Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, Part 44

Our occasional series that tackles a difficult subject, that of translating mining NRs into something vaguely understandable, today again zooms in on old favourite Nadagold (NG) (NG.to) and it's publication this morning.

This is what they wrote:

Press Release Source: NovaGold Resources Inc. On Wednesday September 7, 2011, 8:30 am

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -09/07/11)- NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX: NG.TO - News)(AMEX: NG.TO - News) The feasibility study completed on the Donlin Gold Project (formerly Donlin Creek) in 2009 is being updated to include power generation utilizing natural gas delivered to site via a proposed 500-kilometer natural gas pipeline from the Cook Inlet to the mine site. Utilizing natural gas is expected to lower costs to generate power and reduce operating risk. In connection with this update, Donlin Gold LLC, owned equally by wholly owned subsidiaries of NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NovaGold") and Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick"), has provided its owners with preliminary capital cost estimates of approximately US$6billion for the Project with an additional approximately US$1 billion for the natural gas pipeline. The previous capital cost estimate for the Project released in April 2009 was US$4.5 billion and did not include a natural gas pipeline. NovaGold was advised by Barrick that it will also discuss these preliminary capital costs estimates for the Donlin Gold Project at its Investor Day taking place today in Toronto, Canada.

"Since April 2009 the price of gold has more than doubled, yet capital costs have increased in line with the industry trends," commented Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, NovaGold's President and CEO. "We are encouraged by these developments and look forward to receiving the updated feasibility study before the end of the year."

Donlin Gold has advised its owners that this capital estimate is preliminary in nature with significant review and coordinating work remaining to be completed before the estimate is finalized for the updated feasibility study. Such work includes, among other activities, coordinating reviews between independent consultants, peer reviews and a final review by AMEC Americas Limited ("AMEC") as the feasibility study lead consultant. In addition, Barrick has initiated a full third-party review of the capital cost estimate by an independent consulting group with the results of such review to be provided to AMEC and Donlin Gold prior to the capital estimate and feasibility study estimate being finalized.

It is anticipated that the feasibility study update, including a revised National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report by AMEC will be completed before the end of 2011. The feasibility study update will include the finalized capital cost estimates, updated operating costs, reflecting lower power costs and higher diesel, labour and other costs relative to the previous study, and revised economics based on these and other reviewed technical inputs. The revised economics will be based on current long-term forecasted gold prices which have risen significantly compared to US$900 per ounce of gold that was used in the 2009 feasibility study. NovaGold will announce details and results of the updated feasibility study when available.

The Donlin Gold Project is one of the world's largest undeveloped gold projects with proven and probable mineral reserves of 33.6 million ounces, measured and indicated mineral resources of 4.3 million ounces and inferred mineral resources of 4.4 million ounces.Please see the attached resource and reserve table for full disclosure. The updated feasibility study will contain revised mineral reserve and resource estimates. The Project is anticipated to be capable of producing over one million ounces of gold per year for over 25 years with significant additional exploration targets identified on an eight-kilometer mineralized trend. The Partners expect to formally initiate permitting for the Project early in 2012.

The technical information contained in this press release was reviewed by Kevin Francis, SME Registered Member, VP, Resources for NovaGold and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

About NovaGold

 
And this is what it means:

Press Release Source: NovaGold Resources Inc. On Wednesday September 7, 2011, 8:30 am

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire -09/07/11)- NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX: NG.TO - News)(AMEX: NG.TO - News) The feasibility study completed on the Donlin Gold Project (formerly Donlin Creek) in 2009 is being updated to include power generation utilizing natural gas delivered to site via a proposed 500-kilometer natural gas pipeline from the Cook Inlet to the mine site. Utilizing natural gas is expected to lower costs to generate power and reduce operating risk. In connection with this update, Donlin Gold LLC, owned equally by wholly owned subsidiaries of NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NovaGold") and Barrick Gold Corporation ("Barrick"), has provided its owners with preliminary capital cost estimates of approximately holy shit you gotta be joking me Rick US$6billion....you're serious, dude? for the Project with an additional approximately US$1 billion for the natural gas pipeline...oh, just another billion thrown in there, don't worry about it. The previous capital cost estimate for the Project released in April 2009 was US$4.5 billion and did not include a natural gas pipeline. NovaGold was advised by Barrick that it will also discuss these preliminary capital costs estimates for the Donlin Gold Project at its Investor Day taking place today in Toronto, Canada.

