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United Nations
United Nations (UN), international organization established immediately after World War II. It replaced the League of Nations. In 1945, when the UN was founded, there were 51 members; 193 nations are now members of the organization (see table entitled United Nations Members).
Organization and Principles
The Charter of the United Nations comprises a preamble and 19 chapters divided into 111 articles. The charter sets forth the purposes of the UN as: the maintenance of international peace and security; the development of friendly relations among states; and the achievement of cooperation in solving international economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems. It expresses a strong hope for the equality of all people and the expansion of basic freedoms.
The principal organs of the UN, as specified in the charter, are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council (see trusteeship, territorial), the International Court of Justice, and the Secretariat. Other bodies that function as specialized agencies of the UN but are not specifically provided for in the charter are the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the associated International Finance Corporation and International Development Association, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Labor Organization, the International Maritime Organization, the International Monetary Fund, the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations Children's Fund, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, the Universal Postal Union, the World Health Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, and the World Meteorological Organization. Temporary agencies have included the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, the International Refugee Organization (whose responsibilities were later assumed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which is still in existence.
The official languages of the UN are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish. The working languages of the General Assembly are English, French, and Spanish (in the Security Council only English and French are working languages).
The Secretariat and the Secretary-General
All UN administrative functions are handled by the Secretariat, with the secretary-general at its head. The charter does not prescribe a term for the secretary-general, but a five-year term has become standard. Trygve Lie, the first secretary-general, was succeeded by Dag Hammarskjöld (1953–61), who served until his death. U Thant, acting secretary-general, was elected secretary-general (1962), was reelected in 1966, and served through 1971. Succeeding secretaries-general were: Kurt Waldheim (1972–81); Javier Pérez de Cuéllar (1982–91), Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1992–96), Kofi Annan (1997–2006), Ban Ki-Moon (2007–2016), and António Guterres (2017–). (See also the table entitled United Nations Secretaries-General.) The secretary-general transcends a merely administrative role by his authority to bring situations to the attention of various UN organs, by his position as an impartial party in effecting conciliation, and especially by his power to "perform such … functions as are entrusted to him" by other UN organs. Also strengthening the office of secretary-general is the large Secretariat staff, which is recruited on a wide geographic basis and is required to work exclusively in the interests of the organization.
The General Assembly
The only UN body provided by the charter in which all member states are represented is the General Assembly. The General Assembly was designed to be a deliberative body dealing chiefly with general questions of a political, social, or economic character. It meets in a regular annual session beginning the third Tuesday in September; special sessions are sometimes held. It has seven main committees set up to deal with specific matters designated as (1) political and security, (2) economic and financial, (3) social, humanitarian, and cultural, (4) trusteeship, (5) administrative and budgetary, (6) legal, and (7) special political. It also has procedural, standing, and many ad hoc committees. The assembly passes on the budget and sets the assessments of the member countries. It may conduct studies and make recommendations but may not advise on matters under Security Council consideration, unless by Security Council request. In the assembly, decisions on routine matters are taken by a simple majority of members voting; a two-thirds majority is required for matters of importance, such as the admission of new members, the revision of the charter, and budgetary and trusteeship questions.
The Security Council
The Security Council was constructed as an organ with primary responsibility for preserving peace. Unlike the General Assembly, it was given power to enforce measures and was organized as a compact executive organ. Also unlike the assembly, the Security Council in theory functions continuously at the seat of the UN.
The council has 15 members. Five—China (until 1971 the Republic of China [Taiwan]; since then the People's Republic of China), France, Great Britain, the United States, and Russia (until 1991 the USSR)—are permanent. The 10 (originally six) nonpermanent members are elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly; equitable geographic distribution is required. Customarily there are five nonpermanent members from African and Asian states, one from Eastern Europe, two from Latin America, and two from Western Europe and elsewhere. In the council the presidency is occupied for one-month terms in the alphabetical order of the members' names in English.
In 1997 a UN commission proposed changes to the council, including adding five new permanent members without veto powers, adding four additional nonpermanent members, and placing restrictions on the use of the veto. The proposed changes were regarded by many nations as a groundwork for negotiations on the eventual restructuring of the council. Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, and South Africa have sought permanent seats on the council, and in July, 2005, the first four nations submitted a General Assembly resolution calling for the expansion of the council (but not for veto-power for new permanent members). The African Union, however, has called for new permanent members to have the veto and for Africa to receive two permanent seats. There has been no significant progress on the issue, but in Sept., 2008, the General Assembly unanimously called for intergovernmental negotiations on the enlargement of the council, which began in Feb., 2009.
There are two systems of voting in the Security Council. On procedural matters the affirmative vote of any nine members is necessary, but on substantive matters the nine affirmative votes required must include those of the five permanent members. This requirement of Big Five unanimity embodies the so-called veto. In practice the council has, on most substantive matters, not treated an abstention by a permanent member as a veto. In two situations, however, those of recommending applicants for UN membership and of approving proposed amendments to the charter, the actual concurrence of all permanent members has been required. The veto has prevented much substantive action by the UN, but it embodies the reality that resolution of major crises requires agreement of the major powers.
Under the charter the council may take measures on any danger to world peace. It may act upon complaint of a member or of a nonmember, on notification by the secretary-general or by the General Assembly, or of its own volition. In general the council considers matters of two sorts. The first is "disputes" (or situations that may give rise to them) that might endanger peace. Here the council is limited to making recommendations to the parties after it has exhausted other methods of reaching a solution. In the case of more serious matters, such as "threats to the peace," "breaches of the peace," and "acts of aggression," the council may take enforcement measures. These may range from full or partial rupture of economic or diplomatic relations to military operations of any scope deemed necessary. By the terms of the charter, the UN was forbidden to intervene in matters "which are essentially … domestic," but this limitation was not intended to hinder Security Council measures to prevent threats to peace. The charter was intentionally ambiguous regarding domestic issues that could also be construed as threats to peace and left a potential opening for intervention in domestic issues that threaten to have dangerous international repercussions.
The earliest concrete plan for the formation of a new world organization was begun under the aegis of the U.S. State Department late in 1939. The name United Nations was coined by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1941 to describe the countries fighting against the Axis. It was first used officially on Jan. 1, 1942, when 26 states joined in the Declaration by the United Nations, pledging themselves to continue their joint war effort and not to make peace separately. The need for an international organization to replace the League of Nations was first stated officially on Oct. 30, 1943, in the Moscow Declaration, issued by China, Great Britain, the United States, and the USSR.
At the Dumbarton Oaks Conference (Aug.–Oct., 1944), those four countries drafted specific proposals for a charter for the new organization, and at the Yalta Conference (Feb., 1945) further agreement was reached. All the states that had ultimately adhered to the 1942 declaration and had declared war on Germany or Japan by Mar. 1, 1945, were called to the founding conference held in San Francisco (Apr. 25–June 26, 1945). Drafted at San Francisco, the UN charter was signed on June 26 and ratified by the required number of states on Oct. 24 (officially United Nations Day). The General Assembly first met in London on Jan. 10, 1946.
It was decided to locate the UN headquarters in the E United States. In Dec., 1946, the General Assembly accepted the $8.5 million gift of John D. Rockefeller, Jr., to buy a tract of land along the East River, New York City, for its headquarters. The principal buildings there, the Secretariat, the General Assembly, and the Conference Building, were completed in 1952. The Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial Library was dedicated in 1961.
Original Vision and Cold War Realities
In practice the UN has not evolved as was first envisaged. Originally it was composed largely of the Allies of World War II, mainly European countries, Commonwealth countries, and nations of the Americas. It was conceived as an organization of "peace-loving" nations, who were combining to prevent future aggression and for other humanitarian purposes. Close cooperation among members was expected; the Security Council especially was expected to work in relative unanimity. Hopes for essential accord were soon dashed by the frictions of the cold war, which affected the functioning of the Security Council and other UN organs.
