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Throwing out bubble parasites - Junior survival series part I
In the first of a series of interviews about the sorry state of the junior market, Stan Bharti lays out his view on how bad things are.
Author: Kip Keen
Posted: Friday , 05 Jul 2013
Posted: Friday , 05 Jul 2013
How bad is it for the resource sector, juniors especially? How do the ongoing troubles for juniors - such as a moribund financing market forcing many against the wall - compare to those experienced in past down cycles? And how is this deepening rut going to shake out?
This is the basic line of questioning Mineweb's Kip Keen put to a range of industry leaders, with a focus on juniors, who have been through at least a couple downturns in the mining industry. They are to be published in no particular order in the coming week.
We begin with Stan Bharti, head of Forbes & Manhattan, which has incubated many juniors over the years. After that we will hear from the likes of Lukas Lundin, Chairman of the Lundin Group, Doug Eaton, who has long been at the forefront of Yukon exploration with Archer, Cathro & Associates, Brent Cook, of Exploration Insights, Bob Quartermain, president and CEO of Pretium Resources, among others who have scars from past downturns and valuable insight into now unfolding events.
Opinions vary. There is optimism and dejection. Hope that the market turns soon, fear that it will be years before it does. There are thoughts on changes evident within the funding landscape. There is criticism - lots of this - but also advice. This roundup on the state of the junior market is, as much as anything, about survival. Past and now present.
Stan Bharti, Chairman, Forbes & Manhattan
Kip Keen: What's your view of the downturn juniors are facing, which for some, in terms of lack of financing, started almost two years ago? How does what's going on now compare to cycles you've seen in the past?
Stan Bharti: First of all let me put the whole thing in perspective. We've had, since 2002, even with the correction in 2008, one of the best bull markets I've ever seen in commodities that in my mind lasted up to the fall of last year. It wasn't two years ago. I mean the fall of last year things got really tough. Before that the market was fine.
So, 10 years of one of the best bull markets we've ever seen and the highest metal prices on record. Copper has never been to $4 a pound - ever. Nickel has never been to $20 a pound - ever. Oil, $100, $140 a barrel: those are phenomenal prices. And even if you look at gold. There has been a correction in the last week, but really gold was $1,400, $1,500 an ounce just two weeks or so ago.
So we've had a very good market reflected in both commodities and in the stock prices. If you go back historically the last bull cycle we saw, the real bull cycle, was '65 to 1981. And at that time there was - there still is - the Barron's gold mining index. BMGI. If you follow that '74 to '76 there was a huge correction in the market and then in '77 we had the next leg of the bull cycle which took gold to $1,000 an ounce. At that time copper was $1 a pound. Oil was $40 a barrel.
So what we're seeing is a correction - a fairly severe one - in a very strong bull market in commodities. Now, why do I say there is a very strong bull market in commodities? Because the prices of commodities haven't come off. I know the price of gold dropped from $1,500 to $1,250 or so but in big picture terms that's a very small correction. When you think of it, we were at $270 gold in 2002 and we went all the way to almost $2,000. And if you look at copper it's still over $3. That's still a phenomenal price for copper. Nickel is a little low, but it's still $6 a pound and oil is very strong. So, what I'm saying is commodity prices have not come off, which tells me that demand is still strong.
What I think the problem and the challenge we've had is that a lot of the junior companies were too speculative and so a lot of the money went into these speculative things that have not delivered. That's the problem.
But back to the cycles in the past. Basically '81 to '94 were ugly times. Ugly times. Every day when I was working at Falconbridge I had a meeting in the morning and I'd ask my team, "How are we going to improve productivity?" And the only way you can improve it is by cutting people. Nickel went from $3 in 1980 to a $1.44 and copper went from $1 to 60 cents. So every mine was teetering and having a tough time.
And then we had sort of a mini bull market 94 to 97 when gold went to $425 an ounce.
KK: We also had major discoveries in the 1990s, like Voisey's in Labrador.
SB: Yes, and there was the Arequipa discovery in Peru that Barrick bought. There was obviously the Bre-X scandal, that was also seen as a big discovery (which turned out to be a massive fraud). But also the price of gold upticked. Barrick went to almost $40 a share. Gold indices in the mid nineties were higher then they were today. Then of course by the mid nineties, 97, gold went through another correction.
In my mind the worst year was '99, 2000 for the resource sector. Because in those two years oil was at $8 a barrel. Copper went to below a dollar a pound. Gold went under $300 an ounce. Uranium was at $8 a pound. Iron ore prices were in the doldrums. They were sitting at like $30-$40-$50-$60 a tonne. It was a very tough time.
And this is most interesting. Almost all the big analysts kept saying the bull cycle is over in commodities. It's never coming back. This is it. We don't need gold anymore. We can recreate the value of gold through a basket of commodities. I believe that's not correct.
I see the same trend now. Gold is down. Guess what, next year every analyst has negative forecast for gold. So instead of thinking outside of the box, with all the brain power we have on Bay Street, Wall Street, we tend to think with a herd mentality. And I think when everything's down, they think, "It can only get worse." When everything's up, "It can only go higher." And I think we're going through a healthy correction. Very tough one for the junior sector. But a healthy correction.
I think it's going to throw out some of the companies that lived on the speculative bubble without having real assets. Unfortunately there are many junior companies that don't have great assets that really just rode the boom in the commodity cycle. And the fundamentals were just not there. Those are the companies that are going to suffer.
KK: Do you see say half or so of the juniors on the TSX Venture - some 1,800 all told - disappearing or crawling back into a shell of some sort?
SB: Listen, I don't have the numbers. But I can tell you what happened in '99 or 2000. A lot of the juniors basically disappeared or got into technology
At Forbes & Manhattan we always tell people, find good assets in emerging markets so you don't overpay for them. I mean any fool can go and pay a billion dollars and buy a world class asset. But then your rate of return is going to be limited. So our strength has been finding good undervalued assets that people may not see the value in and then over three to five years turning them around, putting in capital and a good management team.
So our juniors are always on a three to five year plan.
There's a quick flip mentality in some juniors. As in, "I'll find this little property and the stock will go higher and I'll sell it." That is not real. It doesn't happen. It becomes speculative. And unfortunately a lot of that money went behind that speculation and is now frustrated.
The other thing we've got is that the hedge fund industry has really not recovered since 2008. It has really been devastated. If you look at redemptions and returns for the funds in Canada, the returns have been mostly negative in Canada. So it's very difficult for these guys to raise more capital. It's very difficult for these guys when they get redemptions to finance junior companies.
So what's the answer here again? It's a challenge for people like us to find new sources of capital. What are the new sources of capital? Lots of new money in Russia. Lots of money in the Middle East. Lots of money in China. Lots of money in India. Lots of money in Brazil. That's where we're going for our capital now. Right?
Traditional funds in Toronto and to some extent New York have disappeared but there's lots of money there. Private equity money is there. Individual private family wealth is there, but they need more work. You've got to have real assets. You've got to have real companies with good management teams. Then the capital comes. But it's a lot more work.
We got spoilt, don't forget, from 2005 to 2008 when you could lift the phone and get a bought deal in two minutes.
KK: Financing has dried up for early stage explorers. But there is value there, obviously, because sometimes the speculative money leads to an important economic deposit. Most of the time it doesn't work. These days, however, money has really dried up for early stage exploration. Do you see that continuing for some time or do you see higher risk money coming back? Is that game up?
SB: It's up until a couple really good discoveries. What we need are some genuine, real big discoveries. If you look over the last four or five years a lot of the operations that have done well are existing old mines.
Take our track record. Where have we made most of our money? Desert Sun. It was an existing mine in Brazil. Avion. Existing mine in Mali. Consolidated Thompson. Existing deposit in a well known camp.
So we haven't had the Voisey Bay, kind of big discoveries that we had in the mid 1990s that really helped the market. That's one thing. We need those discoveries. So we need to convince the market that all this exploration there's some results and the results are real.
And the second thing is, I think the speculative money will come back. But it's gonna take another six months to a year. I think there's a cleansing that's going on. After it the money will come back. Because listen, in a bull market in commodities such as we're seeing now, the opportunity to invest at very low level and see a 5x, 10x return - there's no other place where you can do that.
KK: Is Forbes & Manhattan focused on finding new money?
SB: Right now where we're spending most of our time is Russia. Moscow. Beijing. Middle East. London.
In the nineties, two thirds of the world's resource financings were done on the TSX. Now it's one third. Still the number one spot. But London has taken over a lot of that. Why is that? Because a lot of new money, the Nouveau Riche, are moving to London. Almost all the Russian oligarchs are now in London. The Chinese are now in London. The Middle East has always been there. The new Africa money is coming. All of that, the focal point is almost always London.
And China. Everyone talks about the downturn in China. But more new millionaires are being created in China than anywhere else. And these guys are sitting on trapped money. And they understand resources. They understand gold. So we set up mechanisms for the individual Chinese high worth investors to invest with us.
It's a very different focus.
KK: Do you see emerging markets investors - the new high worth individuals - as interested moreso in production, near term production or earlier stage projects.
SB: Well, listen it always starts with the majors, the lower risk, and then obviously near-term production. But eventually as those get more expensive it moves down to a lower tier. So my crystal ball tells me we'll see a big turn in the market in 2014, late 2013. A big upturn in the market. I'm talking commodities now.
First, money is going to go to seniors. But eventually it's going to trickle down to junior producers and eventually exploration companies. But listen, speculative exploration companies are always going to be a challenge. Because a lot of money was thrown at them and they did not deliver in terms of new discoveries.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Persistence, profit and surprising ideas - Junior survival series part 2
Doug Eaton tells Mineweb that the downturns have been some of the mining sector's most productive, most profitable periods, but you have to keep your optimism and your enthusiasm up.
Author: Kip Keen
Posted: Monday , 08 Jul 2013
Posted: Monday , 08 Jul 2013
Here in second installation of our junior survival series Mineweb's Kip Keen speaks with Yukon geologist Doug Eaton, who has been a principal with consultants Archer, Cathro & Associates since 1981 and is also president and CEO of a couple junior explorers, Silver Range Resources and Strategic Metals.
Kip Keen: We're talking with people who have been through past downturns, for example the terrible years juniors had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. What's your view of how the current downturn compares to previous ones?
Doug Eaton: I've been around long enough - unfortunately - to have been through a bunch of them. Or fortunately maybe. There was a very bad downturn in the early '70s. That was largely related to oil pricing, the Vietnam war and a bad recession that hit the American economy. Then there was a terrible recession in the 80s that in some ways was deeper and more frightening than this one. Inflation went out of control and that's when gold and silver spiked. More geologists left the industry at that time than in any of the other downturns - and they never came back.
What brought the industry back at the time were the flow through years in the mid 1980s (Canadian tax benefits on investment in mineral exploration), a boom that ended around 1988 with a lot of similarities to the current downturn. About halfway through 1988 a lot of investors realized they weren't getting liquidity. It was easy to buy stock to get the tax credits but there was no liquidity to be able to sell them, to get your capital back.
KK: The '87 crash didn't help things either, I don't suppose.
DE: No. But ironically it seemed to be more fuelled by lack of liquidity. There was a general malaise that settled in and lasted into the early '90s. Really what pulled us out was the nickel discoveries in Labrador (Voisey's). And Bre-X, unfortunately, and other gold promotions got everybody excited. We really paid the penalty for it (Bre-X fraud) with the downturn in the late '90s and into the early 2000s, which coincided with the incredible bubble in the Tech side.
