Squirrels and Stents

In London this week I spoke with a private equity fund specialising in the mining and metals sector which has a keen interest in zinc. They cast a critical eye over the limited pool of development-track projects held by Juniors and the conclusion was that athose reviewed lacked quality and some had significant flaws or red flags.  … Read more

Kola Nuts and Gold and the Garden of Eden

We land with Air France in Bamako, the capital of Mali on the Niger River.  Bamako means “crocodile river” in Bambara.  The French under general Gallieni built a railroad at the end of the 19th century all the way from Dakar on the Atlantic to reach the Niger at Bamako.  This was an extraordinary engineering … Read more

Mandingo Gold

There are very few places left in the world where a prospecting geologist can come across a gold mining camp with over nine thousand hand-dug pits.  A gold mineralising system which has never been drilled!  That is the singular experience I had on the 16th of April 2010 and one I  never expect to forget.  As usual … Read more