The charter had envisaged a regular military force available to the Security Council and directed the creation of the Military Staff Committee to make appropriate plans. The committee—consisting of the chiefs of staff (or their deputies) of the Big Five—was unable to reach agreement, with the USSR and the other four states on opposing sides; thus no regular forces were established. The same split frustrated the activities of two special Security Council bodies, the Atomic Energy Commission and the Commission on Conventional Armaments. Hence no arrangements were concluded for regulating the production of atomic bombs or reducing other types of armaments (see disarmament, nuclear). The charter anticipated that regional security agreements would supplement the overall UN system, but in fact such comprehensive alliances as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Organization of American States, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, and the Warsaw Treaty Organization to an extent bypassed the UN system.
There were some early instances of Soviet cooperation with the United States and other powers that allowed for UN successes in restoring or preserving peace. These included the settlement (1946) of the complaint of Syria and Lebanon that France and Great Britain were illegally occupying their territory; the partitioning of Palestine (see Israel); the fighting over Kashmir between India and Pakistan (see India-Pakistan Wars); and the withdrawal of the Dutch from Indonesia. However, in many other issues of more direct importance to the great powers, conflict between the USSR and the remaining members of the Big Five prevented resolution. The Security Council was crippled by the veto, which by the end of 1955 had been used 78 times, 75 of them by the Soviet Union.
Growing Activity of the Assembly
In reaction to the limitations that the cold war imposed on the Security Council, the United States, Britain, France, and other nations tried to develop the General Assembly beyond its original scope. In the assembly the United States and Great Britain had strong support from among the Commonwealth and Latin American countries and generally commanded a majority. The Soviet Union could muster only a smaller bloc, sufficient to create debate between East and West but less effective in voting.
Of more importance were procedures evolved in the Korean crisis in 1950. At that time the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council because of the UN refusal to admit the People's Republic of China as a member. Since the USSR was not present to cast a veto, the Security Council was enabled to establish armed forces to repel the North Korean attack on South Korea (see Korean War). Thus, at a time when the young organization had begun to seem politically sterile, it gave birth to the first UN army and to the widest "collective security" action in history up to that time, although the United States provided the bulk of both fighting personnel and matériel. In addition, firmer UN action in future crises was prepared for when, in Nov., 1950, the assembly adopted the "Uniting for Peace" resolution, which permitted it to take its own measures when use of the veto paralyzed the council. Although the assembly has been convened a few times under this resolution, its authority to require action by members has remained vague, and it has never developed workable enforcement machinery.
Some areas were opened for UN intervention, however, where world opinion and great power responsiveness favored it. In the struggle for independence in Morocco, Algeria, and elsewhere, the ruling colonial powers claimed these conflicts to be domestic; with their seats on the Security Council they were in a position to veto assembly resolutions, and with the official governments of rebellious territories under their control they were enabled to forestall UN intervention. In the Hungarian revolt (1956), requests that the USSR withdraw its troops from Hungary and that UN observers be admitted to the country were rejected by the Soviet Union. In the Suez crisis (1956), however, the General Assembly resolution for an immediate cease-fire and for withdrawal of invading forces was heeded by Great Britain, France, and Israel (see Arab-Israeli Wars).
Expanding Role of the Secretary-General
Parallel to the growing activity of the assembly was the expanding role of the secretary-general. Trygve Lie, as secretary-general, made vigorous efforts to muster world opinion in such difficulties as the Korean crisis, but his labeling of North Korea as the aggressor earned him Soviet enmity and thus limited his effectiveness. Under the "quiet diplomacy" of Dag Hammarskjöld the secretary-generalship gained greater scope. The secretary-general, not the deadlocked Security Council, was entrusted with organizing and establishing UN forces in the Suez crisis. He worked closely with the General Assembly on other issues. In 1958, when an assembly resolution asking for a strong force of UN observers in Lebanon had been vetoed by the council, the secretary-general nevertheless followed the assembly's recommendation.
Beyond such missions Hammarskjöld interpreted his office as responsible for preserving peace even when the assembly itself was deadlocked and could issue no definite instructions. In practice he operated largely under a General Assembly mandate but frequently took executive steps that could not be completely detailed by instructions. Thus the office of secretary-general was evolving as the UN's de facto executive authority in matters of international conflict, and the Security Council began to meet much less frequently.
Effects of a Growing Membership
By the late 1950s the UN was being revolutionized by a change in membership. Since the inception of the UN there had been a steady growth of feeling that the organization should comprise all the nations of the world. But new membership was long blocked by East-West rivalry; each side was antagonistic to admission of new members unfavorable to its views, and as non-Communist countries outnumbered Communist ones the USSR was especially intransigent. From 1947 to 1955 only Yemen (1947), Pakistan (1947), Myanmar (1948), Israel (1949), and Indonesia (1950) gained admission. The way to a compromise was led by Canada in 1955; 16 new members were admitted in that year, and thereafter expansion was rapid.
Accompanying expansion came voting realignment. The clear majority of the United States and its allies disappeared as the Afro-Asian group of nations (see Third World) obtained over half of the assembly seats. New voting blocs formed, including the NATO nations, the Arab nations, the Commonwealth nations, and, increasingly, a general Afro-Asian bloc. Latin America shifted away from its pro-U.S. position. Other themes began to equal that of the cold war in assembly debates, and more militant stands were taken against remnants of colonialism.
The changed nature of the UN was revealed in UN Africa policy in the early 1960s. The UN acted strongly in the crisis in the Congo, and during its involvement there the secretary-general developed his office to an unprecedented extent. When the UN was invited (1960) by the Congo government to send troops there, a UN force was quickly organized by Hammarskjöld from among neutral European and African states. The UN troops, confronted by social and political chaos, engaged in direct military action to force Katanga province to reintegrate with the Congo, which it finally did in 1963.
UN action in the Congo and later in sending peacekeeping forces to Cyprus (1964) demonstrated a willingness to intervene in basically internal situations, both to restore order and to prevent the spread of disorder to neighboring states. This willingness was especially evident in the attention paid to the remaining colonial areas, mainly in Africa. The UN repeatedly condemned the colonial policies of Portugal (until that country began to free its colonies after the 1974 coup) and the racial policies of South Africa and Rhodesia, against which severe economic sanctions were applied.
Diminished UN Influence and Its Uncertain Revival
Having lost its automatic majority in the assembly, the United States joined the Soviet Union in limiting UN power and authority, mainly by keeping major issues within the purview of the Security Council and the veto, with inaction the usual result. There was a corresponding decline in the freedom of movement allowed the secretary-general. In the wake of Hammarskjöld's Congo operation and accidental death, the Soviet Union's "troika" plan for a three-person secretary-generalship—an Eastern, a Western, and a neutralist member, each with a veto—was a sign that the USSR would not tolerate another activist secretary-general. Although its plan was defeated, the USSR's goal was largely achieved, since succeeding secretaries-general avoided actions that might be controversial.
Severe financial pressures have also served to restrict UN action. A number of countries, including the USSR, have refused to pay for UN actions, such as the Congo operation, not directly approved by the Security Council. The United States successfully pushed for a reduction of its assessment to 25% of the UN budget in 1977, instead of one third or more, but has still been in substantial arrears. (By the late 1990s the problem of U.S. arrears had grown so great that the United States was in danger of losing its vote in the General Assembly.)
Finally, the major powers have tended to deal with each other outside the framework of the UN. While certain agreements in peripheral areas of disarmament and international cooperation have been worked out within the UN—e.g., the peaceful use of atomic energy (see Atomic Energy Agency, International), cooperation in outer space, and arms limitation on the international seabed—most major negotiations and agreements have been on a bilateral basis.