KK: Terrible metals prices, too.
DE: So, the lack of liquidity now is very reminiscent of what happened at the end of the flow through years. And I would say the current love of investors for dividend paying stocks, has some similarity to the preoccupation with tech stocks that occurred in the late '90s and early 2000s. But the difference is: that was driven by optimism and this is driven by cynicism or fear.
So each crisis had its own drivers. Right now, clearly no one knows which way to go. Everybody's looking at the economy and government debt, saying "There's got to be inflation. There's got to be inflation." But at the same time people aren't putting their bet on inflation. They're going for safe stocks, or what they perceive as safe stocks, that are going to pay them a good yield. They're not going into things like gold which would normally be a safe haven if you thought it was going to happen, largely because, as hard as the governments are trying to inflate things, it's not working.
KK: Stagnation is the word.
DE: Yes. It's very close to stagnation. They're pumping money into the economy which is supposed to have a multiplier effect as it works its way through the system. But it's not working. It's stopping in the financial system. And companies are hoarding there money, saying, "We're going to hold onto this cash because we don't know when the other shoe is going to fall." They're not going to put it back in the economy again, hire extra workers or make investments in new equipment or whatever would drive the economy.
The financial sector is doing the same thing, saying, "We're going to play options and derivatives." All sorts of things that aren't really making investments in the economy. It doesn't filter down to the practical level where real businesses are putting people's feet on the ground and getting things done.
KK: How bad is it for juniors right now?
It's dreadful. It's maybe not quite - not quite - down to the level of the early 2000s. And the only reason I would say it's not quite there yet is because there's enough fat in the system. There are enough companies with fairly good projects that went out and did fairly sizeable financings. So there is some money in the system. But obviously those companies that weren't able to finance, they're on death's door in most cases. Very desperate.
And the companies that have sizeable treasuries are being very cautious about whether or not to spend their money. But they're also looking for opportunities that can be accretive to them: the kind of things majors are often accused of, of being very predatory and picking up projects that are really undervalued, where there are ounces in the ground, pounds of metal in the ground, that are already defined. Very low risk stuff. You can buy them at major discounts to what's been spent to find them.
KK: Do you expect to see consolidation, spurred perhaps by cash considerations?
DE: I think you'll see it. Certainly it's something all the companies are going to have to look at to survive, especially if this goes on for more than another year.
And frankly it's hard to know what will break this cycle. It's going to have to take much stronger growth in multiple economies than is currently contemplated. Or something blows up that drives inflation and everybody says, "I've got to own gold." Those are the only two things I can see turning it around quickly.
KK: I suppose it's hard to see discovery turning it around as major finds haven't been happening.
DE: The funny thing is in the past major discoveries like Voisey's Bay caught everybody's attention. Now it seems when the best discoveries are thrown out there, they're largely dismissed.
What I'm hoping is going to turn this around, eventually, is steady work where you get some of the more serious investors looking ahead and coming back to companies and saying: "Look that group has put together a really good story and in three or four years - it's going to take them that long to go through the exploration and development and planning stages to get a mine ready to go - but in three or four years, about the time things look really rosy again, they're going to be coming into production." Those are the projects I'm hoping are going to pull us out of it.
The resources are still being depleted. Mines are still running out of ore. And there's shortfalls predicted in specific metals. So once you start seeing major M&A - not just desperation moves but deals where there's actually a bit of a premium - that's when I think this thing is going to turn around. But until the economies grow to a point where much higher demand is predicted or that attrition occurs within existing deposits, we're too close to balance, unfortunately, in terms of supply and demand.
KK: In describing juniors these days, a lot of people are turning to evolutionary terminology: extinction events, survival of the fittest and so forth. Appropriate?
DE. I genuinely believe the winners in this cycle are going to be people that are lucky enough to have good treasuries or wise enough to have strong treasuries. There are going to be groups that have got the experience to be flexible and recognize the opportunities that are there and capitalize on them when they occur. The winners in this cycle will be teams capable of taking projects from exploration to production. And not just to early stage feasibility where a project becomes attractive as a takeover. But winning teams will put projects into production and build midtier, or smaller mining companies. I just don't see the majors having enough appetite.
First of all there aren't enough majors left. And secondly they have to have world class deposits. There's been so much amalgamation at the top end that the only projects that make sense to majors are absolutely enormous projects.
In this, there's a real opportunity here for mid-range producers to develop, something that we haven't seen since the consolidation in the early eighties. Look back to 1982, '83, '84: More large companies left the sector than you imagine. There were mining companies merged with other mining companies. There were industrial companies that were worried about insuring they had a supply of a key resource. There were oil companies that saw great potential in mineral exploration. And coming out the backend of that downturn they all left the field.
KK: Right, when the likes of Shell, BP, had mineral exploration departments.
DE: Yes, yes. They all left and never came back. And think of all the mining companies that got merged to form the supergiants you have today. All the mid tier companies got wiped out. They were gradually merged to form larger companies and the large companies were combined to form giants. So a little bit of that has happened in the gold sector, but it really isn't there in other metals to any great degree.
Likewise, I just don't believe the majors have got the will right now to develop projects. They're going to see it is easier to buy projects that are in production than develop them. And they don't want the hassle. They've seen the situations where the locals say at the last minute "No, No. We don't want a mine at any cost." Or they see a change in the taxation regime as a project looks like it is getting close to production; or environmental issues. They don't want those risks. They want it up and running, to know it will make money before they acquire it. That's my guess.
KK: How quiet is it up in the Yukon these days?
DE: We're still busier than most jurisdictions on balance. It's down notably from what it was. It's about a quarter of what it was at the peak. But then at the peak it was probably 50 percent busier than it ever was in history. I would describe it as quiet. You're getting very good value for your money. Everybody has sharpened their pencils. You can get services you need. Analyses are coming in as soon as samples come to site. All the contractors are very competitive in their pricing. There are some good sized projects that are still pretty active. But as always happens in these cycles, the serious money is going into the most advanced projects, the ones closer to development. The grass roots stuff just withers on the vine.
KK: Pity that, at a time with falling ore grades when early stage exploration is more crucial than ever.
DE: Yes. The funny thing is, we're still doing some of that. What would happen two years ago was that prospecting discoveries would be immediately advanced to the drill stage. There'd be holes put in it before the geology was properly mapped and things were systematically explored. But now we're taking advantage of the availability of really good people and also slightly cheaper pricing for analyses and things like helicopters, to get out there and fill those gaps in our knowledge on the best of the targets.
It's nice to be able to get back and do it. It's a very necessary step for a lot of the geos, because so many of them graduated and went straight out to drill programs. They missed that early stage evaluation that's really critical long term to their careers. I think it's probably healthy for the industry.
KK: A lot of exploration data and targets were developed during the recent boom years, 2005-2008, 2010-2011. As you say, the data may not have been properly assessed.
DE: Absolutely
KK: Now teams, looking back, may come up with some surprising ideas.
DE: I believe that's absolutely correct. For years and years and years we've made our mark by just doing research and acquiring projects. And some of them are new discoveries. But a lot of them are projects that other good groups had advanced to a point and either the group itself was disbanded because the company changed it's direction or there was a lot of information that was generated and because everyone was so busy it got delegated to people with too little experience that a lot of it wasn't appreciated for what it was.
We often go back in our research to 1982, because there was all that work done by all those companies. It stopped cold in '82 and most of those projects never got another lick of work and the claims lapsed. The flow through years were also a time when tonnes and tonnes of information was generated. But it all came to a stop before it was properly assessed.
Each cycle creates great opportunity. Fortunately as an industry, and as a group, we've always stuck it out through those periods. And the downturns have been some of the most productive, most profitable periods for us in terms of getting ready for the next cycle. But you have to keep your optimism and your enthusiasm up and be aggressive. Because if you completely sit back on your laurels and say, "I'll wait for it to turn around", you're going to be competing for the same good projects with everybody else when it turns.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Also see: Part I of the junior surival series with Forbes & Manhattan Chairman Stan Bharti: Throwing out bubble parasites
Lundin chairman calls bottom - Junior survival series part III
Lukas Lundin shows optimism - a rare thing these days - about the prospects for the resource sector. Juniors, though, still need to hold tight.
Author: Kip Keen
Posted: Tuesday , 09 Jul 2013
Posted: Tuesday , 09 Jul 2013
In the third part of our junior survival series, Mineweb's Kip Keen speaks with Lundin Group Chairman Lukas Lundin. For the first two parts of the series see links at the end of the interview.
Kip Keen: It's not been great for juniors over the past year or so. I want to get your sense of how bad things are for juniors and where you think this downturn in juniors is going. In context of past downturns, how bad is this?
Lukas Lundin: The 2008 crash was just a bounce. It just went up and down. This time it's been so tough. It's been slow for two years now. What happened is the money is getting out of resources and is going into other stuff. Look at Proctor & Gamble and IBM - they're almost double in the last 18 months. So there's less money available for resources.
But, you know, everybody's complaining about the gold price (which had dipped below $1,200 near the time of the interview). But at $1,200 an ounce two years ago we were very excited. In that context gold miners have been a little mismanaged. They've been managed on growth of production, not quality of assets.
KK: Investors were looking for great margins but those margins disapeared and investors got burned.
LL: Yes. They disappear when costs go up with less quality assets put on stream and with leverage full of debt. But, you know, in general the prices are not that bad. Copper is $3. Nickel and zinc are a bit in the dumps. Met coal is in oversupply right now. Just a bit tough. But I think resources have been way oversold. You see this in the last week or so. The majors are moving a bit forward. You saw BHP, Rio up three or four percent (on Thursday, July 4).
My feeling is we've seen the bottom. I don't think the juniors will come out of it until we see more money going into the bigger cap companies. And that's going to take some time.
Everybody says it's going to last forever. Nothing lasts forever. I think we're at the bottom of it. I'm pretty optimistic we're going to see some more colour in the fall. It's going to be a bit better. But the big ones come back first, and the midcaps too. Then the money, maybe, flows back to the junior market, which is very, very dead. If you don't have a good management team and you're not well financed, you're non-existent. That can turn very quickly, though. When the money comes back to the market it has an amazing ability to revive companies very quickly.
KK: As you point out, one of the big differences in this downturn are the metals prices, which have remained fairly robust. Whereas in some of the past downturns, such as the early '80s, and late '90s falling metals prices preceded stampedes out of juniors. Not this time.
LL: No. And I think it would be very hard to be below $3 copper. And with all these cutbacks by the seniors; first they want to invest; and suddenly, now, they don't want to invest. And they're very scared about rate of return. It's going to have a severe effect on the metal price. I can't say when, but in the next 20, 30, 40 months it will, I would think. If you look at a short copper graph, it looks like it has been way oversold and they're going to have to come back in the market again. So I'm pretty optimistic, actually.
