What is the Cost of Mining Gold?? [Nice Graphic]

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http://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-c...ining-gold.jpg

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This was all the silver guys could afford in the way of graphics.

Attachment 4924

[Glass]

For Newcrest it could be some large portion of AUD $2 Billion.

Blow for Newcrest - exploration licence quashed.

In a stunning decision, a NSW court has quashed an exploration licence held by Australia's largest goldminer Newcrest.
The licence application in question was made during the stewardship of disgraced mining minister Ian Macdonald in 2008 and renewal was granted in 2011.

We walked out with the decision quashed. End of story.
Brian Locke

Amid the revelations of mates-deals by the Independent Commission Against Corruption, this judgement by Justice Nicola Pain in the Land and Environment Court - which was released today - sends a message that the judiciary is prepared to go one step further than ICAC, and the government for that matter, and determine who should hold mining and exploration leases.
Newcrest shares slumped on the news, falling 83 cents, or 5.3 per cent, to $14.80, after earlier trading only slightly lower.

The decision represents a blow to Newcrest. Justice Pain has found in favour of Gold and Copper Resources, a small exploration company run by Brian Locke, and quashed the Mining Minister’s decision to renew Newcrest’s exploration licence 3856 (EL3856).
This licence, EL3856, encompasses some 70 per cent of Newcrest’s wholly-owned exploration area in NSW and it surrounds its Cadia Valley Operations mining leases. Cadia is the biggest underground mine in Australia. It contains some $200 billion worth of gold. Newcrest has spent $2 billion in its development.

A spokesperson for Newcrest said only one of Gold and Copper's four claims was established in the judgement. "Overall, the ruling was positive for Newcrest," she said. "GCR was not able to establish its claim of false and misleading conduct in the renewal."
At 1.30pm, Newcrest was considering putting out a statement.

Gold and Copper's managing director Brian Locke said, "We walked out with the decision quashed. End of story".
The lease EL3856 has already been the subject of other proceedings in the NSW Supreme Court where Gold and Copper had been pursuing Newcrest for breach of confidentiality. In that case, following the breakdown of joint venture talks between the two parties, Newcrest made false statements in its renewal application that it had access to technology which was the exclusive right of Gold and Copper.

Justice James Stevenson found in that case that Newcrest’s “making of the statements was a breach of the confidentiality agreement”. Although he concluded that no loss was suffered by Gold and Copper. Stevenson also found that Newcrest’s statements were “false, and thus misleading or deceptive, of Newcrest to so represent”.

Newcrest has been playing down the Gold and Copper actions as immaterial. That line no longer looks credible. Gold and Copper has another five legal actions in train. The next two are not over exploration leases however. They concern the Cadia ore body itself.
The next claim alleges that Newcrest continued to mine without a proper mining licence. For a Mining Licence to be awarded it should be preceded by an Exploration Licence.

As Newcrest has already spent $2 billion developing Cadia, and as Gold and Copper is winning in the courts, the actions may now be taken a little more seriously.

Newcrest told the ASX last October “none of the claims has merit” and “this exploration tenure is not material to Newcrest’s mining operations”.
Yet EL3856 runs straight through the Cadia East Zone of Influence identified in Newcrest’s Environmental Assessment and alongside the Cadia East Subsidence Zone (that is the area of the surface that caves in as the underground mine propagates).

Full article @ the Age

There isn't much more to the story. My favorite miner. I've sold shares of these guys rather than hold em. I had a good thing on Lihir but that Judas sold it to Newcrest. No hedge book at all. $200 an ounce lower production costs than Newcrest but Newcrest was forward sold by about 13 years I think at that stage - 2007. I'd need to go back to my analysis which is somewhere. Thier production costs are not much different to what they were back then. So I don't see NEwcrest as being a wealth generating vehicle. Its hedged so far up the wazoo I don't think they could ever aquire enough resources to pay their way out.

so for me this would be the icing on a very ugly cake. They could get shit canned on this and everything they have done since 2008 (maybe 2011) would cost them. I think it will be an interesting watch to see how these other 5 claims go. I have popcorn, party hats and ticklers. bring it on.

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Junior mining stocks see record insider buying

Darcy Keith
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Apr. 30 2013, 4:09 PM EDT


Those looking for even more evidence that corporate executives are smelling bargains in the junior mining sector should consider this: Insider buying on the TMX Venture exchange is near a record high.


INK Research’s Venture indicator is at 715 per cent today, just 20 percentage points below its record peak of 735 per cent set on Oct. 27, 2008. That means there are more than seven stocks listed on the exchange with insider buying for every one seeing selling. It also marks a steep increase since early March, when the indicator was near 400 per cent.
Such a high level of buying interest among officers and directors within their own businesses in the resource sector has correctly foreshadowed a recovery in share prices in the past: That high point of nearly five years ago came about six weeks before the Venture market bottomed on Dec. 5, 2008, points out Ted Dixon, INK Research CEO.


The Venture indicator is based on insider transactions over the past 60 days. But INK also has a Venture indicator that covers just the past 30 days of transactions. It’s more volatile, but gives a better sense of the more recent insider activity.


And right now, that shorter-term indicator is painting a picture of corporate insiders scooping up beaten-down shares with little hesitation. The 30-day Venture indicator is at 1,229 per cent today, after reaching a record high on Monday of 1,305 per cent.


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