As a result, until 1991 the UN played a relatively secondary role in most world crises, including the Arab-Israeli Wars of 1967 and 1973; the India-Pakistan War of 1971; the Vietnam War; and the Afghanistan War. However, with Soviet cooperation, the UN played a major role approving action in the Persian Gulf in 1991 to drive Iraq from Kuwait, and it actively supervised the subsequent cease-fire, embargo, and removal of strategic weapons from Iraq (see Persian Gulf War).
Since the early 1970s, the UN expanded its activity in the development of less developed countries. The UN and its related agencies have had a significant impact in disease control, aid to refugees, and technological cooperation. It has provided a mechanism through which developed countries can jointly contribute with a minimum of national antagonism and from which less developed countries can receive aid with a minimum of suspicion and resentment. The UN has also been active in setting standards of human dignity and freedom, such as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the establishment of international labor standards, and has been a forum for discussion on some environmental issues, such as at the "Earth Summit" in 1992.
The current UN is an all but universal global institution. Its peacekeeping forces were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988, and in 2001 the UN itself, along with Secretary-General Annan, was awarded the prize. Beginning in the 1990s, the UN was increasingly involved in peacekeeping efforts throughout the world. Although the UN played a subsidiary role in the Persian Gulf War, its potential to gain a more prominent peacekeeping role was enhanced with the end of the cold war. In recent years the UN has supervised the 1993 elections in Cambodia (as part of its largest peacekeeping effort ever) and the 1999 referendum in East Timor (although it could not prevent the violence the followed), and it has mounted peacekeeping operations in Angola, Bosnia, Congo (Kinshasa), Eritrea and Ethiopia, Haiti, Kosovo, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Somalia, and Sudan and Chad among others. In addition, the UN has provided police forces in regions, such as Kosovo, Bosnia, and East Timor, where the local government could not.
The Security Council's assertiveness in enforcing the Gulf War cease-fire resolutions in the early 1990s seemed indicative of a new vigor. Later divisions on the council over that issue, however, and limited success at times with respect to peacekeeping in Somalia, Bosnia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivore indicate that, unless the parties overseen by such forces are desirous of peace, perhaps the council can assert itself successfully only when the great powers are convinced that their interests are at stake. The fact was made all-too-obvious by the divisions that emerged between the United States and Britain, on one side, and France, Russia, and China over whether to approve military action against Iraq in 2003. Other divisions hampered the UN's ability to develop (2007) a fully workable peacekeeping mission in Sudan and Chad, where rebellion in Sudan's Darfur region and bordering parts of Chad created large numbers of refugees beginning in 2003. On the other hand, the UN peacekeeping mission along the Eritrea-Ethiopia border (2000–2008) was ended after the two benefiting nations undermined it.
In an effort to ensure that UN peacekeeping missions that are mounted are effective, Annan pushed for forces that were large enough to be able to enforce the peace, though that was not always possible. UN peacekeeping forces have also become more assertive about using force to protect themselves and civilians and more active in enforcing the peace. In 2011, in response to fighting in Libya, the Security Council authorized a no-fly zone in Libya to protect civilians and imposed sanctions on the government, but the NATO-Arab mission enforcing the zone also acted at times in apparent support of the rebels, who ultimately overthrew the government. A peace mission to Syria in 2012, which only involved UN observers, was not successful in stemming the Arab Spring conflict there, and subsequent UN efforts to protect Syrian civilians were marginally successful at best. A UN peacekeeping force was deployed in the Central African Republic in 2014, in response to fighting between Christian and Muslim militias following the overthrow of the government; the force superseded and absorbed an African Union contingent that had been deployed in the country in 2013.
A related and pressing problem has been the financial crisis created by the arrears owed by the United States and other nations, a crisis exacerbated by the expense of increased peacekeeping operations. Even as the nations of the world have been expanding the UN's role as peacekeeper, its ability to fund such operations has been hampered by nonpayment of UN dues. American dissatisfaction with the UN has led to opposition within Congress to payment of UN dues and resulted in unyielding U.S. opposition to the reelection of Boutros-Ghali as secretary-general. Kofi Annan, who succeeded Boutros-Ghali in 1997, worked to streamline UN operations and reduce costs, in part to restore American confidence and interest in the organization. In 1999 the U.S. Congress passed legislation that would pay some of the nation's back dues, but it also called for a further reduction in the assessment that the United States is expected to pay. An agreement in Dec., 2000, called for a reduction in U.S. dues to 22% of the UN's budget. In 2000, U.S. arrears had reached $1.3 billion, according to UN calculations, but by the end of 2004 that had been reduced by more than 80%.
In 2004 the UN's reputation was tarnished by revelations about corruption in the oil-for-food program that allowed Iraq, beginning in 1996 and ending after the U.S.-led invasion, to export oil to generate income that was to be used to purchase food and other humanitarian relief. Saddam Hussein's government received sizable kickbacks through the program (although the money Iraq earned through smuggling oil abroad was much greater), and many outside Iraq illicitly profited as well. A detailed UN investigation into the program, led by Paul Volcker, began in 2004, and it released its final report in 2005. The investigation accused the UN official who had headed the program of personally benefiting from it, and faulted the conduct of others, including two of Annan's close advisers. The integrity of Annan's son, who benefited from employment and payments from a company involved in the program, was questioned, although Annan himself was not accused of benefiting or of manipulating the program to benefit anyone. However, Annan was criticized for having exercised inadequate oversight (as was the Security Council) and for having failed to make a thorough inquiry into the affair when questions first arose about it.
Also in 2005 Annan attempted to win international support for a group of comprehensive reforms within the United Nations, but agreement proved difficult to secure. UN members did approve the establishment of a Peacebuilding Commission, intended to aid war-torn nations in reestablishing political stability and economic growth. In Dec., 2005, under pressure from the United States and other wealthy nations, UN members approved a two-year budget with a spending cap for 2006 that was expected to be reached in June of that year. The intention was to link the approval of further spending to passage of management reforms by the General Assembly.
The General Assembly approved (Mar., 2006) the replacement of the UN Human Rights Commission with a Human Rights Council. The move was designed to restore credibility to the UN's human rights body, which was criticized for having included among its member nations many countries that had been denounced for violations of human rights, but the new body soon faced similar criticisms. In May the Assembly refused to approve the centerpiece of Annan's ambitious administrative reform plans for the United Nations; some modest reforms were approved in July. The budget cap, meanwhile, had been removed in June by the General Assembly.
Annan was succeeded as secretary-general by South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-Moon in 2007; he served for two terms. Ban, who also focused on reforming and restructuring the United Nations, was less of an activist international leader than Annan. Although UN peacekeepers kept the crisis in Côte d'Ivoire from worsening in 2011 and then aided in the installation of the country's internationally recognized president, elsewhere peacekeeping forces had more limited or even negligible effects. In Haiti, UN peacekeepers unintentionally introduced (2010) cholera into the island nation, leading to the deaths of more than 9,000, and the United Nations for a long time denied its forces were the cause. Increasing discord on the Security Council between Russia and Western nations during Ban's tenure especially hampered UN attempts to intervene in the Syrian civil war to save civilian lives. The most notable UN achievement under Ban was most likely the signing of the Paris climate change agreement in 2015, which included the broadest and most far-reaching program so far to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. António Guterres, a former Portuguese premier and UN High Commissioner for Refugees succeeded Ban as secretary-general in 2017.