"Since April 2009 the price of gold has more than doubled, so for fuck's sake stop looking at that seven billion dollar capex number, willyaz?" commented Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, NovaGold's President and CEO. "We are encouraged by these developments because that's what we have to say to look good in front of the mining knownothings in New York that we've strung along so far and we hope that they fall for our bullshit again this time."

Donlin Gold has advised its owners that this capital estimate is preliminary in nature with significant review and coordinating work remaining to be completed before the estimate is eventually doubled in the manifold studies that will be done before anything close to a build decision is made, perhaps around 2025. Such work includes, among other activities, hitting rocks with hammers, drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the evenings and sitting around wondering just why we're still taken seriously as a gold exploration junior, what with a combined capex of over $12Bn for our two main projects....I mean, what's 20% of the market cap of Barrick between friends anyway?

It is anticipated that the feasibility study update, including a revised National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report by AMEC will be completed before the end of 2011. The feasibility study update will include the finalized capital cost estimates whatever that means, because we say finalized to make it sound all certain then throw in estimates to cover our asses with the reality of thing, updated operating costs, reflecting lower power costs and higher diesel, labour and other costs relative to the previous study, and revised economics based on these and other reviewed technical inputs which sounds all important, doesn't it? The revised economics will be based on current long-term forecasted gold prices which have risen significantly compared to US$900 per ounce of gold that was used in the 2009 feasibility study, but we haven't decided which number to guess at yet. NovaGold will announce details and results of the updated feasibility study when available.

The Donlin Gold Project is one of the world's largest undeveloped gold projects and will almost certainly stay that way until the cows come home with proven and probable mineral reserves of 33.6 million ounces, measured and indicated mineral resources of 4.3 million ounces and inferred mineral resources of 4.4 million ounces, all of which worth precisely nothing until they can be dug out the ground so quit it with all those in-situ valuation comparatives will you please, dumbass anal ysts? The updated feasibility study will contain revised mineral reserve and resource estimates. The Project is anticipated to be capable of producing over one million ounces of gold per year for over 25 years with significant additional exploration targets identified on an eight-kilometer mineralized trend. The Partners expect to formally initiate permitting for the Project early in 2012.

The technical information contained in this press release was reviewed by Kevin Francis, SME Registered Member, VP, Resources for NovaGold and a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

Love and Kisses, Rick!

Nadagold (NG): My two fave bits from the Galore Creek PFS out tonight

It's actually pretty easy to choose from all the crunchy goodness offered up in the NR tonight.

It's this bit.... 

...and then this bit:

I love these guys, though I get the feeling that Rick!'s secretary may have heard him wrong while dictating his quote for the NR. I mean, when he said...

"The results of the Prefeasibility Study clearly indicate that Galore Creek is a very valuable asset,” said Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President & CEO of NovaGold."

...surely that should say "vulnerable asset"? DYODD, dudettes & dudes.

Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, Part 42

Today's attempt to wade through the mining industry's purple prose and get to a grain or two of truth is based upon this morning's NR from Rick Van Alphabet and the guys at Nadagold (NG):

This is what they wrote:

Press Release Source: NovaGold Resources Inc. On Thursday June 23, 2011, 9:00 am

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 06/23/11) - NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX:NG - News)(AMEX:NG - News) announces significant advancement towards completion of the prefeasibility study on its Galore Creek copper-gold-silver project ("Project") located in northwestern British Columbia. The study is being prepared by Galore Creek Mining Corporation ("GCMC"), owned equally by subsidiaries of NovaGold Resources Inc. ("NovaGold") and Teck Resources Limited ("Teck").

Completion of the prefeasibility study is expected by the end of July 2011 and AMEC Americas Limited, an independent supplier of engineering and project management services, is concurrently preparing a National Instrument 43-101 compliant technical report. Upon receipt of the technical report, NovaGold will announce the results and file it on SEDAR and EDGAR within 45 days of the announcement.