It creates opportunities. For Lundin Mining we were able to buy the Eagle Mine from Rio, on which they spent 10 years and $600 million, and we paid about $300 million.
KK: It's one of the recurring themes in these conversations about downturns: how they create opportunities. Meantime, some would suggest around half the juniors on the TSX-V are going to disappear. What do you think?
LL: It's quite possible. But maybe that's good.
KK: That's a recurring comment as well, that companies without great assets will get shaken out. Do you think smarter teams might make something of projects where others might have missed something? Through the recent boom years, a lot of exploration data and anomalies have been generated, if not major discoveries.
LL: Some of the stuff is not bad. There's an opportunity to build on some of this drilling, for sure. But you know right now it's not a good market for grass roots or even advanced stage exploration projects. Everybody's too scared to put all these things into production. And no majors will put them into production when they cost $3 to $5 billion. Many of them are too scared of capital. Even NGQ (NGEx Resources/Lundin Group) has some great projects, but I can't see moving them in this market.
KK: In your comments earlier, you mentioned optimism. Others who watch the sector closely, however, have expressed a forboding sense that it might just be 1997 again and we might have five more long years ahead of us to slog through before a turn back up. That's not how you're seeing it.
LL: No. I don't think so.
KK: Is the world a different place for resources?
LL: Yes. The world is a different place for resources. Don't forget the whole world has grown. We really need these resources nowadays. It's a very different world. We're consuming in this part of the world. Europe is slugging through its problems. They will get through it. There's a German election in September and Merkel won't do too much until she gets re-elected. And the U.S. has done a major recovery. And India, China: They're not going to go anywhere.
KK: Are you becoming more aggressive looking for opportunities?
LL: Yes. We can take advantage of situations.
KK: Are you looking at advanced stage assets or exploration assets.
LL: We are looking at advanced stage assets in the gold business. But it's surprisingly hard to find anything that seems to make sense. It's quite difficult to find what we're looking for; what we like.
KK: So the economics don't make sense for you on a lot of the gold projects floating around out there.
LL: That's right.
KK: We need to find better deposits then.
LL: Find better deposits. I'm sure there's some around. We're still looking.
KK: In that sense exploration is in a conundrum. We need more exploration, discoveries, but there's no financing. Do juniors need to turn to alternative sources of financing, and if so what are those.
LL: There's really no alternative. If you can't raise money and you can't JV, you really have to be careful. A lot of people are raising $100,000 but that's just to keep the office open. It's not going to get you anywhere. They're just surviving month to month. It's tough. If you have a really good project, you can always find money.
KK: What about new sources of wealth in places like Russia and China.
LL: No. I don't see it. Trying to drag the money out of the Russians or Chinese, would take me 10 years.
KK: Too much hassle.
LL: Too much hassle. And, you know, there's always money available.
KK: Is the Lundin Group pulling back on costs as the downturn unfolds?
LL: No. We are full steam ahead and we are pretty lean as it is. The exploration budget for Lundin Mining is about $50 million a year. We are going to keep it there. Our budget for NGQ is about $20 million and we're going to keep it there.
KK: Any hope discoveries drive us out of this downturn with smarter management working on exploration projects, albeit with more meagre funds?
LL: Discovery would definitely help. But I'm not sure it can drive the market as strong as before. But if we had a discovery in some area for sure it would help quite a lot.
And, again, there's still money around. What happens now is you get very experienced teams that can raise money, but at a pretty cheap level. We've been backing people like that. Before it was very hard to back them because everybody wanted to give them money. Now not that many people want to give out money. So it's a good time to back people like that.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Previous interviews in the junior survival series:
Part I with Forbes & Manhattan Chairman Stan Bharti: Throwing out bubble parasites
Part II with Archer, Cathro & Associates' Doug Eaton: Persistence, profit and surprising ideas
Brent Cook of Exploration Insights is pessimistic on juniors but still buying where he sees opportunity ahead of the turn - which could take years to come, he says.
Author: Kip Keen
Posted: Wednesday , 10 Jul 2013
Posted: Wednesday , 10 Jul 2013
In the fourth part of the junior survival series Mineweb's Kip Keen speaks with Brent Cook of Exploration Insights. Links to earlier interviews are below.
Kip Keen: What do you make of the tough times juniors are facing now in context of past downturns?
Brent Cook: I think the 2008 downturn was an anomaly in that the whole financial sector was crashed. The Fed decided to save the banks and we got to ride along with the easy money, the speculative money. That's what took the junior mining sector back up so quickly. So that's something we can't compare to today because we're the only ones in trouble now. And nobody cares about our sector.
This reminds me a lot more of the '97 to 2002 bust where there's money going elsewhere. In that case it was the Internet/tech bubble. This time it's going into the major markets and that sort of thing. And the problem we really face is that the people that got into the mining sector for the right reasons - being they felt the price of gold was going up and the price of copper was going up; the smart investors, the funds and such - have been burned badly because margins, which is what they're really looking for, didn't go up near as much as they should of gone. So these mining companies have really shot themselves in the foot. And I don't know where the new money is going to come back in. I think we're in for a long, slow stretch where mines go bust, companies go bust and the sector consolidates.
KK: We've been hearing a fair bit about potential consolidation. Do you see a spurt of mergers and acquisitions coming as valuations hit rock bottom?
BC: Some. I don't think we're going to see near as much as a lot of people think because the reality is there are very few quality assets out there and that's something that is hard to wrap your head around. People think, "Well, XYZ company has got three million ounces and it's only selling for $10 bucks an ounce." But the reality is: on most of these ounces you're going to lose money when you factor in capex and such.
So right now the major mining companies are becoming introverted. And one, two, three years down the road a big realisation is going to come: that they do not have the resources and reserves to continue as a viable business. That's when we're going to see the very few quality deposits in junior companies acquired. That's the positive news to all this. After the dust settles, there's going to be a few companies out there that are going to be extremely valuable.
KK: So you're not optimistic about a bounce back in the next year or so?
BC: I don't see it. Really what we're talking about is the gold price. And I don't see a lot out there in the near term that's going to jack up the gold price really high. We have to look at the gold price getting up to $1,600, $1,700 to be really important. Anything can happen. I don't see it. I guess you never see those things.
KK: One of those things that seems different this time around is that metal prices are relatively healthy versus say the downturn during the late '90s and early 2000s when gold lost its lustre. I suppose the current lack of interest comes back to the difficulty miners have had in making profits with skimpy margins.
BC: Exactly. That's the problem we still face. Prices are higher. But so are costs. Your average all-in average sustaining cost for major miners in gold deposits is in the $1,300 to $1,600 an ounce range.
And the difference now is back in the late '90s and early 2000s there was a lot more of the world just opening up to modern exploration. So there were deposits sitting at surface that were much easier to find and put into production. Now we're having to look deeper.
On top of that there are all the problems that come with jurisdictions all over the world: environmental, NGOs, etc. This sort of thing is doubling the timeline to production to at least to five, ten or more years. If you can do it at all. All these things are building up to a crescendo. And so there's not going to be enough metal to meet supply.
Again, that's the positive here.
KK: Do you think that in the recent boom years too much speculative money went into poorly conceived early-stage exploration projects or advanced-stage projects with already dim prospects?
BC: Obviously both. Up to 2008 all this speculative money was pumped into the system and it went into anything and everything. I think you had a lot of people who didn't understand the industry throwing money at anyone who claimed to be able to find a deposit.
Certainly way too much money gets wasted on old dog projects. That's what the Vancouver exchange (TSX-V) survives on. That's a function of the way people operate. Put it this way: I can come to you with a project and say I've got this fantastic idea to spend a $1 million exploring virgin ground in call it Ecuador. And it's going to take me two years and at the end of that all I'll have is some targets ready to drill. Or I can come to you and say, "I've picked up this project that's been drilled by everybody. But there's some good holes in it. We can twin those holes, jack the price up, you can get off your paper, if you want, and you keep your warrant."
Money is pissed away on both.
KK: Do you think the money will come back for early stage exploration? How do you see it playing out it in the months and years to come? Do you subscribe to an extinction model, a sort of clearing out of the field and then a return of the market. Or is the model we have now broken and beyond repair?
BC: This is a cyclical industry. The dumb money will come back. But right now I think we're going to see major extinction in the junior sector and for some of the mid-tier and majors as well. And there's going to be fewer and fewer discoveries. But the companies that survive, the companies that have enough cash to last, and do some significant work and are willing to take the time to do the proper exploration, geology, conceptualization: they're the ones that are going to do well. There's not many of them.
KK: Is it going to be as bad as the downturn that began in 1997 and lasted for several years? You mentioned earlier it felt a bit like that period.
BC: That's how I'm playing it. I think we'll see some short rallies. But they're not going to go very far. It looks tough.
KK: For readers that still want to walk in the minefield, how do they not get blown up? You're still active. Are you highly selective on companies with near term results which could hold promise so you don't get crushed by what may continue to be a slowly descending market? Or do you hold?
One thing I'm holding and buying: solid deposits and projects that are selling for significantly less than what a realistic valuation is, be that from my own work, or a feasibility study net-present-value calculated at a sensible metal price. We don't know when this is going to turn. So my view is I buy something for less than it's worth with the idea that I'll be able to buy it for a third less within a few months. That's how I'm doing it.
KK: What about early stage exploration, those juniors that are making last ditch exploration efforts as they're treasuries threaten to run out. Would you go near those right now?
BC: That's my favourite thing. That's what I really like, getting in for a drillhole, a drill discovery. I'm certainly watching a bunch. But there's not a lot out there.
KK: Financings have dried up, especially from funds and institutions in North America. Do juniors in North America have to turn to alternative sources of cash, perhaps in emerging markets, away from the Toronto institutions that have played such a key role in the industry over the past couple decades?
BC: You mean where are we going to find the next batch of fools? I don't know. I ran into this fellow recently. I was in a meeting with this fund and I went through how the business works - junior exploration. And the guy from Brazil said, "I'm not getting something here. You mean you give these guys money. They go spend it all. They don't find anything and then you give them more money? How does this work?" It's not a concept everybody gets.
KK: What about new sources of wealth, say in China and India where demand for gold is already strong; do you see them playing an increasing role in junior financing?
BC: You'd think so. I've been over there to some of those meetings and also in Dubai and the Emirates. It's kinda a feeding frenzy. The ones who have money show up or they send their representatives and there's all these money grubbers there trying to get their money. So it's kind of off-putting to see it happen. I haven't seen a lot of it. There's some for sure. But not as much as you'd think, money coming into the junior sector. They're very nervous about how aggressive people are seeking them out. That's what I've noticed anyway.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Previous interviews in the junior survival series:
Part I with Forbes & Manhattan Chairman Stan Bharti: Throwing out bubble parasites
Part II with Archer, Cathro & Associates' Doug Eaton: Persistence, profit and surprising ideas
Part III with Lukas Lundin, Chairman of the Lundin Group: Lundin chairman calls bottom