The United Nations publishes a series of comprehensive yearbooks (1947–). See also M. Waters, The United Nations (1967); L. M. Goodrich, E. I. Hambro, and A. P. Simons, Charter of the United Nations: Commentary and Documents (3d ed. 1969); D. W. Wainhouse, International Peacekeeping at the Crossroads (1973); L. M. Goodrich, The United Nations in a Changing World (1974); D. P. Moynihan, A Dangerous Place (1978); Conference on United Nations Procedures, Global Negotiations and Economic Development (1980); E. Luard, A History of the United Nations (2 vol., 1982–89); J. P. Humphrey, Human Rights and the United Nations (1983); P. R. Baehr and L. Gordenker, The United Nations: Reality and Ideal (1984); Department of Public Information, The United Nations and Human Rights (1984); R. Riggs and J. Plano, The United Nations: International Organization and World Politics (1987); P. J. Fromuth, ed., A Successor Vision: The United Nations of Tomorrow (1988); A. Roberts, United Nations, Divided World: The UN's Role in International Relations (1988); R. Berridge, Return to the United Nations: UN Diplomacy in Regional Conflicts (1991); S. Meisler, United Nations: The First Fifty Years (1995); T. Hoopes and D. Brinkley, FDR and the Creation of the U.N. (1997); S. C. Schlesinger, Act of Creation: The Founding of the United Nations (2003); M. Mazower, No Enchanted Palace: The End of Empire and the Ideological Origins of the United Nations (2009); R. Jolly et al., UN Ideas That Changed the World (2009).


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Septic System Anatomy Video
Am I glad you are here today! Guess what I discovered? I found a septic system that is being installed and it hasn't been covered over with dirt. The inspector is coming tomorrow, so it is a great opportunity for me to show you the basic components of a septic system. The septic system consists of the septic tank, the distribution box and the leach field.
This is the actual septic tank. It is a precast, concrete structure that a crank lowers into place. This particular one is about 750 to 1,000 gallon capacity. The waste water from the house comes directly into this tank. The tank has lids that allow you to inspect the inside of the tank. They also serve a very important service. Every three to four years, you need to have a company come in and pump out all of the solids, that have collected inside the septic tank.
The distribution box takes the waste water from the septic tank and directs it out to the leach field through four different pipes.
The leach field in this system looks a little weird because of all the concrete covering. This leach field will actually be underneath the road leading to the house. The waste water enters the leach field from the distribution box. The leach field consists of a foot thick layer of sand. The waste water filters down through the sand, where it gets cleansed of all the bacteria and pathogens. And then it flows back into the water table.
That is how simple septic systems work.
Author's Note: We've received other questions with similar problems or questions. Here's one from Howard Stein of Oklahoma City, OK, regarding his home septic system.
"We have ten inches of snow and the temperature is near zero Fahrenheit. It will stay like this for several days. Is it safe to use our washing machine (doing regular laundry) in this frigid weather since we have a septic tank and fear that the "arms" cannot properly dispose of large volumes of water into the ground? Many thanks for your help."
Howard, typically in most septic systems, the tank and drainage fields are located well below the frost line.
Tim Carter
5 Responses to Septic System Anatomy Video
Great video and I did not know anything about a septic tank.....I have city sewer....sent this video to my sister in KY they have a septic tank and as soon as my sister in Illinois gets her computer, I will forward this over to her, they have a septic tank also.....and I really doubt she knows anything about it either 🙂 You are a smart man Tim....and thanks for all the info you give us.....
Inspecting the inside of the septic tank consists of looking at the outlet elbow. Before plastic pipe they used concrete. When they break off the proper drainage is defeated. The design is intended to drain water (only ) from mid tank. With the elbow gone, the tank drains off the top and allows the scum layer to go into the leach field & clog it up. What you show is a little different than what they used in Georgia. There is no distribution box. The leach field is directly downstream from the septic tank. Depending on perk test results, the length of leach field is determined. Hardpan clay can be a devil of an adversary. Here we use big plastic mesh dome looking things & back fill with gravel. there are usually a couple of branches in the drain field.
Hi Tim,
I enjoy your weekly newsletter, but today I responding to your response to Howard Stein and his septic system with respect to frost concerns.
I own an architectural design firm and occasionally we are asked to design septic systems in addition to the house project. We are located in Queensbury New York and have a frost depth of 48". The following data comes directly from our Board of Health. 1-The septic tank cover shall always remain accessible and where the manhole is more than 12" below final grade a collar must be used. 2-Typical subsurface treatment systems (leach fields) depths shall be as shallow as possible, but not less than 18" and placed on at least 6" of aggregate... The earth cover over the aggregate should not exceed 12" in order to enhance the natural aeration and nitrogen uptake by plant life. Heavy equipment must be kept away from the field as not to alter the soils characteristics due to soil compaction and to alleviate cave-ins.
To have a system installed below the frost line is simply not allowed in our neck of the woods. I can't say that it has never happened, but in my 22 year professional career, I've never seen a septic system that was installed under the frost line. The warm temperatures of the waste water in the typical winter used home is enough to inhibit frost development. Once snow falls, it then insulates the warm ground temperatures from the freezing air temperatures.
Just wanted to pass along my 2 cents.
Thanks Tim,
Dan Williams
Vice President
Williams & Williams Designers
thank you for this video, and thanks for all the information i am gatting from your wed.
Good luck on your ham radio set-up. I was an radio-operator in the Army
Air Force [B-29s ]so it takes awhile to get that code down pat.1943 -'46 .
I was up to 30 WPM then, I now have amateur KG8XC +extra-class. I wish you the best Tim . I still recall my first CW contact !!


text:
Whatever you prefer to call the day today:
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The importance of football to South America, part 739
Your humble scribe has tried his very hardest to convey this message in a whole variety of ways over the years, but the sense of the message falling on deaf ears has never diminished. So perhaps this report might help you Northern hemisphere people get it. From Colombia Reports today:
Click the link for more
The Friday OT2: RATM; Bulls on parade
Double dose of OT today, and why the devil not? This one nails the day.
The final track recorded by RATM that's worth listening to, it all went money afterwards. Once again, the attentive listener is best served by this interesting musical interlude with one's gramophone system set to eleven.
The Friday OT: Faith No More; Ricochet
I don't care that it's been the Friday OT before, it's getting played today:
It's always funny until someone gets hurt, and then it's just hilarious
Dedicated to all longs of Gold Resource Corp (GORO). To be played at eleven, with bass set to "crack ceiling"
Gold wheee splat
This week I've closed one of the three short positions carried on The IKN Weekly's 'Stocks to Follow' list (I'm also looking to cover another one of them at the right price) and added to another long position because as of last Sunday, in IKN231, your humble scribe's call has been for a bullish outlook on gold in the near-term, defined as October/November with a target price of U$1,400/oz in the period.
So, how's that working so far?
Junior mining news-speak, American Bonanza (BZA.to) edition
American Bonanza (BZA.to) today announced it was suspending operations at its Copperstone mine, which wasn't that postworthy until your humble scribe saw how paragraph two of the NR started:
"While the suspension of operations may be considered a setback in the Company's goal of achieving commercial production at Copperstone, the Company believes it is necessary in order to achieve that goal."
Isn't that just magical? Kind and estimable reader, do yourself a service and read it over again, let the world of stupid in which these fuckwits live enliven your day a little, then expand your thoughts and take time to meditate and appreciate the wanton dumbassery of so many public quoted Canadian junior mining companies out there.
And then, considering the BZA.to share price action over the last 12 months...
... it's fairly safe to say this news isn't going to come as a massive shock.
Chart of the day is...
... the US Dollar index (USD) in October:
The source of all things at the the moment. The movements in the dollar are always important, at the moment that's triple true. We saw 80 just about hold earlier, we saw that 'Yellen Bounce' on the 9th, we see possible fading today. Faites vos jeux and keep it front and centre on your radar screen, today and next week.
Things currently making me laugh in my pathetic little life woefully dominated by half-assed junior mining companies
Iwnattos does Andy Bell of BNN. Bless em both!
