Monday, March 1, 2010

Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, Part 15


We haven't done one of these for a while (late November, to be exact) but today marks the perfect occasion to wheel out another junior miner news release as put through Ottotrans™, as we try to decode the newsspeak into something that resembles normal English. Today's example comes from Colossus Minerals (CSI.to):

This is what they wrote:

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 1, 2010) - Colossus Minerals Inc. ("Colossus" or the "Company") (TSX:CSI - News) Colossus today announced that subsequent to the Company's press release issued on February 26, 2010, there have been numerous publications stating that the vote by COEMA (Conselho Estadual de Meio Ambiente) to grant an environmental license for the Company's Serra Pelada project was passed by a margin of 8 to 2. While the Company believes this information to be factual, confirmation will only be validated once an environmental permit is issued. The Company will provide an update as soon as more information is received.
And this is what it means:

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - March 1, 2010) - Colossus Minerals Inc. ("Colossus" or the "Company") (TSX:CSI - News) Colossus today announced that subsequent to the Company's press release issued on February 26, 2010, there have been numerous publications making us look really stupid by presenting facts that we wanted to keep quiet. We didn't realize that other people had access to the interwebs, you see. They pointed out that the vote by COEMA (Conselho Estadual de Meio Ambiente) to grant an environmental license for the Company's Serra Pelada project was passed by a margin of 8 to 2. While the Company believes this information to be factual, we really wanted to wait until President Lula da Silva arrives in Serra Pelada on his scheduled visit this month (March 2010) and wanted him to do the big protocol bit by presenting the environmental permit, because it would have made for the best photo-opportunity ever and leaking the news now steals some of our thunder. Therefore we will try to play dumb on the whole story and the confirmation will only be validated once an environmental permit is issued, even though company insiders bought 153,600 shares on Friday. The Company will provide an update as soon as more information is received.