The partners have approved a $30.5-million budget to carry out further work on the Project during the remainder of 2011. Planned work includes infill drilling to convert inferred mineral resources to measured and indicated categories, geotechnical drilling on the tunnel alignment and geotechnical drilling to confirm open pit slopes in areas targeted for conversion of inferred mineral resources. GCMC will also complete further environmental and engineering work in preparation for feasibility level studies.

"Completion of the prefeasibility study will be an important milestone as we work with Teck to optimize the Galore Creek project," said Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, President and CEO of NovaGold. "Galore Creek is one of the most significant copper-gold projects in the world. Its timely development is important for all stakeholders, including Federal and Provincial governments as well as First Nation communities of northwestern British Columbia."

During the second quarter of 2011, Teck completed its funding requirements of $373 million to earn its 50% interest in GCMC. The Project will move forward with Teck and NovaGold equally funding further Project development.

And this is what it means:

Press Release Source: NovaGold Resources Inc. On Thursday June 23, 2011, 9:00 am

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 06/23/11) - We cool dudes at NadaGold Resources Inc. (TSX:NG - News)(AMEX:NG - News) want to remind you all about what's happening at Galore Creek, because since the Kaplan guys sold oodles of shares earlier this year the stock is down about $5 to $9. So anyway, remember Galore Creek? Yeah that's right, the project we brought on board back in 2003 is now aggressively moving to a pre-feas stage! Wowsers, nobody can ever accuse us of dragging our heels, can they? Well in fact that's a bit wrong, because back in 2006 we already had a Full Bankable Feasibility Study done on Galore Creek that put the capex at U$1.8Bn....but then things got a bit smelly and we found out that the real cost of capex would be up to U$5Bn (yeah, five billion dollars) and so our JV partner Teck told us where we could stick our plans. So anyway, here we are nearly four freakin' years later and the new SparklySpangly Pre-Feas is nearly ready and we sure hope that you fall for our smoke'n'mirror exercise one more time, because so far you New York based sheep have been great to us.

Oh, and by the way, Teck has fulfilled its payment obligations on the JV now and so from today there's no more free ride on Galore Creek and we're going to have to burn your money on this dog that will never be a mine, new power line through the joint or not. 

Love and Kisses, Rick!

UPDATE: Message to Ian Bezek: "Widely respected?" You gotta be kidding dude...that's the last thing we'd want to be known as round these parts.

Nadagold (NG): Look closer

RICK!

It's the little things that matter sometimes, those devils in those details. Combine a smarter than average financial journalist who knows how to get things past his editors at FP with eagle eyed IKN reader 'MP' and here's what you get (red type added here):

NovaGold settlement set at $28m

Sutts, Strosberg deal awaits OK from judges

Jim Middlemiss, Financial Post Published: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Sutts, Strosberg's investment in U.S. class-action securities lawyer Andrew Morganti appears to be paying off with the announcement that the firm has reached a $28-million cross-border settlement on behalf of investors in NovaGold Resources Inc. The settlement must still be approved by judges in Canada and the United States. NovaGold was represented by Gowlings lawyer Kelley McKinnon, a former deputy director of enforcement at the Ontario Securities Commission.

The Sutts, Strosberg firm sued NovaGold in October, explained Jay Strosberg, who worked on the case along with Mr. Morganti. Mr. Morganti joined Sutts Strosberg last April after working at the U.S. class-action giant Milberg LLP and knows all about class actions, having been involved in lawsuits that won millions of dollars for plaintiffs.

The Sutts, Strosberg firm became involved in the suit after U.S. law firm Labaton Sucharow sued NovaGold in the United States, but a court there ruled it didn't have the "jurisdiction to deal with Canadian investors," Mr. Strosberg said. So his firm launched a parallel action in Canada on behalf of Canadian investors.

The claim, directed at the company and its officers and directors, alleges the defendants misrepresented that the Galore Creek mining project was "economically feasible when they knew or should have known that the construction of the Tailings Dam would cost substantially more than publicly disclosed figures."