Word reaches these shores that IKN need not worry about any stuffy legal letter from Stikeman Elliot regarding that Prophecy Coal (PCY.to) whistleblower post the other day. That's because Stikeman Elliot has resigned as lawyer to PCY.to. As your humble scribe's contact pointed out, normally legal firms adore this kind of junior because they're a never-ending source of fees, so to have the lawyers walk away from the junior rather than vice versa is...well let's just call it "a tell" and be done.
Gold Resource Corp (GORO) has lost its CFO. For personal reasons, begad. Yup, I'm still short.
VancVenture on Lowell Copper (JDL.v) and the way it's been trading recently. It's either been a long time since that boot-licking sector schmoozer Humphreys pumped this to a naive world (by getting a interview with the man who'd rather not be interviewed but as he heads up a new junior he had to bite the bullet just once so made it the dude who only throws sycophantic puffball Qs rather than anyone real) or it just feels like a long time.
Iwnattos also does Dominic Frisby's gold charts. This is pretty good, and Iwnattos doesn't even swear once, either. SFW!
Defining the dead cat bounce
In fact it's not as easy as it may seem at first light because there are several different ways in which the famous Abby Cohen coined dead cat bounce can materialize, with percentage fluctuations, timescales etc all subject to personal interpretation. But one that captures just about every aspect could join together the following criteria
1) A popular, well-followed stock that..
2)...hits a serious roadbump, for example...
3) ...a piece of news that disappoints an unsuspecting market and...
4) ...sells off sharply on big volume but then...
5) ...rebounds the next day, particularly if...
6)...the badly hit company releases news that tries to counter the bad stuff of the previous day, and then...
7) ...opens really well, but later that same day the fade sets in.
Now that's what I'd call a classic, dyed-in-the-wool, hey-look-at-that Dead Cat Bounce.
Oh, talking of which:
What Casey Research and its top level premium Investment Alert service can do for you
This was sent to your humble scribe yesterday by someone who read yesterday's post on Carpathian (CPN.to) and wanted to comment on Casey's extended pumping of that stock. Whereas me, I love the whole thing so much (not just the CPN.to call) I'm just going to show you the entire letter, keep comments to a minimum and leave it to you to work out the rest. It's dated March 1st 2013, just before PDAC.
CIA #505: The 10-Bagger List
Dear Speculators,
We've written a lot lately about what to do if the correction in our market continues or deepens. This was necessary, given market sentiment, but we run the risk of seeming more negative than we are. Therefore, I thought I would offer you a heads-up regarding the companies on my radar that have the greatest potential for extraordinary gains.
I'm on my way to Toronto this weekend, for the PDAC convention, where I will meet with many of these and other companies, so I'll have more to say soon. The list below is simply the subset of companies among those we follow that are selling cheap enough relative to the assets they are advancing to offer 10-bagger potential or better.
They won't all make it, of course, but they all have the potential, and the odds are good that several will deliver – one or two will hit it right out of the ballpark. It's impossible to say which; the best-run companies with the best projects can run into unexpected roadblocks, and neglected underdogs can make spectacular discoveries while no one is paying attention.
This is why a basket approach is essential. As we have long said, you have to cast a wide net and be willing to take losses along the way to the record-breaking wins, if you're serious about nailing 10-baggers.
I know that many investors feel paralyzed by a falling market, but I also know that there are disciplined speculators out there, wanting to know where to focus their buying when others are selling. If we see the kind of market capitulation we've been writing about recently, which bargains could become the biggest winners? The 10-bagger list below is my current answer to that question.
I am not suggesting that anyone go out and buy the whole list – nor any of them today, necessarily, especially if long already. Rather, consider building or adding to positions in these companies if we get a real market meltdown in the weeks and months ahead.
Without further ado, then, here's the list:
- ATAC Resources (V.ATC, C$1.71, 103.6M SO, 113.7M FD, C$177.2M MCap,www.atacresources.com) — ATAC has already been at nearly 10 times current levels, simply based on a different level of risk appetite in the market. The company's discoveries in the Yukon are significant and have serious size potential. In a more bullish market environment, this company could be a 10-bagger without changing. However, we expect more excellent results this year.
- Banks Island Gold (V.BOZ, C$0.64, 34.4M SO, 42.4M FD, C$22M MCap,http://www.banksislandgold.com) — BOZ has the assets and the game plan for developing them that could easily deliver a 10-bagger. There's technical risk in doing what must be done, and the company only has half the money it needs to build its first mine at Yellow Giant, but it has options for the latter, and we believe it has the right people to address the former. This is not a penny stock, but its market cap is like that of a penny stock and has similarly explosive potential.
- Brixton Metals (V.BBB, C$0.175, 52.5M SO, 81.1M FD, C$9.2M MCap, www.brixtonmetals.com) — Brixton does not yet have a 43-101-compliant resource in hand, and is quite a ways from delivering one. That makes this a higher-risk spec. But it is cheap, and it has delivered spectacular drill results, more of which could easily make this a 10-bagger.
- Carpathian Gold (T.CPN, C$0.29, 555M SO, 590.5M FD, C$161M MCap, www.carpathiangold.com)— We've written quite a bit about this company. The bottom line is simple: the company is trading at a discount to the value of the gold mine, is on track to deliver on time and on budget in Brazil, and on top of this, it has a huge gold-copper resource in Romania for which the market is giving it no value. The stock will almost certainly rise based on the former and could eventually become a 10-bagger based on that alone, given the low starting point. It's hard to put odds on the Romanian blue sky, but whatever they are, free is a great price, and the consequences of success with that project would be huge.
- Global Minerals (V.CTG, C$0.175, 110.8M SO, 144.9M FD, C$19.4M MCap,www.globalminerals.com) — Global's decision to focus on advancing their known deposit this year, rather than on making new discoveries, would normally make for less explosive upside in the play. However, the stock has gotten a lot cheaper recently without any bad news from the company (due in part to a newsletter publishing a sell recommendation on the stock). It's not hard to see the stock rising to 10 times its current share price if the company delivers a profitable new silver mine to the market.
- Gold Port Resources (V.GPO, C$0.07, 110.6M SO, 177.5M FD, C$7.7M MCap,www.goldportresources.com) — Gold Port recently delivered a substantial new gold resource to the market that is being subjected to an inappropriate level of country discount, on top of general market sector weakness. There is technical risk in this play, but the stock is so cheap, a 10-bagger or better is easily doable if the company delivers on its objectives.
- GoldQuest Mining (V.GQC, C$0.425, 144M SO, 155.8M FD, C$61.2M MCap,www.goldquestcorp.com) — GoldQuest has become a value play with enormous upside. It's a spec, but if the company starts delivering more Romero-style drill results, these shares should soar. But even if that doesn't happen, it appears likely that the company will be able to deliver a significant gold discovery with robust economics to the market. So, while the explosive upside is highly speculative, the base of value looks solid. The company is cashed up and hard at work; stay tuned.
- Matamec Explorations (V.MAT, C$0.185, 120.3M SO, 138.7M FD, C$22.3M MCap,www.matamec.com) — Matamec is another company we've written about recently. Again, if the market were giving the company a normal discount for a pre-feasibility project, there might not be quite as explosive potential in the play, but since the market does not yet seem to believe in the Kipawa project, despite Toyota putting millions into it, a shift in perception is all it would take to make a big winner out of this pick. And that's not even counting the company's non-Kipawa assets and blue sky.
- Renaissance Gold (T.REN, C$0.455, 30.7M SO, 32.4M FD, C$14M MCap, www.rengold.com) — This is a pure people play. The company does not yet have a flagship project upon which we can project any value added. It does, however, have one of the most successful mineral exploration teams in the world, bar none. And it's cheap. It's hard to say where, when, and how the stars will align for this one, but when they do, the results should be extremely gratifying.
