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ATN - Ashburton Minerals

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Thanks for the tid-bits beatle.
My reference to Weda bay was following the comment in p2 of recent Qtrly Activity about the driller - experienced, expat Aussie and obviously in big league with project on nearby Halmahera - it all helps - you never know who talks to who and then it leads to.....also shows the prospectivity of the region.

Why wouldn't have BP done anything with it? Hmm?
 
Thanks for the clarification Mgm1a re the contractor involved with the Ni laterite project in Halmahera. Obi Island does have considerable ni laterites, and on a neighbouring Island (not sure of its name but its a small island located about 0.5 kms off Obi) I recall seeing a landing site for mining (presumably) of nickel laterites, and the side of the hill having a haircut! (I assume the haircut represented a stripping of surface vegetation involved pre mining of the laterite).

I guess the big upside to this unrelated mining activity is that it means there is a significant mining culture to that part of the indonesia (of a significant level, with Aneka Tambang involved in that neighbouring Island to Obi) and therefore any new major project such as this possible gold project of ATN's would not be a foreign intervention in the region at all.

Lets hope the drill arrives in the couple of days time that its expected (7th May)
 
For those in ATN at the moment and being a bit concerned with the recent trading down to 5.2 cents through this morning, just be aware that a lot of the lower trades were crosses. Whilst it might just be coincidental and with unrelated parties buying to those selling, it could also be that the buyers are trying to temp panic sellers lower and to sell out - and note the timing is important, its possible that the drilling rig will be on Obi Island over the weekend, so that there will be an announcement to such effect early on next week.....
I'm sitting and watching, wondering whether I should buy some more at this level, it could be a bargain that never comes again! (but of course it might not be too, lol!).
 
No weak hands here beatle.

I have a buy order in, not a sell. Not Robinson Crusoe looking at the depth.
 
No news today still... but at one point up 10% which is interesting. Looks like some people are quietly confident in ATN still. I am in no way implying anything else, however I thought a drill rig would be pretty hard to lose track of, it can't get stuck in between cushions on the couch...
nevertheless, the ground is going to be good to open up. How much historical data are they intending to confirm or are they going to go straight in and plug the veins fro fresh info? It looks to me in the drill schedule that they are looking at following the fault line for extents and confirming the drill holes already known.
I can see now in their latest update that they intend to remove all the villagers using hammers and replace them with some basic crushing machinery to get up to 20 kOz/annum which would be $7.5M/quarter before costs, after drilling is completed. low cost operation, but have to recover the drilling, and EL costs / heads of agreement payments as well (already budgeted for). why would they be planning on 20kOz/annum if the resource is going to be 1Moz + ? is this a side operation for the other miners or a small cash generator for the drilling ....??
 
Hi Mr Jeff, good questions you ask and comments made!

I too am surprised we haven't seen an announcement confirming arrival of the rig on Obi but assume its happening at present, and since it was previously announced that the MD was flying to site (via a slow boat, lol) to greet the rig I presume thats the reason for the delay in providing the news. Actually your observation about the share price still being supported seems to me is certainly some expectation of the rig either there or close to being there now! (Its also a leaky boat, lol, just imagine what will happen to the share price if visible gold in core is leaked out, of course subject to that happening!).

About the artisanal mining area, from what has been announced so far ATN is working out a far more efficient processing route for them that also takes out the mercury, but since the artisanals are theoretically restricted to the top zone only, I think its the top 25 metres only (despite earlier diggings going down to 50 metres in places) then ATN are providing the procession for that initial phase of mining/processing within the artisanal area, of which ATN shares 25% of the profits. Thats how I read it.

The bigger 1 million oz resource of course is another story, for ATN to mine and develop in a proper and more cost effective manner with conventional mining/processing etc.
 
Hi Logique, do you have any idea of what's happening on the ground now, and if the rig has arrived or still floating around somewhere?
 
Don't know Beatle,
I had a look at the website, nothing there either, so it's hurry up and wait I guess.
 
beatle said:
Thanks Logique. At least prices have started to bounce so thats a good sign.
Click to expand...

I see patience wilting.
I see opportunity for those with good sized .... risk tolerant accounts.
I don't see a drill rig anywhere with ATN, Obi written on it. I do not like this lack of information!
I expect that barring any negative motions in the overall market, then this rig announcement will not see a wash out anymore, but probably a fresh round of buying, perhaps less strong than before this risk aversion period. Could be a good thing.

chart of may 19th.png
 
I couldn't agree more with you Mr Jeff. Its got me beat why there is no news from ATN at the moment, and can only assume that they left the key to the engine on the other island (lol!).

ONCE the rig is actually on Obi and operating it would be nice to be informed, and as you say Mr Jeff, seems like the market has already removed any premium on the expectation of drilling thus its unlikely it will be a "buy no the rumour and sell on the fact" (although if the news is not squeaky clean perhaps we will see bit of a run up on price before the rig arrival announcement). That is of course ASSUMING there is going to be a rig arriving on Obi!!!
 
Agreed Mr. Jeff.

I sold out - not liking the chart right now. Will keep it on the radar if it comes off these lows strongly.

But with a lack of news and demand waning, I'm struggling to see an upside.
 
Starting to really wonder what's going on with ATN, rig was due at Obi over 2 weeks ago... Since then not a peep.:confused:
 
Are you kidding?! the rig finally arrived - I thought it had definitely fallen overboard during some rough weather and they were trying to find another one before anyone noticed...
Let the drilling being, we are going straight into the vein and reporting nuggets all round for the faithful!

Good luck to all holders, now we have something to look forward to.
 
Given that the clear intent of the article was to dump on speculative under-performers, the admission that yes, Ashburton Min do have depth of experience on the board, and with the drill now arrived, ATN are upbeat about the future - this was was a backhanded complement, about as constructive as you might expect in the context.

That must have been an interesting exercise for the company, crating up the drill for delivery by landing ducks! No wonder the announcement came later than we thought.

It's all about the gold intersects now, if some good percentages are reported, then we are away.
 
Logique said:
It's all about the gold intersects now, if some good percentages are reported, then we are away.
Click to expand...

Ah Yes Logique, a percentage would be nice, but in fact I would even accept some multiples of grams, lol! The question now is when the first report of any drilling is made given that Obi is very isolated, away from labs - I would love for ATN to report some visible gold as they surely would have to report that even if it hadn't been to lab - all about continuous disclosure and if its not declared then it would be an important omission! AND given the past BHP intercepts plus artisanal mining to support it, its a real possibility that visible gold will be sighted in at least a narrow intercept in one of the holes.
 
i think its probably going to be quicker to put the drill intercepts through the artisanal miners processes to pour the gold than get it to a lab! :)
 

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