@edel,
bin je nach Bedarf beides: Kurz und Langschläfer wie bei den Aktien.
Henk Krasenberg vom european gold centre zu Excellon:
Excellon Resources Inc. ONGOING PRODUCTION ENABLES EXCELLON TO MATURE INTO ESTABLISHED MINING COMPANY April 2006 TSXV–EXN share price Apr 07 C$1.30 shares issued: 130.4 mio fully diluted: 157.7 mio THE CONCLUSION OF THE UPDATE REPORT OF NOVEMBER 2005 "At the current evaluation of Excellon Resources by the market, ranging between approximately C$ 21 and 27 million on respectively a non-diluted and fully diluted basis, it is clear that the market does not fully recognize what Excellon has established lately. In my opinion, this may change considerably as production will prove to be a steady process and, moreover, the results of the current underground and surface exploration programs will come forward and especially if the positive expectations are confirmed. In my opinion, Excellon Resources still provides a solid ground-floor opportunity to take an interest in silver. An exciting 12 months are ahead!" A NEW FACTOR IN SILVER: THE ETF'S Over the last few years, the opinions on silver have been varying from "silver is no longer a precious metal, it is just a commodity" to "silver is the precious metal with the largest gap between supply and demand". In my opinion, silver definitely is not just a commodity and still belongs to the precious metals. As I recently wrote, silver could very well outperform gold because of the potential shortage of the metal. A new factor that is likely to have quite an impact on the world demand for silver, is the introduction of --continued-- UPDATE In this industry, things can go fast. Read the conclusion of my Update Report of November 2005. As I said, the market did not recognize the potential of Excellon Resources as a company, nor of the Platosa as a project. It indeed turned out that the ongoing operation of silver-zinc-lead production is enabling Excellon to mature into an established mining company. Every two weeks the checks keep coming in from selling the crust ore from the Platosa Mine in the State of Durango to Peñoles, the largest mining corporation in Mexico, which is processing the ore at its Naica milling facility. This development has not gone by unnoticed. Since November 2005, the shares marched on from C$0.18 to C$1.30, resulting in a significant increase of the market capitalization of the company from an average of just over C$25 million to the present C$190 million. Thus, you may say that the market now has awarded Excellon a significantly higher evaluation than in November. Rightfully so, because the mining continues consistently, the grades of the mined ore were in line with management's expectations, the proceeds considerably exceeded them as a result of the higher market prices for the metals and a new substantial discovery was made. But there is more, may be even much more. At the time of the previous Update Report, now five months ago, there were a few questions that could only be answered by time, such as: * could the flow of mineable ore be continued at the scheduled pace? * would the grades of the mined ore remain as high as expected? * would the ongoing exploration program continue to confirm the generally high grades and add potential mineralization? Looking at the news that has been coming forward since then, every one of these questions can be answers with an outright YES. Let’s see why:
Since November, mining from the Manto 4C and 5A zones at the Platosa Mine has been continuous and the shipping rate has increased towards the scheduled production rate of 6,000 tonnes per month, which is going to be reached this month. At this rate, Excellon should produce over 4.0 million ounces of silver, 20.4 lbs of lead and 12 million lbs of zinc on an annual basis. However, based on the higher than anticipated grades of silver and even more so of zinc, the expectation is justified that these calculated production figures will be exceeded. Mining from the Manto 4C and 5A will be continuing during the next few months. Further sources of extracting mineable ore will come from the ongoing expansion of the underground ramping system and from other available high grade material from other mantos. The forthcoming upgraded resource estimate calculations will provide more precise information on the production operations for the next few years. CASH FLOW Excellon has not elaborated on the cash flow figures since November 2005. At that time, during their corporate presentations to the financial communities of several European cities, they mentioned to have a net monthly cash flow of C$ 500,000, after deduction of all operating expenses and after allowing for monthly exploration expenditures of C$ 300,000. At the time of this writing, the cash flow summary learns that these figures have increased to respectively over C$ 1.0 million and C$ 500,000 per month as a result of the high grade material mined and the higher market prices for the metals. It is interesting to take a look back at the original mine plan. That plan includes a preliminary cash flow estimate projecting a net cash flow of approximately US$ 13.5 million from the known resource before taxes and Net Smelter Royalty (“NSR”) based on metal prices of US$ 4.80/oz silver; US$ 0.25/lb lead and US$ 0.40/lb zinc. Applying the currently prevailing metal prices of $12.00 per ounce of silver, $0.53 per lb of lead and $1.24 per lb of zinc, it is obvious that the current markets work excellently in favour of significantly higher operating results for Excellon. Although this Update Report is not meant to include a detailed prognosis of my views on the future price developments of silver, lead and zinc, it may be generally known to my readers that I am very much a believer of a continuation of the current strong markets on a long term basis with sufficient room for considerably higher metal prices over the next few years. Like I said before, there is more, may be even much more. EXPLORATION Right after the previous Update Report, Excellon announced the intercept of a 9.3 meter massive sulphide, cut between 139.25 and 148.64 meter downhole, averaging 1516oz/t silver, 16.4% lead and 15% zinc. The intercept is very similar to the high-grade mineralization currently being mined but is found well outside the mined area. The new manto, located approximately 95m northeast of the 6 Manto and 145m east-northeast of the N-1 Manto, has been named the Guadalupe Manto. In February 2006, the news came that eight additional sulphide intercepts were encountered with significant thickness of massive and semi-massive sulphides in 8 of 11 holes drilled around above mentioned intercept. These