As a bonus, here's a list of companies that have similar excellent potential but are not quite as cheap. These companies seem likely to deliver, but maybe not as much as ten times current share prices. Call it the potential 5-Bagger list:
- Adventure Gold (V.AGE, C$0.255, 65.5M SO, 70.8M FD, C$16.7M MCap, www.adventure-gold.com)— Adventure has a relatively high-grade, open-pit gold resource in mine-friendly Québec. The deposit is not huge, but it's big enough to matter, and if the company is successful in making it bigger, it could yield very robust economics. The company also has Other People's Money going into the ground on other projects. There are certainly risks in this play, but if the company delivers on its plans, that success could easily justify five times the current market cap, or more, in a bull market environment.
- Almaden Minerals (AAU, $2.22, T.AMM, C$2.18, 60M SO, 65M FD, C$130.8M MCap,www.almadenminerals.com) — Almaden has delivered a world-class gold resource in mine-friendly Mexico, with several characteristics that are very bullish for project economics. We should see preliminary numbers on that by the end of the year. We will also see drilling all year long, which has the potential to greatly expand the deposit. The company has plenty of cash and best-in-the-business management. If they deliver on their intentions, it would be easy to see a 5-bagger in the stock.
- Exeter Resources (XRA, $1.17, T.XRC, C$1.21, 88.4M SO, 98.9M FD, C$107M MCap,www.exeterresource.com) — Exeter's monster-sized Caspiche gold deposit in Chile is getting almost no valuation in the market. There certainly are technical challenges, but the size of the prize is certainly commensurate with the risk. Big bulk mining projects are currently out of favor, but Caspiche has a smaller, but still large, higher-grade core that we hope to see the company put some economic numbers on. The committee also has lots of cash and is looking for value unlocking ways to deploy it. That aside, simply as a gold bank with ounces in the ground, this stock is highly leveraged to rising gold prices.
- International Tower Hill (THM, US$1.62, T.ITH, C$1.71, 98.1M SO, 106.2M FD, US$158.9M MCap,www.ithmines.com) — ITH is almost the same story as Exeter, but it has less cash. On the other hand, it also faces far fewer technical challenges and offers excellent leverage to rising gold prices.
- Rye Patch Gold (V.RPM, C$0.355, 146.1M SO, 155.6M FD, C$51.9M MCap, www.ryepatchgold.com)— Rye Patch will probably not quintuple if successful in its legal battle with Coeur d'Alene Mines over the Rochester silver mine in Nevada. However, it could easily double or more on that basis, and that could prompt the market to revalue the company's substantial portfolio of other assets in the area. Add to this any success in the company's ongoing drill campaign, and we could see the shares trading much higher when the gold market turns bullish again.
- Sandspring Resources (V.SSP, C$0.37, 132.4M SO, 142.3M FD, C$49M MCap,www.sandspringresources.com) — Sandspring's Toroparu gold project in Guyana should soon deliver to the market updated economic numbers that we think will be more robust than most investors are expecting. If the company's neighbors, Guyana Goldfields, are able to raise the rest of the money they need to build their mine, that should greatly reduce the country discount being applied to all Guyana plays. There's exploration upside as well. Taken altogether, it's easier to see much higher share prices, even without a major new discovery, in a more bullish gold environment.
Others I see excellent potential in, but maybe not quite at the 5- or 10-bagger level, include Strategic Metals,Sunward Resources, NioGold, and Columbus Gold. I do see potential for a double or better in the rest of the companies in our portfolio, or they wouldn't be there. However, the purpose of this alert is not to reassure you how good all of our picks are; the idea is to help those of you who have the guts to hunt for big game when we have the field almost to ourselves to focus on the picks that offer maximum potential yield. If the market falls apart for a time, these are the picks that are likely to offer the maximum bang for the buck. Just remember the higher yield entail higher risk.
I know it takes courage to be a contrarian, but I have confidence in the wisdom and discipline of the speculators receiving this alert. Fortune favors the bold, and I believe it will favor us all greatly in the months and years ahead.
Louis James
Chief Metals & Mining Investment Strategist
Casey Research
Atna Resources (ATN.to): It's not just the big things that shout BULLSHIT at me
It's the details too. The basic problem with junior mining companies is that they tend to be run by compulsive bullshitters. I don't think they do it out of deliberate spite or malice either, it's more a case of not being able to help themselves or of being incapabale of breaking a lifetime habit. Take for example today's production report from Atna Resources (ATN.to) and its Briggs Mine. In it we read that production for the quarter was a tad under 10k oz Au and then we get the CEO comment:
"These results put Briggs on track to achieve its stated target of 35,000 to 40,000 ounces of production for 2013. Our team at Briggs is demonstrating their ability to reduce costs and improve production to meet the challenges of a volatile gold market environment", states James Hesketh, President & CEO.
What say you, Owly?
That's because in its 2013 guidance NR dated January 16th 2013 we were told this about Briggs:
So how does 37k-45k for 2013 become an on-target-for-year 35k to 40k? Easy, you just shift the goalposts half way through the year, dontcha mister Hesketh? And let's not even start about your rosy predictions for Pinson in 2013 because that one is a little bit more than a slight miss, innit guv?
Trying to piece together the Pretium (PVG) (PVG.to) Strathcona situation
As subscribers know, back in June I went long Pretium (PVG) (PVG.to) and then in August I sold the position, earlier than originally expected and accompanied by a slice of humble pie, for a modest profit thanks largely to luck by getting out when gold had run up to over $1.4k. The reason for the sale was a case of cold feet about the VOK deposit, which was explained in four points in IKN224, dated August 18th. Then one week later I dumped the position.
Below is a mail just sent to A.N Other which includes my reply to the person (one of several with whom I've been exchanging re PVG these last 24 hours) and the four points of IKN224. It's slightly redacted and presented not as a fait accompli, but as a best guess as to WTF has been going on between PVG and Strathcona.
The bottom line is that Strathcona resigning is very bad for PVG and yesterday's share price drop was fully deserved. Period. No mess, no fuss, no argument.
Also, it's worth noting that PVG has put out a new NR this morning full of more high grading drill results. I'd also suggest at this point that we're going to have to see a whole lot more drill numbers in the YEARS (not weeks or months) to come, because the signal from the last 24 hours is that VOK won't work as a bulk mine operation and those superduper veins will have to be mined out selectively for this to be an economic mining operation. If so, there's mucho mucho work and more exploration that will need to be done on VOK before this thing stands a chance. Throw that feas study out, and now.
Anyway, here's the mail sent to my mailpal and the points made in IKN224 dated August at the end of it
Consider this scenario. These are three things that we know:
a) Snowden wants to process all the 10,000 tonnes of bulk sample, Strathcona wants to select ten "towers" which is roughly 10% of the total as its representative sample.
b) the 10,000 tonnes are being processed.
c) Strathcona has resigned.
From these, we can logically deduce that the problem is indeed the Cleopatra vein. PVG took a lot of its bulk sample from Cleo and Strathcona then may have said, "Well fine, you can do that, but it skews out the entirety of the 10k of rock and makes the whole unrepresentative. What we need to do is select representative rock from the 10k bulk and process that to get a true idea of VOK."
PVG refuses to do that and for obvious reasons. Strathcona resigns, because it has a high reputation and integrity. What we then see is Robert Quartermain suggesting to the market "Yeah well, Strathcona only wanted to use 10%, Snowden and we want to use all of it and SURELY 100% is better than 10%???!?!!?"
There's the rub, i think. Yes, it's about Cleo and yes Strathcona has walked because PVG is doing something akin to salting.