CONTINUES HERE

Sheesh, for a while there I actually thought John Paulson was smarter than the rest

You can see John Paulson's thought process. What with his highly touted gold fund only attracting minimal business (he's put up U$250m of the U$340m in capital so far from his own pocket), Paulson has worked out he needs more leverage to gold to get the punters to bite. Fair enough, because if you think about it for more than a second all that Paulson's gold strategy has offered 3rd parties so far is a 1:1 levered gold ETF....so why pay a fund manager his 2/20 when you can get precisely the same deal by buying the gold ETF (GLD) yourself?

So Paulson starts looking round for leverage and right at that time, guess who's hanging in NYC?

RICK!

Yeeeeaaah baby, Rick van Alphabet in da house. The result is watching yet another $100m get thrown at the biggest gold confidence trick of the 21st century. Paulson, I really thought you were smarter than to be suckered in by a snakeoil salesman. Here's the NR, out last night:

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - 03/04/10) - NovaGold Resources Inc. (TSX:NG - News)(AMEX:NG - News) today announced that it is proposing to issue 18,181,818 common shares of the Company at a price of US$5.50 per common share for gross proceeds of US$99,999,999 (the "Offering") to several investment funds managed by Paulson & Co. Inc.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering to fund general exploration and development on the Company's advanced properties including Donlin Creek, Galore Creek and Rock Creek, its early-stage Ambler property, and for general corporate purposes, including funding yada yada continues here

Nadagold (NG): The trainwreck publishes its YE

RICK!

As usual, Nadagold (NG) gives us a long spiel of a news release and buries the bad news at the bottom where they hope nobody will see it. Yeah sure they lost 42c per share over the year.....they've never cared about that before, so why should they care now?

Nah, here's the real news from the NG presser. Because working capital is running out fast and is not enough to cover its programmed expenditures in 2010, even though they're not mining anything or even making any sort of decision to even build a mine......

Based on anticipated but not committed expenditures on its projects, the Company will require financing within 12 months to meet its expected ongoing requirements, which include funding for work at Donlin Creek, general and administrative expenses, and care and maintenance expenditures at Rock Creek. Under the terms of the revised partnership agreement with Teck, the Company has no near-term funding obligations at Galore Creek. The Company also expects to require significant financing in future years to meet its share of development costs on the Donlin Creek and Galore Creek projects. The Company intends to fund its plan of operations from working capital and the proceeds of financings. Future financings are expected to be obtained through joint ventures, debt financing, convertible debt, exercise of warrants and options, equity financing, production-sharing arrangements or other means. However, there is no assurance that these initiatives will be successful.

Yep, they gonna dilute your tush again...and again.....and again. And just think, this comes just a couple of weeks after arch-scamster Rick! awarded himself $1.48m in options. Know this ridiculous company and the joke management that runs it by its deeds, not its words.

Nadagold (NG): Rick! is as Rick! does

RICK!

It didn't take long for the leopard to show his spots. Here's how Rick! Van Alphabet thinks a CEO should act, keeping down expenses and showing a lead to his troops and all that.....by robbing his shareholders blind again.

NovaGold Resources Inc. (NG)						As of January 28th, 2010
Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Jan 28/10	Jan 21/10	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Options	50 - Grant of options	231,250	$6.400

That's $1.48m added to the costs of Nadagold (NG) this quarter, to please the greed of its top man. Fulp's phrase about 'mining the stock market' springs to mind. Another one is "Shareholders: If they can't take a joke f*** 'em."

h/t fulp

Nadagold

RICK!

Mineweb link here and article starts like this. You reap what you sow in this game.

A New York-based law firm is investigating possible misconduct related to the securities of NovaGold Resources.

The pending litigation would become one of several class action lawsuits which have been filed against the Vancouver-based junior gold miner stemming from statements it made regarding the costs, progress and viability of the Galore Creek copper and gold project.

The law firm of Wolf Haldenstein is investigating whether American investors who bought NovaGold securities between January 24, 2006 through November 25, 2007, may have been mislead by statements made by NovaGold officers and directors concerning the costs, progress and viability of its Galore Creek project.

Nadagold (NG) Update

It's been a while since we looked at the doings and goings on of Nadagold (NG), the all mighty dog-of-all-dog mining company (and by that I mean pockets, not gold). Let's start off with the price chart and....

