Forum Archive Index - March 2004

["G Stolwyk" <stolwyk@wave.co.nz>]

MIC is in the last stage of reorganizing in China and it seems that the Chinese are very cooperative.

The picture will look quite different once the new financial year starts.

 

 

Gerry

Readers, please do your own research and you decide if and when to buy, hold or sell any stocks.

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Here is MLC's website:
http://www.michelago.com/home.html

Article from Miningnews.net (about $160/year):
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In search of Chinese gold

Tim Treadgold


Wednesday, March 10, 2004
USE THE words China and gold in the same sentence and you're guaranteed to grab the attention of anyone in the mining industry. The combination explains why Sino Gold has been a spectacular success on the Australian stock market and why more newly-created China gold specialists such as Michelago seem to be travelling the same pathway with a sharply higher share price and the promise of substantial gold production starting later this year.

Speculators love the Michelago story, as is obvious from the share price. Ten months ago the stock was limping along at 0.6c a share. In early February the price was 12c. The rise of 11.94c is, just for the sake of a silly calculation, a remarkable 19,900% -- not that this number is the height of the Michelago miracle; that is bestowed on the imaginary punter who got set at 0.6c on April 4 last year and sold at the 52-week peak of 16c on October 6 – a cool 26,566% in six months.

The share price rise, obviously, is a meaningless exercise, though it does serve to illustrate the point that China and Michelago are hot. The only question left hanging is why?

The answer to that lies in the fascination with the theory that says China is opening itself to foreign investment, to greater gold ownership among its 1.2 billion people, and to modern exploration and mineral processing techniques which will cause a revolution in the world gold market.

"China is already a world-class player in the gold industry," said Michelago chief executive, Peter Secker. "On mined ounces alone it is the fourth biggest producer after South Africa, the US and Australia.

"But that is only one aspect of the industry. For the past 15 years, gold mining in China has been pretty much dormant. It is a country with a highly attractive geology that is crying out for investment and the application of modern mining technology."

Secker said some outsiders still had a false view of doing business in China and of its mining industry. "New mining laws, modelled very much on Australia and Canada, were introduced in 1997," he said. "In 2002 laws governing foreign investment in gold were lifted which have proved to be a real attraction to international miners."

As an example, Secker points to recent joint venture exploration deals involving South African gold giant, Gold Fields. However, what he should really be pointing to is his own involvement in China and the deals he is pulling together for Michelago. Understanding what Secker has done goes a very long way to explaining how Michelago evolved and why it has its current shape – a shape which can be confusing because it is "a work in progress".

That work consists (as at early February) of a proposal to own 82% of a gold treatment complex in northern China called BioGold. It has a bacterial leaching and carbon-in-leach processing facility, plus a gold refinery to toll treat ore and dore.

Michelago also has a 60% stake in a proposed 40,000oz per annum gold mine scheduled to come on stream later this year in southern China, plus interests in a number of exploration plays, some of which are chasing "Carlin style" gold deposits of more than one million ounces.

"I've been involved in China since 1993," Secker said. "Originally I was vice-president of Sino Mining, which became Sino Gold. My work put me in charge of all operations in China, living there for three years, building mines, before leaving in 1999 to do my own thing in China."

One of the projects Secker became involved in was a bacterial leaching plant, designed and built by Minproc, and working as a replacement for environmentally unacceptable roasting plants on the Chinese coast.

"I had previous experience building the Youanmi bacterial oxidation plant, using BacTech technology, for Gold Mines of Australia," he said. "I left Sino and said to the government why don't I build you a plant using BacTech. After a lot of thinking they said do it, and they now have the most modern bacterial processing plant in the world.

"We took a plant that would have cost $25 million in Australia and built it for $10 million. China is a place where you can achieve some astonishing things. We started the plant in late 1999/early 2000 and within three months we had it commissioned, which is exceptional. It is now producing between 80,000-90,000oz of gold a year with some concentrate from Sino and from other mines, which we blend to get a constant feed."

The total BioGold facility (consisting of a number of plants) produces 300,000oz of gold a year. The original plan had been to acquire a 50% stake in BioGold. This has risen to the current 82% which is waiting on government approval which Secker expects to receive around mid-year.

For students of Australian gold history, BioGold in China completes a circle by bringing together again Secker and Stephen Everett, one-time chief executive of GMA and a strong proponent of the BacTech process. Everett is a major shareholder and non-executive director of Michelago.
THE second key deal being worked up by Secker is a 60% stake in the Jinya gold project in southern China.

John Horan, Peter Secker, Andrew Haythorpe, Stephen Everett

,b>MARKET CAPITALISATION
$50 million (at press time)

MAJOR SHAREHOLDERS
Peter Secker (9.1%)
Stephen Everett (5.8%)
Andrew Haythorpe (3.4%)