From IKN224 dated August 18th
Point one: If we go back to previous announcements from PVG, e.g. this one (15) dated June 19th, we read amongst other lines that, "The Bulk Sample Program excavation and sampling is expected to be completed in late July or early August." And also, "The drill program is expected to be completed by mid-August." Cut to last week's NR, very much mid-August, and we read (again amongst other words) that "four fans remain to be drilled", also that drilling "....is expected to conclude in early September" and later that the 10,000 tonnes bulk sample has to date got to 8,600 tonnes. First conclusion drawn, the program is late and I'd now expect it to run over the "by end 3q13" timeline we were originally offered by the company. Maybe not a red flag in itself, but a pinkish tinged one.
Point Two: The second thing to come from last week's info is to look at the maps PVG kindly offered and note exactly where they're taking the 10,000 tonne bulk sample from inside the VOK deposit. The idea was to offer up a representative sample of the whole of the deposit, which sounded like smart idea to me, but we now have to factor in a new discovery from PVG, the recently announced Cleopatra Vein and its location. If you consider this map (16) that shows the area from which PVG is taking its sample, it seems pretty clear that a decent proportion of this bulk sample is coming from an area right at and running parallel to the Cleopatra vein system. Now I don't know about you, but when you consider that Cleopatra has 21 returned samples of up to 27,000 g/t Au over 0.5m widths (17) and the whole idea of the bulk sample was to be representative of the whole of the rock in order to determine whether VOK stands up as an underground bulk mining plan, a big fat question mark appears above my head to wonder just how "representative" the material being extracted for this 10,000mt program really is. Second conclusion drawn: The bulk sample may well pass muster on first look when it's eventually published, but I wonder whether the big mining companies, that's to say the potential purchasers of PVG and/or VOK, will be as impressed when they start getting granular and picky on the data provided.
Point Three: There's also the potential for points one and two to be related. After all, PVG has a big team at VOK, it's clement summer weather time and the original bulk sample program was only going to be 10 weeks long. What's the sudden logistical problem that's spun out a relatively short program covered by near optimal work conditions by 20%? Is it because, perchance, PVG has decided to change the places from which it wants to take its 'representative' bulk sample?
Point Four: The final doubt that's been floating round my brain regarding PVG this week is a more general one, that I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable about this long position because I'm outside of my speciality field a little too much. It's becoming clear that the potential viability of VOK depends a lot of real hard data geology and the conclusions it spits out, which will then have to pass peer review before it gets some sort of industry thumbs-up. I'm not a geologist, never have been, never will be and never pretend to be and I even though I can hold down my end of a conversation with the rockbangers (as long as they don't start all that pretty jargon talk on me) and get the idea on the wide-sweeping geological themes and concepts these days, I know when I'm out of my depth and on this subject, it's exactly that feeling. Plus I'm dealing with a region of the world that's not Latin America and I don't have any edge to offer to myself or to readers who'd be better off reading other experts who know the North backwards.
Chart of the day is...
...the gold/platinum ratio for the last 12 months...
...because there are a whole bunch of stupid people talking Pt these days and hopefully this second chart will put them straight.
Find Work
'Poem of the Day' from Poetry Foundation is still one of the favourite RSS feeds I have. This is today's, it comes from Rhina P. Espaillat, it was published in 1999, a beautifully constructed sonnet called 'Find Work'
My mother's mother, widowed very young
of her first love, and of that love's first fruit,
moved through her father's farm, her country tongue
and country heart anaesthetized and mute
with labor. So her kind was taught to do—
"Find work," she would reply to every grief—
and her one dictum, whether false or true,
tolled heavy with her passionate belief.
Widowed again, with children, in her prime,
she spoke so little it was hard to bear
so much composure, such a truce with time
spent in the lifelong practice of despair.
But I recall her floors, scrubbed white as bone,
her dishes, and how painfully they shone.
Minera IRL and LionGold Cease Talks Regarding Potential Takeover Offer
Read the NR here
Miners reap what they sow with writedowns
What the world needs is less snarky BS from blogs like IKN and more serious insight and smarts from people who really know what they're tlaking about. For example this post written by Phillip Crowson (of Rio Tinto fame) entitled "Miners reap what they sow with writedowns". Read it and you'll read commonsense, easy to understand insight of the mining industry's self-inflicted wounds and learn more from reading the few hundred words in this single article than you will from the plethora of BS merchants who write mining newsletters and try to pass themselves off as experts (yup, your humble scribe included).
Sad news from Australia: Chopper is dead
News story here of an IKN hero who is no more.
Mark 'Chopper' Read deadcontinues here
Notorious criminal Mark 'Chopper' Read has died after a long battle with liver cancer.
The former standover man spent more than 23 years in jail up until 1993 for crimes including armed robbery, arson, impersonating a police officer and attempted murder.
Despite never being charged, Read claimed to have killed 19 people during his time as a career criminal.
In 2000, Read was immortalised in the film 'Chopper', starring Eric Bana.
In April last year, Read revealed he was suffering from cancer and that doctors had given him "weeks or up to six years to live".
At the time, the Read tweeted: "Looks like the big C has finally bitten".
To salute Chopper's exit, our fave Ronnie Johns video:
Carpathian (CPN.to)
Do yourself a great favour: Check just how many newsletter writers and brokerage anal ysts have pumped this one to you over the years. Carpathian Gold Inc (CPN.to) explains that it is sexually intercoursed in this NR, just out.
Candente Copper (DNT.to) at Cañariaco
Here's a report that caught the eye of your humble scribe yesterday evening and here's how it starts:
Peru's government said it has made "notable progress" in a development roundtable with communities around Candente Copper's (TSX-V: DNT) US$1.47bn Cañariaco Norte copper-gold project in the north of the country, where environmental protests broke out in May.
The government will invest 6mn soles (US$2.2mn) in electrification projects in the communities of Cañaris, Salas and Incahuasi, "considered amongst the poorest in the country," in addition to school repairs and 68km of rural roads in the area, the energy and mines ministry (MEM) said in an e-mailed statement. Other social programs will include irrigation projects, old age pensions and nutrition for schoolchildren, it said.
And now, here's an IKN sketch of how things are going in the town of Cañaris, the one that would have to be moved if the project goes ahead:
Gov't and DNT: "Hi there!"
Locals: "Hello"
Gov't and DNT: "Can we build a copper mine here?"
Locals: "No"
Gov't and DNT: "Awww, go on!"
Locals: "No."
Gov't and DNT: "OK then, can we connect your town to the electricity grid for the first time ever?"
Locals: "Yeah sure, it's about time too."
Gov't and DNT: "And how about a gas stove for each house?"
Locals: "OK, thanks!"
Gov't and DNT: "Right, now that's done, can we build that big copper mine here now?"
Locals: "No"
Gov't and DNT: "B-b-b-but that's not fair! After all we've done for you!"
Locals: "Fuck off"
Gov't and DNT: "We'll call in the troops if you don't start behaving"
Mining PRs and the Ottotrans™, part 76
Pretium Resources (PVG) (PVG.to) grabs us by the throat and demands our immediate attention with this NR. Please pay special attention to the bold type used by your humble scribe, in fact you can ignore the rest come to think of it:
This is what they wrote
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct 9, 2013) - Pretium Resources Inc. (PVG.TO)(PVG) ("Pretivm") reports the following update for the Valley of the Kings Bulk Sample Program (the "Program") at its Brucejack Project, for which processing is now underway.
Strathcona Mineral Services Ltd. ("Strathcona"), which had been engaged as the independent Qualified Person to oversee and report on the 10,000-tonne bulk sample for the Program, has resigned from the Project.