....oh dear, that's not right, is it? But thanks to reader 'M' (thank you) we got ourselves something to chew on and can find out a bit of reasoning as to why the company is going down like Jenna Haze*. Up in Nome Alaska, Ricky van Alphabet has been trying to do some PR to stop the bad public opinion building against him and the company. He also finally got round to paying the money NG owed to local authorities, as 'M' notes:

They did finally pay the City the $1.9mm it owned them. Nova wanted to swap land for the bill but the Nome City fathers shot that down and made them pay cash.

Alphabet was also out there hitting the radio stations and combatting another front of bad vibes locally, because Nadagold has been slapped with a US gov't violation order on the cleanup of its Rock Creek project near the city. Y'see, the pisspoor engineering done by NG meant that the whle area behind the tailings wall flooded out and the company was told to pump (or be fined) before the freakin' wall collapses and real damage is done. Sure enough NG dragged its heels on the job so the enviro people slapped them with yet another violation. So now as part of the clean-up operation NG wants to pump its waste into the Nome sewage system, to which reader 'M' commented:

The word on the street is the community is not too keen on the idea of the mine pumping their excess water to Nome and into the sewage lagoon (see Nugget story). Not so much as it will affect the lagoon, but more as "why should we bailout these guys for bad engineering especially since RVN stated in the press that the drunk Nome workforce was one of the reasons the mine closed (another Nome Nugget story from earlier this year)".

Drunken workforce, eh? Let's see what our friend the owl thinks of that concept
You sure got a smooth way with words, Rickyboy.

Word also has it that NG is doing some resource drilling. Time for a little smoke'n'mirrors press release? Only time will tell, but do the right thing and leave this dog to the idiots in New York City that actually believe NG will one day produce gold. Biggest scam out there, avoid like the plague. Find out all the details of the above at The Nome Nugget here and at the right page for most of the words here.

*Before you say anything, I Googled and found out the name of the latest star in the sector. Didn't know previously.

Nadagold: Even rich people are beginning to notice the scam

I was sent the following chart from somebody up North (let's say) who is also in the position to have one of those fancy Bloomberg terminals in front of him all day (let's say). It seems like even those people with more money than se...NOO!!! I mean.... "with the funds available to invest in the finest quality financial datamining equipment" are beginnning to notice how Nadagold (NG) management are milking their own cash cow at the expense of others.

Anyway, great chart. Just notice how those little green arrows and little red arrows all stack up. About as subtle as a brick in the face.

Fans of Rick! pay for his summer vacation

RICK!

Since when does anyone need to extract metals from rocks to be a successful miner, anyway?

May 31/09	May 28/09	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-1,300	$5.250
May 31/09	May 28/09	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$5.000
May 31/09	May 27/09	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-10,000	$4.950

Shorted Nadagold (NG) at the bell

From Webster's thesaurus

Noun

1.

nada - a quantity of no importance; "it looked like nothing I had ever seen before"; "reduced to nil all the work we had done"; "we racked up a pathetic goose egg"; "it was all for naught"; "I didn't hear zilch about it"

I couldn't resist it any longer and shorted NG at the bell at U$3.46 with a short-termer's outlook. Nadagold (NG) popped hard on no news yesterday and I suspect some fool newsletter got his followers to buy...but that's just a guess. Anyway it's now in the realm of stupidhigh and being over U$3 makes the short easier to grab, too. DYODD.

Novagold: But Seriously Folks.......

Ok, no Nadagold or Rick! Van Alphabet jokes here for a second. It's time to seriously question this company and examine the short case for Novagold (NG) (NG.to). To do that we need to check out the circumstances of its three main projects, Rock Creek, Donlin Creek and Galore Creek.

Rock Creek: Supposedly opened last year but soon closed down and has remained shut. Violated environmental regulations and got into trouble with the authorities. Bad atmosphere and community relations with the people of Nome, Alaska. NG has no plans to re-open Rock Creek and has made noises about selling the asset. The Rock Creek debacle demonstrates that this company is inept and incapable of running a goldmine.

We should also remember the very shady and underhand insider selling that went on late last year. For sure Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse and Greg Johnson can claim they were forced to sell by margin calls once the financial woes were made public. However Johnson started systematically selling his stock way before any margin pressure could have been put on him. He started selling stock at the very same time as Rock Creek's "production" ran into serious problems...almost to the day, in fact. He also started selling his stock the very same day that Wellington West recommended NG as a buy with a 75% upside price target.