text: I'm so puzzled by this... I was gingerly placing the figure back in his tray and the leg didn't quite drop into the moulded slot... and before I could adjust it, the hip joint--just snapped under the figure's own weight!! WTF?! Astounding. This figure has only been handled lightly... never kept in extreme temperatures, barely exposed to light, only transformed a handfull of times. Is this a documented weak point? Or was I the lucky guy to get one with a moulding flaw? Consider yourselves warned...at my expense. Is there anyone who has left over parts from a kitbash who might be willing to sell this piece?

subset: commoncrawl


text: In this week's Wendy's Rapid Reactions, Mike Florio examines strong reactions from football fans around the country that say there is no need for the NFL to eliminate kickoffs. Will fans boycott watching football if this rule takes shape? How will eliminating kickoffs factor into the frequency of concussions among players?This video is no longer available. Click here to watch more NBC Sports videos!


text:
Makeover Monday - Pearl Drolet
CTV Atlantic
Published Friday, October 27, 2017 6:58PM ADT
Last Updated Monday, November 6, 2017 10:30AM AST
In September 2015, Pearl Drolet stepped on the scale and didn't like what she saw.
"I said, '239 pounds for a five-foot-three person is just outrageous,'" says Pearl. "Something's got to be done."
The 65-year-old, from Kingston N.S., tried starting her weight loss journey on her own, but things weren't working out.
That's when she discovered Weight Watchers.
"I started going there on Tuesdays and I've been going ever since," she says.
Two years and nearly 100 pounds later, Pearl isn't looking back. She now walks about five kilometres a day with her husband Colin, who's been by her side every step of the way on her weight loss journey.
"It wasn't a fast makeover. It's been over the last year or longer that we've worked with the exercise, the walking and everything else together," says Colin.
Pearl is a member of the choir at the Kingston United Church, where she volunteers at community and charity events. Her friend Wendy Robertson believes the makeover will allow her to finally receive the recognition she deserves.
"She's done so well with her weight loss, she just does so much for the community, she's involved in the church all the time," says Wendy.
Colin feels it will be nice for Pearl to finally be put first for a change.
"She's just put so much effort into getting herself back to being healthy," says Colin. "It's nice to see her get the recognition."
Pearl hopes the makeover will change her life in more ways than one.
"I've never been a terribly stylish person. I thought a makeover might be just the thing for me after losing all that weight."


text:
at den Atelier
promoter den Atelier
''If it ain't from the heart, then it can't be art...'' Everlast has had a wild ride as a musician. He's been down with Ice-T; fronted a hardcore, fist-waving, Irish rap trio named House Of Pain; been under house arrest; survived a heart attack; and has conquered the fickle worlds of hip-hop and alternative radio with his chunks of blues guitar and Timberland influenced beats. And all by the age of 30. Oh... and yes! Everlast also won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance, Carlos Santana accompanied on guitar... 'nuff said!
den Atelier & neimënster announce the 3rd edition of the Siren's Call Music & Culture Festivalread more...
12.12.2018 @ 13:14
Tears For Fears to play Neumünster Abbey on June 25th 2019
26.11.2018 @ 11:39
Electro pioneers Kraftwerk announce a tour date for Luxembourg! Tickets go on sale on Monday, October 22nd
19.10.2018 @ 10:00
Bullet For My Valentine return to the Grand Duchy!read more...
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QOTSA to return to Luxembourg in June 2018read more...
12.12.2017 @ 13:37
Ringo Starr to perform in Luxembourg for the first time ever! Tickets go on sale on Friday, December 8th at 10am!
07.12.2017 @ 10:07
First show at Neumünster Abbey announced: LCD Soundsystem | 09.06.2018 | Tickets go on sale on Friday, Nov. 17th!read more...
13.11.2017 @ 14:47
The A goes GALAXIE for the first time ever with QUEEN + ADAM LAMBERT on Nov 12th!! Tickets are available NOW!
21.04.2017 @ 11:09
GENTLEMAN is returning with his MTV Unplugged Tour & Special Guests!! Grab your tix for Dec 21st at Rockhal NOW!!
09.02.2017 @ 14:09
Casper, schedule March 4th at Rockhal, has been postponed to November 2nd!!read more...
23.11.2016 @ 16:32
ATTENTION! We're changing the schedule for shows at den Atelier!read more...
01.09.2016 @ 14:34


text:
Angye Fox
Lexi Thompson, at the age of 12, was the youngest golfer to ever qualify to play in the U.S. Women's Open. She turned pro at the age of 15 and in September of 2011, Lexi set a record as the youngest-ever winner of an LPGA tournament at the age of 16 when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic.
In an interview in October on the PJ Sports Talk Show at the Red Bull (Lexi's major sponsor) Flugtag Event, Lexi shared her story about the positive impact her two older brothers have played in her passion for the game of golf. She also looks up to other professional lady golfers like Nancy Lopez for inspiration.
Lexi Thompson interview on YouTube
And taking the (Red) bull by the horns, Lexi successfully petitioned the LPGA to receive a waiver to the rule that LPGA Tour members must be at least 18 years old, allowing her to enter the 2011 LPGA Qualifying School for Tour membership in 2012.


text:
In order to change the order (ascending or descending by price) in which the listings are displayed on your website, please do the following:
• Click on the house at the bottom of any page and log into your Admin Menu.
• Click on the Website & Listing Preferences link under Website Management.
• Click on Listing Options.
• Check Descending or Ascending for "Sort listings by price in which order?".
• Save Changes.


text:
Dean Pees estimated that in his 25 years as a defensive coordinator, he's spent about 12 of the seasons calling plays from a coaching booth upstairs and 13 of them doing it from the sidelines.
Pees, the Ravens' first-year defensive coordinator, was on the sideline for the team's first seven games but decided to move upstairs for the 25-15 victory over the Cleveland Browns last Sunday. Pees said that he was pleased with how the arrangement, which included the rest of the defensive coaching staff down on the sidelines, worked out.
"After the bye week, I just felt like there is some information sometimes that I could utilize a little quicker in making adjustments and making some calls. You can obviously see the game better from the press box," Pees said. "The other thing is, sometimes it actually speeds up some of the calls. For example, if you're standing on the sideline and they run the ball, I can't really tell if they gained two or four or five yards really until somebody upstairs tells me that. That means there is a little delay. In the press box, when I see the run and it's gained two yards, it's second-and-eight. … That speeds things up a little bit and the other things is you can see some technique things that you can't see on the sidelines if the play is away from you."
Pees acknowledged that the downside is that he cannot communicate directly with the players as they come off the field. However, that's why Pees made sure the rest of the defensive coaching staff was on the field against the Browns. When he noticed something that needed to be corrected, he called down to the sideline to his assistants and had them relay the message.
"I could pass along information to the entire group or to any specific group and get it taken care of right away," Pees said. "We thought, 'Hey, let's take a look at it.' I've done it before so it wasn't a big deal going to the press box necessarily for me. Really, the staff, we thought it worked out pretty well."