additional intercepts have extended the massive sulphide mineralization by at least 25m in all directions. One month thereafter, in early March, another six additional sulphide intercepts were announced, bringing the success rate of drilling into the Guadalupe Manto to 14 of 17 holes with 1.5 to 9.4m of sulphide mineralization. The Guadalupe Manto now has a strike length approaching 100 meters, a width of 50 to 65 meters, and remains open in several directions, including the southeast towards the existing mine infrastructure. A little later, in mid-March, a very interesting release announced that a 100m step-out drill hole in this southeastern direction cut 2.5m of sulphides at 131m vertically below the surface, essentially the same elevations as the lowest known part of the Guadalupe Manto. This justifies to now talk about the “Guadalupe Trend”. Drilling is continuing with two drills, pursuing close-spaced drilling around significant mineralized intercepts, including additional step-outs along the Guadalupe Trend and drilling of feeders to and extensions of the Guadalupe Manto. In the meantime, ramping to the 6 Manto is underway and a cross-cut to the Guadalupe Manto will take off from this ramp. Should new mantos be discovered farther along the trend, the drill program may lead to a new mineralized “Guadalupe South Manto” zone. Just last week, the assays of the first 9 of the 17 reported intercepts came in. Of the nine, six intercepts were of massive and semi-massive sulphides, averaging 5.6m in thickness and 839 to 4029oz/t silver, 10.1% lead and 14.2% zinc in grades. Results of the remaining eight holes are pending. Excellon has also contracted a third surface drill rig that will be dedicated to drill district-scale targets on the Joint Venture property held with Apex Silver Mines and the Saltierra Property optioned from Exploraciones del Altiplano. This rig has arrived and should begin drilling shortly. Since September 2002, the NI 43-101 compliant mineral resource estimate, prepared by Roscoe Postle Associates Inc. (“RPA”) of Toronto, independent geological and mining consultants, stands at 63,400 tonnes indicated, grading 2634 g/t (cut) silver, 15.2% lead and 11.9% zinc. This resource represents approximately 4.1 million ounces of recoverable silver. RESOURCE In November 2005, RPA was commissioned to prepare an update of the resource calculation based on the ongoing exploration programs. The new estimate figures are expected to be released some time in May of this year. As the exploration is still running full steam at the moment, management could decide to just cut the moment of measuring the mineralization before the current drill program in the Guadalupe area has been completed in order to meet the time target. This means that part of the results of this program will be saved for the next round of resource calculations at a later date. Encouraged by the released exploration results so far, which have resulted in establishing new mineralization zones outside of the existing resource areas, I am confident that the new resource figures will represent a significant increase over the currently known figures, thus considerably extending the calculated mine life of the Platosa Mine.
* It is only 18 months ago that Excellon Resources inaugurated its underground test-mining and exploration program at the Core Area of the Platosa Property by a celebratory blast to commence driving the underground ramp.
Since then, Excellon Resources has become not only one of the emerging silver producers that one can see develop in Mexico but, in fact, has become one of the most successful and profitable ones due to its extemely high grades of silver, lead and zinc and its very low production costs. * Since July 2005, Excellon Resources has enjoyed a continuous and well-run production operation from the Platosa Mine, thanks to its highly capable management and its technical team and as a result of a well-negotiated processing relationship with Peñoles’ milling facility. * Since November 2005, the time of my previous Update Report, Excellon has aggressively continued its exploration program and achieved excellent results which were not only in line with, but also confirmed its previous findings. * Excellon Resources has fully benefitted from the increasing price levels in the metals markets, thus significantly increasing its monthly receipts of the production proceeds. The cash flow has enabled Excellon to mature into an established mining company, producing silver, lead and zinc at a very low cost. * As early as next May, Excellon may receive its new NI 43-101 compliant resource estimate calculations which I expect to significantly increase the current indicated resource and to considerably extend the mine life of the Platosa Mine. * As Excellon is continuing its exploration programs at full steam, and taking into account that the exploration so far have been conducted on only a very small portion of the total Platosa-Saltierra Property, I am confident that Excellon will have to report a lot of positives over the next few years. The Platosa-Saltierra Property in the State of Durango, Mexico, holds the potential to turn out as a major high-grade silver-lead-zinc mining source which can be operated highly successfully and profitably by Excellon Resources for many years to come. * I reiterate what I wrote last November: Excellon Resources is no longer dependent on additional issuance of shares; the established cash flow from the mining operations provide a nice feeling of comfort and level of income. An additional factor of attraction is that Excellon did not have to go through the considerable burden of an enormous capital expenditure required to construct their own mill and production facilities, thus avoiding the interest payments. *
Over the last few months, the market has awarded Excellon Resources for its progress and participation in the strong metals markets by a significant higher evaluation. As a consequence, the market capitalization has considerably increased, now amounting to an average of C$155 million. However, in comparison with other silver producers in Mexico, Excellon Resources is still modestly priced. The current level still holds potential to be rewarded again for its future development. It is not the ground-floor opportunity to take an interest in silver that I described in November. But that depends on how you look at it. While continuing to prove up additional resource potential and with the metals markets looking forward to an excellent and strong future, Excellon Resources still holds a lot of promise as a wider audience comes to recognize its merits. Henk J. Krasenberg