So thanks to its Rock Creek operation we have evidence at Novagold of managerial and mining incompetance, poor social and community relations and shady inside dealings.

Donlin Creek: The 43-101 compliant feasibility report announced two days ago was woeful. And this isn't just my view, as Ron Coll of Jennings called the numbers "atrocious". Novagold will push the absolute amount of gold at Donlin but it cannot and will never make up for the fact that the study calls for $4.5BN in capex, $803m in sustaining capital and then, after all that cash, can only promise a meagre 10% IRR if gold manages to get to and stay at $1,000/oz. That in layman's terms is a lot of buck for not much bang, trust me.

Then yesterday we heard JV partners Barrick (ABX) telling us that Donlin Creek was way down the list of its priorities. So let's put this as simply as possible: Unless gold goes to and stays at $1,500/oz, Donlin will never be a mine. Never. Not now not ever, it really is that simple.

Galore Creek: Finally we get to Galore Creek, a JV with Teck. As everyone in the mining business knows, Teck is going through a whole house of pain right now as it scrambles to make payment on the bridge loan it took out to pay for a whole heap of coal it wanted to buy (aka Fording). And as Teck is at heart an industrials mining company it's selling off all the non core PM asset that it can. There's very little chance that Teck will do more than the strict minimum at Galore to keep its share, something the market and NG has already acknowledged. Galore is another project along the lines of Donlin, and we already know that capex projection at Galore turned out to be shockingly high. Also, it has been examined and dropped and examined and dropped by several different mining company for decades on end and has never become a mine. This in itself is a wake-up call.


Company Struture: To cap this all off, the company reported having cash of $78m and working cap of $62m on February 28th and a burn rate of $100,000 per day once one-time charges are backed out. If that burn has kept on burning we'll be down to $56m in working capital by now.

However the market prices NG at a touch under $500m. So in the strange world that is Novagold, $56m + two unworkable projects + one for sale booked as a $110m asset= $500m. Even if we're as generous as can be, say NG has $80m cash right now and ignore any debt on board, we're assuming $300m for Donlin and Galore combined. To give you more colour here, Scotia this morning (Apr 30th) reduced the NPV of Donlin to zero. Also, Teck announced today it was continuing with its fire sale of assets by selling its Pogo project to Sumitomo. You seriously believe they're going to move forward a marginal project like Galore under present circumstances? Wanna buy a bridge?

Bottom line at NG: Inept management + bad assets + high burn rate+ rapidly declining cash pile = NG is a seriously overpriced stock. It's currently being held up where it is by a group of people in serious financial denial. That will change.

Recommendation: Short NG

DYODD.

UPDATE: Oh look who's selling his stock again...just days before that Donlin 43-101, too. Lordy, this mgmt stinks to high heaven.

Apr 29/09

Apr 22/09

Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick

Direct Ownership

Common Shares

10 - Disposition in the public market

-10,000

$3.000

Nadagold (NG) reports

RICK!

I love these Nadagold (NG) guys and you should, too. The perfect example of the slick, positively spun but ultimately meaningless press release. We can all learn from them how to be all that we want to be in this fine 21st century world that rewards BS more than honesty. Here's the link so go read yourself, but once you wade through the guff and style at the top you start getting to the substance at the bottom. This is the bit I like:

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The Company's three material projects are the Donlin Creek, Rock Creek and Galore Creek projects. The Company's remaining share of the 2009 budget at the Donlin Creek project is approximately US$10 million, part of which will be incurred completing the feasibility study and the remainder is planned to be used for permitting activities at the project. The Rock Creek project is in care and maintenance, pending a review of whether to recommence start-up at the project. The current remaining care and maintenance budget at Rock Creek for 2009 is approximately US$7 million. The budget for care and maintenance and optimization studies activities at the Galore Creek Project for 2009 is $16 million, however, NovaGold is not required under its revised agreement with Teck to fund any of those costs.