text:
Illinois is one of a small number of states that has passed a law on gestational surrogacy. The law provides clear and consistent standards and … [Read more...]
A Family Takes A Stand Against A Bill That Threatened Their Right To Surrogacy
Geoff and Hilary Louvar didn't realize that their right to have a child via surrogacy could be taken away in a heartbeat. In 2009, Geoff and Hilary … [Read more...]
The 1, 2, 3 of American Surrogacy
We asked Lesa Slaughter, a former Intended parent and Fertility Lawyer about the steps to Surrogacy Success in America and she shared some tips with … [Read more...]
Nevada Surrogacy Laws – Surratt Law
Is Surrogacy allowed in the State of Nevada? Yes, Nevada does allow a surrogacy/gestational carrier arrangement. You must comply with the minimum … [Read more...]
Indiana Surrogacy Law – Sapp Law Office
Indiana Surrogacy Law: The Two-Part Legal Process* There are two-parts to the legal process when engaging in a surrogacy arrangement; the contract … [Read more...]
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As an Intended Parent that went to India for Surrogacy, one of the things that has consistently surprised me about international surrogacy … [Read more...]
Surrogacy Together Makes Surrogate Pregnancies More Affordable
A surrogate, Tara Pearce, wasn't all Sara McCarter needed to carry her twins to delivery. Without Surrogacy Together, a surrogacy advocacy … [Read more...]


text:
|25 Nov 2012
BSOD Problem
Hello Guys,
I recently build a computer and it is working good but, when my pc goes on sleep mode, the pc shutsdown (BSOD). This only happens when the pc goes on sleep mode. I have downloaded the SF Diagnostic Tool and here are the results, please someone help me. Please see the attachment (rick2424_SF....)
|My System Specs
|25 Nov 2012
******************************************************************************* * * * Bugcheck Analysis * * * ******************************************************************************* Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information. BugCheck 7A, {fffff6fc40014d70, ffffffffc000009d, 92b4bbe0, fffff880029ae000} Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+36bea ) Followup: MachineOwner --------- 2: kd> !analyze -v ******************************************************************************* * * * Bugcheck Analysis * * * ******************************************************************************* KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (7a) The requested page of kernel data could not be read in. Typically caused by a bad block in the paging file or disk controller error. Also see KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR. If the error status is 0xC000000E, 0xC000009C, 0xC000009D or 0xC0000185, it means the disk subsystem has experienced a failure. If the error status is 0xC000009A, then it means the request failed because a filesystem failed to make forward progress. Arguments: Arg1: fffff6fc40014d70, lock type that was held (value 1,2,3, or PTE address) Arg2: ffffffffc000009d, error status (normally i/o status code) Arg3: 0000000092b4bbe0, current process (virtual address for lock type 3, or PTE) Arg4: fffff880029ae000, virtual address that could not be in-paged (or PTE contents if arg1 is a PTE address) Debugging Details: ------------------ ERROR_CODE: (NTSTATUS) 0xc000009d - STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_CONNECTED DISK_HARDWARE_ERROR: There was error with disk hardware BUGCHECK_STR: 0x7a_c000009d CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1 DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: WIN7_DRIVER_FAULT PROCESS_NAME: System CURRENT_IRQL: 0 LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff80002d06552 to fffff80002c98fc0 STACK_TEXT: fffff880`03763708 fffff800`02d06552 : 00000000`0000007a fffff6fc`40014d70 ffffffff`c000009d 00000000`92b4bbe0 : nt!KeBugCheckEx fffff880`03763710 fffff800`02cbfcbf : fffffa80`11f85160 fffff880`03763880 fffff800`02ecb540 fffffa80`11f85160 : nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+0x36bea fffff880`037637f0 fffff800`02ca6589 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000001 ffffffff`ffffffff 00000000`00000001 : nt!MiIssueHardFault+0x28b fffff880`037638c0 fffff800`02ccca64 : 00000000`00000001 fffff880`029ae000 fffffa80`0af08000 fffff6fc`40014d48 : nt!MmAccessFault+0x1399 fffff880`03763a20 fffff800`02cccc54 : fffffa80`09c5bb50 00000000`00000001 fffffa80`00000000 fffff800`02cc9a9b : nt!MiInPageSingleKernelStack+0x134 fffff880`03763b30 fffff800`02cccbef : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000001 fffffa80`06681890 00000000`00000080 : nt!MmInPageKernelStack+0x40 fffff880`03763b90 fffff800`02ccc928 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 fffffa80`06681800 : nt!KiInSwapKernelStacks+0x1f fffff880`03763bc0 fffff800`02f2fe5a : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KeSwapProcessOrStack+0x84 fffff880`03763c00 fffff800`02c89d26 : fffff880`03365180 fffffa80`0670d040 fffff880`0336ffc0 00000000`00000000 : nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x5a fffff880`03763c40 00000000`00000000 : 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 00000000`00000000 : nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x16 STACK_COMMAND: kb FOLLOWUP_IP: nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+36bea fffff800`02d06552 cc int 3 SYMBOL_STACK_INDEX: 1 SYMBOL_NAME: nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+36bea FOLLOWUP_NAME: MachineOwner MODULE_NAME: nt IMAGE_NAME: ntkrnlmp.exe DEBUG_FLR_IMAGE_TIMESTAMP: 503f82be FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0x7a_c000009d_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+36bea BUCKET_ID: X64_0x7a_c000009d_nt!_??_::FNODOBFM::_string_+36bea Followup: MachineOwner ---------
Event[446]: Log Name: System Source: Disk Date: 2012-10-26T06:17:00.404 Event ID: 11 Task: N/A Level: Error Opcode: N/A Keyword: Classic User: N/A User Name: N/A Computer: JuanRicardo-PC Description: The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Harddisk1\DR1.
If the error status is 0xC000000E, 0xC000009C, 0xC000009D or 0xC0000185,
it means the disk subsystem has experienced a failure.
Try reconnecting the HDD to computer and see if the problem exists
Also run a few tests on HDD
click health tab and post back the results
|My System Specs
|25 Nov 2012
|My System Specs
|25 Nov 2012
It is common to have few bad sectors on the disk.. If it has many then a replacement might be necessary..
Please give this a try
Check your hard disk for errors
|My System Specs
|26 Nov 2012
Please post an mga diag report.
Windows Genuine and Activation Issue Posting Instructions
|My System Specs
|26 Nov 2012
ok will check later on the day...to see the results and I will keep you posted.
|My System Specs
|26 Nov 2012
Diagnostic Report (1.9.0027.0): ----------------------------------------- Windows Validation Data--> Validation Code: 0 Cached Online Validation Code: 0x0 Windows Product Key: *****-*****-7YYHK-KC3KC-VKHJY Windows Product Key Hash: tbqugGSePnn2icXX/FHA4VjqTp4= Windows Product ID: 00371-OEM-9372806-89891 Windows Product ID Type: 8 Windows License Type: COA SLP Windows OS version: 6.1.7601.2.00010100.1.0.048 ID: {03967AE7-7E9F-48C7-AA6D-FFD387314ED3}(1) Is Admin: Yes TestCab: 0x0 LegitcheckControl ActiveX: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Product Name: Windows 7 Professional Architecture: 0x00000009 Build lab: 7601.win7sp1_gdr.120830-0333 TTS Error: Validation Diagnostic: Resolution Status: N/A Vista WgaER Data--> ThreatID(s): N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Windows XP Notifications Data--> Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 File Exists: No Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 WgaTray.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 WgaLogon.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGA Notifications Data--> Cached Result: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Version: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGAExec.exe Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGAAddin.dll Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 OGA Data--> Office Status: 109 N/A OGA Version: N/A, 0x80070002 Signed By: N/A, hr = 0x80070002 Office Diagnostics: 025D1FF3-364-80041010_025D1FF3-229-80041010_025D1FF3-230-1_025D1FF3-517-80040154_025D1FF3-237-80040154_025D1FF3-238-2_025D1FF3-244-80070002_025D1FF3-258-3 Browser Data--> Proxy settings: N/A User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Win32) Default Browser: C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe Download signed ActiveX controls: Prompt Download unsigned ActiveX controls: Disabled Run ActiveX controls and plug-ins: Allowed Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe: Disabled Allow scripting of Internet Explorer Webbrowser control: Allowed Active scripting: Allowed Script ActiveX controls marked as safe for scripting: Allowed File Scan Data--> Other data--> Office Details: <GenuineResults><MachineData><UGUID>{03967AE7-7E9F-48C7-AA6D-FFD387314ED3}</UGUID><Version>1.9.0027.0</Version><OS>6.1.7601.2.00010100.1.0.048</OS><Architecture>x64</Architecture><PKey>*****-*****-*****-*****-VKHJY</PKey><PID>00371-OEM-9372806-89891</PID><PIDType>8</PIDType><SID>S-1-5-21-3056566329-2071647581-227135968</SID><SYSTEM><Manufacturer>To Be Filled By O.E.M.</Manufacturer><Model>To Be Filled By O.E.M.</Model></SYSTEM><BIOS><Manufacturer>American Megatrends Inc.</Manufacturer><Version>P2.50</Version><SMBIOSVersion major="2" minor="7"/><Date>20121031000000.000000+000</Date></BIOS><HWID>1C393907018400FE</HWID><UserLCID>0409</UserLCID><SystemLCID>0409</SystemLCID><TimeZone>SA Western Standard Time(GMT-04:00)</TimeZone><iJoin>0</iJoin><SBID><stat>3</stat><msppid></msppid><name></name><model></model></SBID><OEM/><GANotification/></MachineData><Software><Office><Result>109</Result><Products/><Applications/></Office></Software></GenuineResults> Spsys.log Content: 0x80070002 Licensing Data--> Software licensing service version: 6.1.7601.17514 Name: Windows(R) 7, Professional edition Description: Windows Operating System - Windows(R) 7, OEM_COA_SLP channel Activation ID: da22eadd-46dc-4056-a287-f5041c852470 Application ID: 55c92734-d682-4d71-983e-d6ec3f16059f Extended PID: 00371-00186-728-089891-02-1033-7601.0000-3062012 Installation ID: 001034098304592121223761655926442135936456813091588056 Processor Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88338 Machine Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88339 Use License URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88341 Product Key Certificate URL: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=88340 Partial Product Key: VKHJY License Status: Licensed Remaining Windows rearm count: 3 Trusted time: 11/26/2012 7:47:17 PM Windows Activation Technologies--> HrOffline: 0x00000000 HrOnline: 0x00000000 HealthStatus: 0x0000000000000000 Event Time Stamp: 10:26:2012 10:07 ActiveX: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395 Admin Service: Registered, Version: 7.1.7600.16395 HealthStatus Bitmask Output: HWID Data--> HWID Hash Current: LgAAAAEAAwABAAEAAAABAAAAAQABAAEAln0mUWgR6O10xMK/lsBMZUo60A6WYw== OEM Activation 1.0 Data--> N/A OEM Activation 2.0 Data--> BIOS valid for OA 2.0: yes, but no SLIC table Windows marker version: N/A OEMID and OEMTableID Consistent: N/A BIOS Information: ACPI Table Name OEMID Value OEMTableID Value APIC ALASKA A M I FACP ALASKA A M I HPET ALASKA A M I MCFG ALASKA A M I FPDT ALASKA A M I SSDT Intel_ AoacTabl AAFT ALASKA OEMAAFT SSDT Intel_ AoacTabl SSDT Intel_ AoacTabl SSDT Intel_ AoacTabl BGRT ALASKA A M I
|My System Specs
|26 Nov 2012
Here is the results from mga diag report, please tell me if these got resolve.
|My System Specs
|27 Nov 2012
Win 7 x64 Home Premium (and x86 VirtualBox VM)/Win10
The Key in use here is a COA_SLP Key - which is only valid on machines from a large manufacturer, as backup to the OEM_SLP Key the machine ships with.
You state that you built this machine yourself, and the motherboard appears to be a retail one.
From where did you acquire this copy of Windows 7 and its Key?
|My System Specs
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|BSOD Help and Support
Yet Another BSOD problem.
Hello I get a lot of random BSOD nowadays on my 3 year old laptop. Usually I can pinpoint the BSODs myself, but this time it's beyond my comprehension. Tried several reformats, all drivers update (at least when I last reformatted), different versions of Win 7, also both x86 and x64. BIOS is...
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BSOD Problem :S
Hi, and yes I have BSOD problem as well :) Random ones, system can be stable for couple of days, then it can BSOD 5 times in an hour...there is no rule. I loaded win7 in safe mode no problems there, so i assumed it is some driver problem, also my pc runs perfectly on Vista-64, no crushes. Drivers...
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TiVo Reinstates Lifetime Service Option for $400
Well if you've been waiting to by a Series 3 TiVo, now may be the time to finally take the plunge. TiVo just reinstated the best service option available, lifetime.
The Series 3 TiVo is one of the most compelling multi tuner HDTV DVRs on the market today.


