Newstrike AGM Report
AGM Report
The meeting was well attended, with about 16 people in the room (with most co’s its usually just me) Richard dispensed with the business and we were into the question and answer pretty fast.
He began by giving a rundown of last year and a look at the plans for 2013
2012 was a very busy year, getting one of these reports done is no easy task. There is now a draft in the office and it is as thick as a phone book! He gave no official release date but i think its closer than the market believes, saying the “goal is in sight” The cutoff for drilling was Nov 6. He gave no details on specifics contained in the report other than to say initial expectations were met and as we have seen from the assays all along the deposit is extremely robust.
He was upbeat and imho relieved the “essay writing” was nearing completion. He is excited to be getting back to what they do best, exploration. The budget for 2012 was about 15 million and they have 29 million and change in the bank. I took a walk down to roundup after the meeting and although very well attended when speaking to friends, there were widespread funding concerns going forward. Having nearly 30 million in cash is enviable to say the least.
They will be splitting their tasks going forward with 80% devoted to new exploration and 20% advancing and updating AP, with a deep drill looking for possible underground extensions of the breccia (33 meters of 12 grams in hole 70 i think) which is also still open to the south.
the 2013 exploration is going well. initial prospecting sampling and geophysics were done last year and they have several very encouraging targets being drilled now. I think the area to the east of AP (san luis) has several holes complete as they had already done one before the christmas break.. Also they are drilling to the west of AP and to the North as well. They have 50 people working on the property at the moment. It is no small operation!. Exploration should move along quicker due to a lot of behind the scenes work done last year, surface rights and roadbuilding, environmental etc..they have excellent community relations having been in the neighbourhood for 15 years.
Richard was on site last week with some analysts ( volume spike this week?) and expects a great deal more coverage once the resource is released. Hopefully this can close the valuation gap with Torex..they had some nice core on display at roundup today..I missed Gillian and the NES core yesterday.. (also possibe reason for the volume)
He closed commenting on the relationship with the Lundin family saying they were extremely supportive partners and although NES is not officially a Lundin company he was made to feel like they were..
The takeaway for me is that the report is coming and they are getting back to the business of finding deposits..
when a new discovery is made.. not if.. 🙂
warmest regards
caliche