The Company does not plan to commence development or construction at its Donlin Creek and Galore Creek projects in 2009, nor does it currently plan to recommence the start-up process at the Rock Creek project. However, the Company will need external financing to develop and construct its major properties and to fund the exploration and development of its other mineral properties in future years. Sources of external financing may include bank borrowings and future debt and equity offerings. There can be no assurance that financing will be available on acceptable terms, or at all. The failure to obtain financing could have a material adverse effect on the Company's growth strategy and or results of operations and financial condition. Development of the mineral properties would require significant capital expenditures. There can be no assurance that the Company will be able to secure the financing necessary to retain its rights to, or to begin or sustain production at, any of its mineral properties.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Because it's now clear that NG isn't going to re-start Rock Creek anytime soon despite all the hopeful noises made earlier this year. Instead it's going to spend another $7m on care and maintenance there. Whether that expense includes paying back the $15m or so the company still owes to its suppliers in Nome is not made totally clear.

We also get a budget for the rest of the year. Add em up and divide by three (the first quarter is done) and we see that NG needs to spend $5.66m per quarter to keep its project expenses on track in 2009. I suggest you make a mental note of that number and compare it to the loss NG reports in the second quarter as it'll give you some idea of just how much cash is wasted in non-core stuff such as office space, Martini lunches, photocopiers, executive jets etc. Why follow this number? Because according to filings, expenditures on the three 'material projects' were $4m in 1q09 and the net result at the company was a $28.5m loss. Hopefully $15m went to pay off those previously mentioned and very patient suppliers in Nome, but as for the other $9.5m minimum it's anyone's guess. Seriously, that's at least $100,000 a day in non-core expenses for a company whose only income is a few hundred thousand a quarter selling gravel.

Or in other words, shareholders in NG are perfectly matched to the management team: More money than sense. DYODD.

Nadagold (NG): If you'd listened....

.....you'd be short at U$3.70 too, just like your horntootin', smug (and somewhat richer) Otto. And before you open up the e-mail page, I know just how annoying I am. No need to remind either myself or my family. And no need to question the legitimacy of my parents' state of wedlock at the time I was born, either.

The short only started on Feb 5th but not covering yet. No way José.

Nadagold (NG): Just follow the instructions on the shampoo bottle.....

.......and everything comes out clean, bright and sparkling.

And those instructions are LATHER, RINSE AND REPEAT.

Hey Look! Our lucky pal Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse has just awarded himself 838,000 new stock options to replace the ones he claims "he had to sell due to a third party margin call".

Totally unrelated thought for the day: Not all thieves wear black and white striped sweaters and carry bags labelled 'Swag'.

Nadagold (NG) update

Rick "lucky timing" Van Nieuwenhuyse

Hey, look at the lucky timing of the insider selling from Nadagold's CEO. There's nothing like half a million dollars in pre-tax profits to cushion the blow, is there? Note that RVN sold 300,000 shares the trading day before his company finally admitted to being totally in the caca. One day before!!! ROFL...talk about impunity and brass neck!

I guarantee that if you contact the company about the following insider sales, they'll say to you, "Oh, but it was a margin call..totally in the hands of the brokers, and nothing at all to do with the NG President and CEO Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse" Or some such BS.

The man is a crook. No other word for him (well there is, but I try to keep this site as clean as possible).

Filing Date	Transaction Date	Insider Name	Ownership Type	Securities	Nature of transaction	# or value acquired or disposed of	Unit Price
Nov 24/08	Nov 21/08	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-154,727	$1.892
Nov 24/08	Nov 20/08	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Indirect Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-145,273	$2.061
Nov 22/08	Jan 02/08	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	51 - Exercise of options	250,000	$1.000
Nov 22/08	Nov 19/08	Van Nieuwenhuyse, Rick	Direct Ownership	Common Shares	10 - Disposition in the public market	-20,000	$3.000

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Nadagold: Don't say I didn't warn you

Update: As if by magic, a reader mails with this link for a Bloomberg note that has RVN quoted as saying, “All of the sale of the stock was out of my control -- it was under the control of the brokerage house,” Van Nieuwenhuyse said. “It was a contractual arrangement. That’s the way margins work, and a lot of people have been caught.”

Meanwhile in other news Otto can confirm the moon is made of cheese and Santa Claus does exist and isn't some kind of parental ruse to keep the nippers behaving through December.