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Heartland Financial USA (Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) Analysis)
Improve your investment analysis with by seeing the Heartland Financial USA's Discounted Cash Flow analysis, Heartland Financial USA's Warren Buffet analysis, and Heartland Financial USA's Comparable Multiple analysis.
Helpful Information for Heartland Financial USA's Analysis
What is the WACC Formula? Analyst use the WACC Discount Rate (weighted average cost of capital) to determine Heartland Financial USA's investment risk. WACC Formula = Cost of Equity (CAPM) * Common Equity + (Cost of Debt) * Total Debt. The result of this calculation is an essential input for the discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis for Heartland Financial USA. Value Investing Importance? This method is widely used by investment professionals to determine the correct price for investments in Heartland Financial USA before they make value investing decisions. This WACC analysis is used in Heartland Financial USA's discounted cash flow (DCF) valuation and see how the WACC calculation affect's Heartland Financial USA's company valuation.
WACC Analysis Information
1. The WACC (discount rate) calculation for Heartland Financial USA uses comparable companies to produce a single WACC (discount rate). An industry average WACC (discount rate) is the most accurate for Heartland Financial USA over the long term. If there are any short-term differences between the industry WACC and Heartland Financial USA's WACC (discount rate), then Heartland Financial USA is more likely to revert to the industry WACC (discount rate) over the long term.
2. The WACC calculation uses the higher of Heartland Financial USA's WACC or the risk free rate, because no investment can have a cost of capital that is better than risk free. This situation may occur if the beta is negative and Heartland Financial USA uses a significant proportion of equity capital.


text: Women's Mephisto boots are luxurious, directional and dripping with style. Featuring sumptuous slip-ons, sophisticated knee-highs and elegant ankle boots with exquisite attention to detail, you will have all you need for a comprehensive closet with this label. Established in 1965 by renowned European designer Martin Michaeli, Mephisto was founded in France, effortlessly expanding throughout Europe and then the world, often preceded by its immaculate reputation. Step from day to night in your favourite women's Mephisto boots.


text:
Switching off cravings – topiramate used to manage addiction
Neurology researchers are looking into how to switch off the intense cravings that triggers addiction. They are doing this by tweaking the reward pathways that reinforce addictive patterns, thus reinforcing growing medical evidence that addiction is NOT moral weakness, but rather, that addiction is brain dependent.
Basic addiction neurology 101
Addicts have different types of brains. The dopamine-producing neurons and circuits are hard wired out of balance in alcoholics and addicts. This imbalance creates a "reward pathway" in their physical minds. Neurons fire at incredibly high speeds, and reinforce the effects of alcohol or drugs. Medications are currently being explored that would slow down this rate of neuron activity.
New findings
Researchers are excited about the new use of an epileptic medication called "topiramate", which works to indirectly influence dopamine receptors in the brain. Positive results of the study involving 371 alcoholics include reduced amounts of drinking, BMI (body mass index), cholesterol, sleeping disorders and obsessive thoughts. The findings of this UVA addiction study are one of a few reported in the September/October BrainWork newsletter from The Dana Foundation, a non-profit organization interested in educating the public about brain science. (I recommend that you sign up for BrainWork…good bathroom reading.)
Just one problem
However, the researchers aim to manage alcohol intake, instead of advocating for total abstinence. This goal begs the question: If cravings can be managed, is it possible to train a former alcoholic to act as a regular drinker? And isn't this option to live as a drinker just what Bill W. and our friends at A.A. balk at, the middle-of-the-road solution? Do such medications solve the problem of choice and willpower? Is topiramate a sufficient solution for the devastation caused by alcoholism, or is the medication compromising the process of recovery?
The fact is that most alcoholic, for reasons yet obscure, have lost the power of choice in drink. Our so-called willpower becomes practically non-existent. We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week or a month ago. We are without defense against the first drink. – The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, page 24
I'm not sure what the answers are to these questions, but I can attest to the fact that my life is enhanced immeasurably without the presence of substances. I trust myself. I take responsibility for each action I take. I make mistakes. I apologize. And I believe that this way of life, taught to me via the 12 Steps, will not be taught to alcoholics who are prescribe topiramate.
What do you think? Is managed alcoholism still alcoholism? Will these medical strides improve the quality of life for a segment of the addicted population? Should we be seeking such treatments at all or should we be walking a straight line that requires addicts choose between intoxication or sobriety?
Leave a Reply
We have a dailey reprieve – drugs to quit drugs – I would suggest some action.
I'm thinking that for most addicted persons, having help through using a med would be a welcome tool as part of the full program to sobriety. The rate of failure/relapse is very high, so another means to sobriety should at least be tryed before disgarding as another way to stay intoxicated. If the meds offer hope of sobriety sooner than later, they should have a place in the tool box of the addicted and their program.


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Well, Sock Camp actually produced socks for me this year! Time for show 'n tell!
This was a fun knit, not only because it is my pattern and the yarn is awesome, but also because it was a mini-kal! I cast-on mine on the way to the airport, Leslie picked her stalled socks up and made serious progress despite breaking ALL of her needles, Celia knit and finished one, Angela (with her fancy new yarn) showed up at camp with hers on the needles, and Laura (she gifted all campers her beautiful stitch markers! She's like that.) showed up WEARING a finished pair!
2. Vanilla Dragon Socks
My homework attempt was lame at best. Although I didn't knit a dragon, I did knit socks for a dragon. They appear misshapen but it is the dragon feet which are the source of the odd shaping :-). They doubled as rocking good dancing shoes.
3. Free Sole Sock
This is my wee sock knit in Anna Zilboorg's (wish she had a real website that would give you the true flavor of who and how amazing she is!) afternoon sock workshop. It is a great technique starting at the toe with a band and worked up the instep. Stitches are picked up and knit together at each edge of the sole. The heel turn and flap follow with the leg on top. Can't wait to make a person size pair! The great thing is you can easily use to make multicolored socks.
4. Darned Sock
This is Leslie's Leyburn Sock. (Ironically in the same color as Celia's sock above.) It had a large blowout at the heel turn. I took it to my darning class with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee and voila. No more hole. Leslie, Steph and I were wondering if the match had a hole too? Seriously, only one sock? And by the way…be more careful with your socks next time, huh?! 😉
I released this free pattern as part of the Solid Socks group Mystery Sock KAL over on Ravelry on April 1st. Here's a picture of Clue 1. I am thrilled to see so many people have downloaded and cast-on! (over 500 and 49 to date, respectively) The next clue will be released on Friday. Join in if you like!
Yarny pictures from camp later this week but right now, I have a second sock to start!!!
Knit on! Honeybadgers love knitting!


text: Wallace G. Haight of Melbourne has been elected president of the Brevard County Manufacturers Association. Haight is president and founder of Power and Signal Systems Inc., a 10-year-old electronics design and manufacturing company in West Melbourne. The association is a private, non-profit association of 85 manufacturers based in Brevard County. Haight, a long-term member, has served as treasurer and second vice president. Other officers serving with Haight are Jim Watts of Marshall Manufacturing, first vice president; Chuck Hoover of McDonnell Douglas, second vice president; and Lee Arnold of the Brevard Achievement Center, treasurer. Other board members include Ron Burns of Harris Corp.; Al Perry of ITT-DCD; Ron Goigel of RGM Industries; Frank Hamm of PRC; and Vilma Williams as associate director with Barnett Bank. Also, the retiring president, Pete McDonald, will continue to serve on the board for 1986 and John McCauley will continue as executive secretary.


text: Unless you're a King or Queen, your son or daughter (whom you love so much), is not going to be a prince or princess. Sure, at the approximate age of five they might go ahead and dress up like one. A daughter donning a pink dress and waving a battery powered magic wand around is not a surprising sight for most parents. And it goes without saying but, it's pretty adorable. And that's perfectly fine, of course. There's nothing at all wrong with pretending to be a princess. Pretending is fun, … [Read more...]


