’s rich iron ore deposits. Right now, Newmont’s Guinea interests include a joint venture with BHP Billiton on an early-stage iron project located near the border with Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. The buzz when we were tooling around Sierra Leone, looking at diamonds, was about West Africa Iron Ore (TSX: V.WAI, Stock Forum), a relatively new Canada-traded entity.
2. A number of looming gold producers, or current ones, are hitting bumps in the road to steady mill output that meets internal and external objectives. Mill issues often develop when companies have to deal with refractory ore or other metallurgical issues. Some folks were sceptical that Perseus Mining (TSX: T.PRU, Stock Forum) will get a smooth start and accomplish target grades for kick-off in a month or so at its Central Ashanti Gold Project in Ghana. VP of Exploration Kevin Thomson at Perseus is busy writing the company’s next chapter. “We resume drilling in Cote d'Ivoire next week,” he told me.
3. One investor told me the metals equities are getting knocked about because investors want to see looming producers, among them Osisko Mining (TSX: T.OSK, Stock Forum) in Quebec, reach their stated standards of recoverability, stripping ratios and daily tonnage. Lots of equity has been raised, and debt sold, to get fresh plants producing on several continents. Osisko shares have outpaced gains in nearly all near-term gold producers planet-wide. So a lot is riding on a smooth start to its Malartic Gold Project.
4.Canaco Resources (TSX: V.CAN, Stock Forum) is one of many prospectors these cruel May days that is stating potent assays, in this case in Tanzania. That is in East Africa. Still, like nearly all prospectors, Canaco’s shares, traded in Canada, ARE WELL BELOW their highs. Speaking of Tanzania, one West Africa prospector, I am told, is considering a spinoff of Tanzania assets into a separate Canada-traded company. No confirmation from the company: Midlands Minerals (TSX: V.MEX, Stock Forum), whose Ghana property at Sian near the city of Nkawkaw I just visited. See related articles. CEO Kim Harris, a Canadian Ghanaian, recently hired VP of Exploration Tom Neelands, a Canada-trained veteran of Africa whom we met in Ghana. (Photo: Tom, at left, with exploration manager Wilson Baaku and consultant Willy Gyapong from SAMEX, at Sian project in Ghana – Thom Calandra photo)
5. I ran into the new Liberia oil minister while I was in Accra, Ghana. Christopher Neyor was getting ready to use the gym at the Holiday Inn Accra. Mr. Neyor says we will be seeing lots of envoys from the National Oil Company of Liberia, of which he is chief executive, coming to Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.
6. I met with exploration manager Sam Torkornoo of Pelangio Exploration (TSX: V.PX, Stock Forum). He, VP of Exploration Warren Bates and CEO Ingrid Hibbard are drilling all out for fresh discoveries at their Ghana properties. I like this company more and more as I begin to understand what it really means to swing for the fences in gold exploration. “We put a lot of trust in our local team,” says Ms. Hibbard from Canada. Mr. Torkornoo is a trained geologist (Ghana) and holds an MBA from Germany.He worked on Keegan’s Esaase gold project.
7. Finally, I was impressed with our visit to PMI Gold (TSX: V.PMV, Stock Forum) in Ghana. PMI at its Obotan project at Nkran has a load of data coming in the next few weeks. The company has completed 56 diamond drill holes there with 25 holes so far reported – lots of two-grams and three-grams gold in multiple bands of what could be rich and extensive rock. PMI and country manager Neil Macfarlane have managed to work three rigs at the property. Most Ghana (and Mali) exploration companies these days are working with just one rig.
NOTES: I am in West Africa (Mali currently after a visit to a Sierra Leone diamond project and then several Ghana gold companies). (See articles.) I am traveling with a well-known geologist and a global asset manager. Of companies cited in this article, I own none. I also represent none of these companies in my relationship with Torrey Hills Capital (see next paragraph). I am on record as saying I might purchase shares of PMI and Pelangio.
Tomorrow I hope to give more details about what Sir Sam Jonah is doing in Africa these days.
Thom Branches Out: I am adding professional outreach for natural resources companies to my log. I will continue to write free articles like this one for Stockhouseand its nearly one million users. Here is the press release about my new partner: Thom & Torrey Hills Capital.
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