Just playing with some older ties to other companies and connections we may want to use in the future,..
When I go back and look at some DD I and others had found I find that maybe we were too quick to dismiss certain things and move on,.. like Urban ability and connections within an industry for key types of minerals,.. llike gold for example.
If you want to know how much experience is tied into the company with the Gold and why gold production in Ecuador is so important,.. Take a look at the past,.. Claimstaker resources,.. Who became J-Pacific Gold,.. One of the companies Urban was a insider of,..
Not only are they successful but they have people interested in them from other areas like Jipangu inc.
www.jipangu.co.jp/english/corporate/evolution/index.htmlAlthough Jipangu has been consistently engaged in the gold mining business since its foundation, we have made some transitions in changing the emphasis of doing gold mining operations from time to time. This section is designed to introduce how we have advanced the business model.
1. Participation in Gold Mining Companies Through Equity Investment(1995-1998)
In the early years of the foundation, the gold mining business at Jipangu started from equity investment in mineral-exploration companies, or so-called "junior companies". At this stage, in order to build a basis of our corporate structure, our primary goal was to cultivate skills about management as a mining company and to acquire human resources through the investments in those companies.
At the early stage of Jipangu's business, there were mainly two reasons why we focused on participation in junior companies through equity investment:
Significant share by small amount of investment
Aggregate value of market capitalization of a junior company was quite small at the time. Therefore, it was possible to hold significant portion of stakes in a junior company with relatively less capital. In this sense, it was viable in fact that Jipangu intervene in the management of some junior companies even at the early days of its foundation.
Few competitors
A feature of our management is to play on a field among fewer competitors. In those early days under lower gold price than today, not so many players aggressively invested in junior exploration companies.
Today Jipangu holds shares in the companies listed below, which are mainly advancing mineral-explorations:
J-Pacific Gold Inc.
Eaglecrest Explorations Ltd.
Golden Goliath Resources Ltd.
Madison Enterprises Corp.
Note: These stocks are for short-term holding, except stakes in J-Pacific Gold Inc.
Changes in the Investment Environment
In the first stage, Jipangu was dedicated to the establishment of management with specialized human resources as a primary goal. From around 1999, we shifted a focus of our business to equity investment into gold mining companies, which were considered to have less investment risk. This shift was motivated by the fact that our goal in the first stage was achieved to a certain extent and also by the company's encounter with High River Gold Mines Ltd., which greatly influenced Jipangu's strategy later on.
2. Participation in Gold Mining Companies through Equity Investment(1999~present)
Since 1999 or so, Jipangu's target for equity investment shifted to gold mining companies from mineral-exploration companies. At this stage, Jipangu's basic strategy was, "equity investment into gold mines and gold mining companies with their own identified mineral resources".
This section introduces three gold mining companies, to which Jipangu invested:
High River Gold Mines Ltd.
The encounter with High River Gold Mines Ltd. was crucial to Jipangu, as it defined the direction of our strategy. High River does not run gold mining operations by itself, but holds a significant portion of stakes in several gold-mining companies and posts its revenue from the mining operations on a consolidated basis. In this sense, this company practices on a smaller scale what Jipangu seeks to realize in the future.
Jipangu had continued equity investments into High River. However, the up-trend performance of the gold price in autumn of 2001 enabled High River to raise more capital by means of private placements. Due to this, our share in High River was greatly diluted. Meanwhile on November 2002, to pursue a top priority for subsidizing Afrikander Lease Ltd. and Cambior Inc., we sold our entire share in High River.
Through investment opportunity with High River, Jipangu was able to cultivate valuable skills of management with sufficient human resources associated with the gold mining business.
Cambior Inc.
Cambior Inc. is one of the intermediate gold producers with its headquarter located in Canada. Just before Jipangu invested in Cambior, the company was in the crisis of a bankruptcy caused by a failure in futures hedging. At this timing, Jipangu acquired stakes of Cambior and started restructuring the company.
Jipangu arranged debt financing for Cambior in effort to restructure the financial position, and then acquired a significant portion of stakes instead of their due repayment by means of a debt-equity swap. (The share in Cambior that Jipangu acquired was up to a maximum of 37.81%.) Through this equity investment, Cambior was secured from the crisis of bankruptcy and successfully restructured their management.
Jipangu began to intervene in the management of Cambior by having one of our directors also take responsibility for the task of being a director on the board of Cambior.
Afrikander Lease Ltd.
Afrikander Lease Ltd. is a gold mining company with its headquarter located in South Africa, which holds enormous resources (ore reserves). The company owns an open pit type of gold mine that enables them to operate at a very reasonable cost.
For our investment, Kazuo Shuto who is a director and a chief geologist of Jipangu, visited the mine site of Afrikander and executed technical due diligence on the property. As a result, he found out that Afrikander Lease is such a company, which owns a highly promising gold mine. If Jipangu invests in Afrikander Lease, their mine could produce approximately 130,000 oz of gold per annum from the next year.
Jipangu had the good fortune to create a great human network in South Africa through the opportunity with Afrikander Lease Ltd. Although our investment in Afrikander Lease resulted in an unrealized loss in terms of assets, what Jipangu obtained from relations with them was meaningful.
These are the transitions that Jipangu has experienced until present.
So you can see the network of resources and information available to the company are endless,..
If they are still talking,..
Point is ,.. don’t over look the small stuff,.. as that is usually what comes back to bite you in the arse,.. lol
Owner