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Product Categories
welding tungsten grinders
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Contact NowTable Tungsten Electrode GrindersTable Tungsten Electrode Grinders Professional tungsten cutting and grinding machine, suitable for all diameter tungsten and all angle, with function of cutting and length setting, easy to operate. Tungsten grinder is indispensable TIG equipment.This table tungsten grinding machine with modern...


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World Tennis Club
World Tennis Club is located in central Naples, close to superb shopping, fine dining and beautiful beaches. Residents have access to a poolside café, 2 heated pools, dry heat saunas and an outdoor Jacuzzi. The community is surrounded by numerous shell paths, lakes and preserves that offer a tranquil environment. Vacation rentals are available for rent directly from the unit's individual owner. Check our list of owners to contact by clicking on the Rental Opportunities link on our webiste. World Tennis Club delivers outstanding value for avid tennis players and outdoor enthusiasts. There are twelve Har-Tru clay courts and four hard courts, with ten of the courts being lit for nighttime play. The Stadium Court provides high capacity seating for the weekly exhibition matches, tournaments and special events that take place throughout the year for your recreation and enjoyment. Our full service Pro Shop is equipped to handle all of your tennis playing needs. The Pro Shop provides an excellent match-making service for every player level that prides itself on quickly integrating newcomers with other guests and members. Our Tennis Professionals, former ATP and Czech Republic Davis Cup player, Pavel Slozil (Director of Tennis) and Bill Juberian (Head Teaching Professional) are available for private lessons. They also instruct free clinics throughout the week for every level of play.
find nearby:
- Arts & Culture
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- Dining
- Golf
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Matsumoto Framing2.26 miles
Red Box Studio2.54 miles
Dennis Goodman Photography and Printing Art Gallery2.56 miles
Botero Galleries2.64 miles
United Arts Council Arts-Mart2.68 miles
Samaniego Fine Art2.93 miles
Rosen Gallery & Studios2.97 miles
Naples Art District3.01 miles
Aldecor3.01 miles
NONA Gallery & Studio3.02 miles
United Arts Council Arts-Mart2.68 miles
Harley Davidson of Naples2.74 miles
Masterpiece Mixers Paint and Party Studio3.2 miles
Collier County Freedom Memorial3.22 miles
Fred W. Coyle Freedom Park3.22 miles
Holocaust Museum & Education Center of Southwest Florida3.3 miles
Time Trial Cycle3.57 miles
Shy Wolf Sanctuary3.61 miles
Naples Gun Range & Emporium3.77 miles
Revs Institute4.07 miles
Clam Pass Beach Park4.1 miles
North Gulf Shore Beach Access5.13 miles
Lowdermilk Park on Naples Beach7.02 miles
Vanderbilt Beach8.02 miles
Naples Beach8.26 miles
Naples Pier8.36 miles
Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park10.07 miles
Barefoot Beach Preserve County Park14.87 miles
China Chef1.07 miles
Capriccio's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria1.5 miles
Sunburst Café1.56 miles
Delicious Raw on Pine Ridge1.57 miles
Local1.67 miles
Patric's Kitchen1.67 miles
Moravela's North Naples1.67 miles
Grouper Grille1.69 miles
Gustitos Bakery - Peruvian Cafe1.71 miles
Bistro Paradis1.76 miles
Grey Oaks Golf & Country Club1.24 miles
Country Club of Naples1.91 miles
Royal Poinciana Golf Club2 miles
Naples Grande Golf Club2.7 miles
High Point Country Club3.26 miles
Naples Grande Beach Resort4.25 miles
PGA TOUR Superstore4.32 miles
Moorings Country Club4.47 miles
Club Pelican Bay5.2 miles
TOURAcademy at Tiburon Golf Club5.48 miles
Weekend Willie's Sports Bar & Grill2.05 miles
Etudes de Ballet Arts and Recreation Center2.1 miles
Miller's Naples Ale House2.38 miles
Noodle's Italian Cafe & Sushi Bar2.49 miles
Pelican Larry's2.88 miles
Decanted Wine & Beer Tastings2.99 miles
Masterpiece Mixers Paint and Party Studio3.2 miles
Norman Love Confections3.31 miles
Arthur Murray Dance Center3.41 miles
Whiskey Park3.57 miles
Home & Salvage2.21 miles
Twinkle Twinkle Little Store3.2 miles
Bit of Everything3.53 miles
Designer Divas5.15 miles
True Fashionistas5.15 miles
Conservancy of Southwest Florida Upscale Furniture Resale Shop5.51 miles
Shabby Cat5.76 miles
Options Thrift Shoppe6.01 miles
Tea with Me at Audrey's6.04 miles
Naples Womans Club Thrift Shop6.04 miles
- Exercise/Fitness Facilities
- Pool Outdoor
- Rec Hall/Clubhouse
- Restaurant Nearby
- Shopping Nearby
- Suburban
- Number of Suites/Condos: 34
- Golf Nearby
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- Full Kitchen
- Washer/Dryer


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Santa Barbara's Nebula Dance Lab will offer three performances this weekend of its show called Re:Vision at the Center Stage Theater in the Paseo Nuevo Mall.
Re: Vision, subtitled "Dance as perception, memory, sensation," features the choreography of Devyn Duex and Emily Tatomer in three works, two of them brand new.
Set to the music of jazz-blues legend Nina Simone, Tatomer's Snapshots is described as "a meditation on sense-memories, some somber and some light-hearted." Deux describes her intense Sand Into Glass, with video art by Erin Martinez, as exploring "the emotional and physical landscape of a journey from self-destructive behavior to healing then to moving forward."
Re:Vision also includes a reprise of Take the Bull by the Horns, a dynamic, cerebral piece by Tatomer that was first performed last year, in Nebula's debut season.
Re:Vision will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Center Stage Theater. Tickets are $18 for general admission and $13 for students with ID, and can be obtained from the Center Stage box office at 805.963.0408 or online by clicking here.
Click here for more information about Nebula Dance Lab.


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A stalactite (UK /ˈstæləktaɪt/, US /stəˈlæktaɪt/; from the Greek stalasso, (σταλάσσω), "to drip", and meaning "that which drips") is a type of formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or manmade structures such as bridges and mines. Any material which is soluble, can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension, or is capable of being melted, may form a stalactite. Stalactites may be composed of amberat, lava, minerals, mud, peat, pitch, sand, and sinter.[1][2] A stalactite is not necessarily a speleothem, though speleothems are the most common form of stalactite because of the abundance of limestone caves.[1][3]
The corresponding formation on the floor of the cave is known as a stalagmite.
Formation and type
Limestone stalactites
The most common stalactites are speleothems, which occur in limestone caves. They form through deposition of calcium carbonate and other minerals, which is precipitated from mineralized water solutions. Limestone is the chief form of calcium carbonate rock which is dissolved by water that contains carbon dioxide, forming a calcium bicarbonate solution in underground caverns.[4] The chemical formula for this reaction is:[5]
- CaCO(s)
(l) + CO(aq)
2 → Ca(HCO
- CaCO(s)
This solution travels through the rock until it reaches an edge and if this is on the roof of a cave it will drip down. When the solution comes into contact with air the chemical reaction that created it is reversed and particles of calcium carbonate are deposited. The reversed reaction is:[5]
- Ca(HCO
2 → CaCO(s)
(l) + CO(aq)
- Ca(HCO
An average growth rate is 0.13 mm (0.0051 inches) a year. The quickest growing stalactites are those formed by fast-flowing water rich in calcium carbonate and carbon dioxide, these can grow at 3 mm (0.12 inches) per year.[6]
All limestone stalactites begin with a single mineral-laden drop of water. When the drop falls, it deposits the thinnest ring of calcite. Each subsequent drop that forms and falls deposits another calcite ring. Eventually, these rings form a very narrow (0.5 mm), hollow tube commonly known as a "soda straw" stalactite. Soda straws can grow quite long, but are very fragile. If they become plugged by debris, water begins flowing over the outside, depositing more calcite and creating the more familiar cone-shaped stalactite. The same water drops that fall from the tip of a stalactite deposit more calcite on the floor below, eventually resulting in a rounded or cone-shaped stalagmite. Unlike stalactites, stalagmites never start out as hollow "soda straws." Given enough time, these formations can meet and fuse to create pillars of calcium carbonate.
Lava stalactites
Another type of stalactite is formed in lava tubes while lava is still active inside.[7] The mechanism of formation is similar to that of limestone stalactites. Essentially, it is still the deposition of material on the ceilings of caves, however with lava stalactites formation happens very quickly in only a matter of hours, days, or weeks, whereas limestone stalactites may take up to thousands of years. A key difference with lava stalactites is that once the lava has ceased flowing, so too will the stalactites cease to grow. This means that if the stalactite were to be broken it would never grow back.[1]
The generic term lavacicle has been applied to lava stalactites and stalagmites indiscriminately and evolved from the word icicle.[1]
Like limestone stalactites, they can leave lava drips on the floor that turn into lava stalagmites and may eventually fuse with the corresponding stalactite to form a column.
Shark tooth stalactites The shark tooth stalactite is broad and tapering in appearance. It may begin as a small driblet of lava from a semi-solid ceiling, but then grows by accreting layers as successive flows of lava rise and fall in the lava tube, coating and recoating the stalactite with more material. They can vary from a few millimeters to over a meter in length.[8]
Splash stalactites As lava flows through a tube, material will be splashed up on the ceiling and ooze back down, hardening into a stalactite. This type of formation results in a very irregularly shaped stalactite, looking somewhat like stretched taffy. Often they may be of a different color than the original lava that formed the cave.[8]
Tubular lava stalactites When the roof of a lava tube is cooling, a skin will form that traps semi-molten material inside. Trapped gases force lava to extrude out through small openings that result in hollow, tubular stalactites analogous to the soda straws formed as depositional speleothems in solution caves, The longest known is almost 2 meters in length. These are common in Hawaiian lava tubes and are often associated with a drip stalagmite that forms below as material is carried through the tubular stalactite and piles up on the floor beneath. Sometimes the tubular form collapses near the distal end, most likely when the pressure of escaping gases decreased and still-molten portions of the stalactites deflated and cooled. Often these tubular stalactites will acquire a twisted, vermiform appearance as bits of lava crystallize and force the flow in different directions. These tubular lava helictites may also be influenced by air currents through a tube and point downwind.[8]
Ice stalactites
A common stalactite found seasonally or year round in many caves is the ice stalactite, commonly referred to as icicles, especially on the surface.[9] Water seepage from the surface will penetrate into a cave and if temperatures are below freezing the water will form stalactites. Creation may also be done by the freezing of water vapor.[10] Similar to lava stalactites, ice stalactites form very quickly within hours or days. Unlike lava stalactites however, they may grow back as long as water and temperatures are suitable.
Ice stalactites can also form under sea ice when saline water is introduced to ocean water. These specific stalactites are referred to as brinicles.
Ice stalactites may also form corresponding stalagmites below them and given time may grow together to form an ice column.
Concrete stalactites
Stalactites can also form on concrete, and on plumbing where there is a slow leak and limestone (or other minerals) in the water supply, although they form much more rapidly there than in the natural cave environment (description and experiments see literature).
The way stalactites form on concrete is due to different chemistry than those that form naturally in limestone caves and is the result of the presence of calcium oxide in concrete. This calcium oxide reacts with any rainwater that penetrates the concrete and forms a solution of calcium hydroxide. The chemical formula for this is:[5]
- CaO
(s) + H
(l) → Ca(OH)(aq)
- CaO
Over time this calcium hydroxide solution reaches the edge of the concrete and, if the concrete is suspended in the air, for example, in a ceiling or a beam, then this will drip down from the edge. When this happens the solution comes into contact with air and another chemical reaction takes place. The solution reacts with carbon dioxide in the air and precipitates calcium carbonate.[5]
- Ca(OH)(aq)
2 + CO(g)
2 → CaCO(s)
- Ca(OH)(aq)
When this solution drops down it leaves behind particles of calcium carbonate and over time these form into a stalactite. They are normally a few centimeters long and with a diameter of approximately 5 mm (0.20 inches).[5]
The White Chamber in the Jeita Grotto's upper cavern in Lebanon contains an 8.2 m (27 ft) limestone stalactite which is accessible to visitors and is claimed to be the longest stalactite in the world. Another such claim is made for a 20 m (66 ft) limestone stalactite that hangs in the Chamber of Rarities in the Gruta Rei do Mato (Sete Lagoas, Minas Gerais, Brazil). However, vertical cavers have often encountered longer stalactites while exploring. One of the longest stalactites viewable by the general public is in Pol an Ionain (Doolin Cave), County Clare, Ireland, in a karst region known as The Burren; what makes it more impressive is the fact that the stalactite is held on by a section of calcite less than 0.3 m2 (3.2 sq ft).[11]
Origin of the term
Stalactites are first mentioned (though not by name) by the Roman natural historian Pliny in a text which also mentions stalagmites and columns and refers to their creation by the dripping of water. The term "stalactite" was coined in the 17th century by the Danish Physician Ole Worm,[12] who coined the Latin word from the Greek word σταλακτός (stalaktos, "dripping") and the Greek suffix -ίτης (-ites, connected with or belonging to)[13]
Photo gallery
Stalactites at the Puerto Princesa Underground River, Palawan, Philippines.
Mineralized water drop forming at bottom of stalactites.
Stalactites of the type called "soda straws" from the Choranche caves in the Vercors, France
A caver standing beside the column in Crackpot Cave
Splash stalactites.JPG
Splash stalactites
Tubular lava stalactites.jpg
Tubular lava stalactites
Tubular lava helictite.jpg
A tubular lava helictite
See also
- Stalagmite
- Lavacicle
- Rusticle
- Karst
- Icicle
- Bottlebrush - Stalactite coated with pool spar.
- Brinicle
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Larson, Charles (1993). An Illustrated Glossary of Lava Tube Features, Bulletin 87, Western Speleological Survey. p. 56.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Hicks, Forrest L. (1950). "Formation and mineralogy of stalactites and stalagmites" (PDF). 12: 63–72. Retrieved 2013-07-08.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ "How Caves Form". Nova (TV series). Retrieved 2013-07-01.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ C. Michael Hogan. 2010. Calcium. eds. A.Jorgensen, C. Cleveland. Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Braund, Martin; Reiss, Jonathan (2004), Learning Science Outside the Classroom, Routledge, pp. 155–156, ISBN 0-415-32116-6<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Kramer, Stephen P.; Day, Kenrick L. (1995), Caves, Carolrhoda Books (published 1994), p. 23, ISBN 978-0-87614-447-3<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Baird, A. K. (1982). "Basaltic "stalactite" mineralogy and chemistry, Kilauea". 4 (4). Geological Society of America Bulletin, abstracts with programs: 146–147.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Bunnell, Dave (2008). Caves of Fire: Inside America's Lava Tubes. p. 124.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Keiffer, Susan (2010). "Ice stalactite dynamics". Retrieved 2013-07-08.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Lacelle, Denis (2009). "Formation of seasonal ice bodies and associated cryogenic carbonates in Cavene De L'Ours, Que' Bec, Canada: Kinetic isotope effects and pseudo-biogenic crystal structures" (PDF). Journal of Cave and Karst Studies. pp. 48–62. Retrieved 2013-07-08.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ "Caves With The Longest Stalactite". Retrieved 2008-06-11.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
- ↑ Olao Worm, Museum Wormianum. ... (Amsterdam ("Amstelodami"), (the Netherlands): Louis & Daniel Elzevier, 1655), pages 50-52.
- ↑ See:
- Dripstone in time-lapse ("Tropfsteine im Zeitraffer") - Schmidkonz, B.; Wittke, G.; Chemie Unserer Zeit, 2006, 40, 246. doi:10.1002/ciuz.200600370
External links
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stalactite.
- The Virtual Cave's page on stalactites
- "Stalactites" by Enrique Zeleny, Wolfram Demonstrations Project.


text:
Launching on July 7th 2014. Orders will be shipped so you have it on this date!
Issue 2 of our project resource magazine contains:
"10 card projects with sketches and finished card illustrations, step by step photo instructions, hints & top tips on featured techniques.
Included is an interactive DVD with all printable files for each project in the magazine (and also some variations) with embeded links to specially created video tutorials with Mike & Ian so you can create each project along with Mike & Ian at the same time from the comfort of your own craft room! This time included on the DVD so you don't need the internet!
Once again the magazine is a limited edition run of 200 only. When stocks run out we will not be reprinting.
Issue 1 sold out within 1 month of publication!
Special Pre-Order price of £12.99, normal RRP £14.99.
Price will rise to RRP on launch date!


text:
Do you want a tube skylight in your bedroom but worry that you can't "shut off" the natural light when you want to sleep late in the morning?
Now you can add lovely, natural light without the worry. Starting this week, VELUX introduces the blackout shade. This easy to install, cost effective shade significantly reduces the amount of light coming through the 10" and 14" SUN TUNNEL.VELUX also makes opaque and blackout blinds for traditional skylights. Available in electric operated and solar powered. Call today to get a free quote.


text:
Now Teach
London and Hastings
United Kingdom
Tel: 020 7430 8878
Website: http://bit.ly/2sXQEt6
About Now Teach
Now Teach was set up 18 months ago to recruit late-stage career changers to teach shortage subjects (maths, science and languages) in challenging schools – schools that might otherwise struggle to fill those vacancies in a sustainable way.
The programme was co-founded by Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times associate editor, and Katie Waldegrave, a social entrepreneur. We want to help inspire a new generation to take an interest in subjects such as science, maths, languages and computer science.
Lucy's story is interesting and characteristic of our Now Teachers. Until last summer, she was a columnist on the Financial Times, but in September 2017, at the age of 58, she gave it up and is now a trainee maths teacher in a challenging London school. Now Teach is in its second year - 46 people started their new careers with Lucy last September. Of our first cohort, about 40% are teaching maths and a further quarter science.
We offer the option of a new and challenging next step to those who are finishing their most recent successful career, those who have taken a career break and mums who are returning to work after taking time out to raise children.
Our programme is tailored specifically for career changers and allows you to train in the classroom four days a week with one of our excellent training providers. You will learn alongside others who are at a similar life stage and Now Teach provides a significant level of support and guidance throughout your two years spent with us.
We value your life skills and want you to transfer them to where it matters most…the classroom.
In the first year of her new career, Now Teacher Alka Bali describes her enjoyment of teaching maths to her students.
This recruiter is not currently advertising. Why not try our job search?