The processing of the excavated 10,000 tonnes is proceeding as planned at a rate of approximately 1,000 tonnes per week to produce gold/silver gravity and flotation concentrates. It is expected that approximately 4,000 ounces of gold will be produced in total from the material excavated for the Program, as defined by the Valley of the Kings November 2012 Mineral Resource estimate prepared by Snowden Mining Industry Consultants ("Snowden") for that area of the Valley of the Kings.Independent Qualified Persons from Snowden are responsible for the review and sign-off of the milling and processing component of the Program, and will issue a final report on its completion.The processing results from the Program's four cross-cuts and the 615L drift (the lateral drift excavated between cross-cuts 426615E and 426645E) will be reported as they are received, with the results from cross-cut 426585E anticipated within the next two weeks. The total amount of gold and silver produced by the mill will be reported on the completion of processing.An updated Mineral Resource estimate for the Valley of the Kings incorporating all 2013 underground and surface drilling and milling results will be prepared following the receipt of all assay data.Ian I Chang, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Vice President, Project Development, Pretium Resources Inc. is the Qualified Person (QP) responsible for the Bulk Sample Program processing. Kenneth C. McNaughton, M.A.Sc., P.Eng., Chief Exploration Officer, Pretium Resources Inc. is the Qualified Person (QP) responsible for the Brucejack Project exploration program.About Pretivm
And this is what it means:
We're fucked
Labels: ottotrans
LionGold latest
My bedtime, but here's the overnight (Americas time) trading in LionGold Corp (A78:sg) to just after half-way thru the Wednesday SGX session:
That's SG$0.155 and down another 18.4%, which makes its market cap U$114m approx. Go watch the last couple of hours trading yourself, if you want. Hasta mañana.
The road to Santa Fe (SFM.v) is paved with good intent
Wait up, am I mexing my mitaphors? Anyway, I was wondering about this insider buying action a few days ago...
...with the size of the share chunks (rather than the absolute $$ laid down) and the names involved, too. Now things begin:
continues hereVANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Oct 8, 2013) - Santa Fe Metals Corp. (the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:SFM) announces that drilling operations at the Sully group of claims (the "Sully Property") located near Fort Steele in southeastern British Columbia are well underway and progressing with excellent drilling rates and hole trajectory. Enhanced drill stabilization techniques are being employed to minimize drillhole deviation and surveys show that the hole is on course to the target at a modeled depth estimated to be approximately 1,000m.About the Sully PropertyThe Sully Property comprises 1,375 hectares located 27 kilometres east of
Disclosure: no position
And speaking of Sulliden (SUE.to)
Funny how these things happen all at once, is it not? It's as if your humble scribe had heard something kept away from the ears of the Canadian investment public and....nah, surely not! Anyway, here's Peru's major national newspaper La Republica with today's story (translated):
Various social organizations of the Condebamba Valley in Cajamarca today presented to the Ministry of Energy and Mines a demand to totally nullify the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) of the Shahuindo mining project that Sulliden Gold wants to develop in that location. According to the demand, the current Shahuindo EIA does not conform with the referential rules of the right of citizen participation and in its environmental impact. The demand was made via the Cajamarca regional government.
Worth noting that even if the claims against the EIA aren't entertained by the Mining Ministry, this is exactly the same process that led to where we are at Conga today. National gov't approved an EIA permit, local/region government reject it, hilarity ensues. I really wonder about Angico Eagle...who made this SUE.to call anyway?
The Singapore mining stocks collapse: Kip Keen on the case
Mineweb's Kip Keen files this report on the collapsing share prices of mining companies on the Singapore stock market and does a very nice job of overview in the concise report. Here's a snippet:
To fund acquisitions, LionGold planned back in mid August to raise S$202 million at S$1.11 a share with three firms, Platinum Partner, Carnegie Hall Group and Spring Road Adivsors.Of course, now trading for less than a quarter that price, it becomes improbable firms would take up LionGold shares at S$1.11 – if they already haven't – which in turn would limit LionGold's access to fresh cash to spend on new and ongoing acquisitions.While a LionGold spokesperson could not be reached at presstime to comment on the financing, it does not appear to have been completed. LionGold lists the financing as pending in a corporate presentation dated September and has also said it expected to raise the S$202 million in October or November.Platinum Partner President Uri Landesman, reached by email Monday, declined comment on the status of the financing. Continues here
Recommended reading for all longs of Minera IRL (IRL.to) (MIRL.L) amongst others.
UPDATE: Also, check out this and especially this on the very interesting move by the fashion challenged but mine-experienced Alexander Molyneux to take over another big Singapore mining loser of recent days, Blumont. My thanks again go to Kip Keen for the headsup on these reports, via his very useful Twitter account that you can (and should) follow right here.
UPDATE: Also, check out this and especially this on the very interesting move by the fashion challenged but mine-experienced Alexander Molyneux to take over another big Singapore mining loser of recent days, Blumont. My thanks again go to Kip Keen for the headsup on these reports, via his very useful Twitter account that you can (and should) follow right here.
Sulliden Gold (SUE.to)
Here's a chart of the last two months of Sulliden Gold (SUE.to) compared to the gold bullion ETF (GLD):
There must be a reason why SUE.to hasn't zoomed and flown on the news of its environmental permit (EIA) approval from the government of Peru, because when it was granted the Canadian anal yst community lined up to tell us how important a step it was and how SUE.to had made a key advance to the project and how the de-risking would now shoot the stock price higher and how we were mere days away from Agnico Eagle (AEM) making its buyout move.
Could it be possible that the Canadian anal yst community is full of shit? Is it perchance that they don't have a bleedin' clue about the subject? Could their opinion be influenced by Stan Bharti's...errrrr..."lobbying techniques"? Is the real story the one explained by IKN all this time, that the national government permit means diddly squat when you have the type of community opposition to a project as you have around Shahuindo and that the true chances of this one going ahead are between slim and none?
I think we should be told.
Chart of the day is...
...the very latest from LionGold (A78:sg) who are my idea of perfect company for a pleasant evening of high-stakes Texas Hold 'Em and as you see, we're now down to SG$0.19:
That makes the market cap now at around U$140m. Here's a close-up of the last two days and...
...we see that LionGold had a good stab at a rally early session in Singapore, but that reversed and it was not to be. Bad luck guys, better fortune at your casino wheel tomorrow, yeah?
Petaquilla Minerals (PTQ.to) files its annuals
And you expected good numbers from a gold mining company in Panama run by a convicted drugs felon? Oh dear, sorry to disappoint you, the negative $85m in working capital as at June 30th kind of points to a different outcome.
The sorry state of the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and the Venture Exchange (TSXV) in four simple charts
Traded volume on the TSX:
Dollar value of trades on the TSX:
Traded volume on the TSXV:
Dollar value of trades on the TSXV:
No further comment necessary. Data from here
Question: Who is going to dump 400,000 shares of Gold Resource Corp (GORO) onto the market (on) by October 10th, 2013?
Answer: William W. Reid.
And here's the filing to prove it. 400k options granted to the departing bossman Bill, presumably by way of thanks for all that running the stock price into the ground that he's done. The options are priced at 25 cents (seriously), they're exercisable on October 10th 2003 and they also expire on October 10th 2013 and by my reckoning, that makes October 10th an interesting day for GORO share price action. All just days before HOC gets to play dumpy dumpy, too. That's lucky, innit, Bill?
You have been duly warned.
Lawrence Page QC is having a bad 2013, especially compared to 2012
My thanks to DF for the headsup on this.
Here's a paste out of a mail that's going around. You can find out more by clicking this link and reading about the meeting Lawrence Page QC is organizing for October 17th
It just so happens that Lawrence Page QC is a director of six public companies quoted in Canada. According to the regulatory filings of four of those:
- Southern Silver (SSV.v) paid Lawrence Page QC $359,151 in 2012. SSV.v is now a 2c stock
- Bravada Gold Corp (BVA.v) paid Lawrence Page QC $128,583 in 2012. BVA.v is now a 2c stock
- Quaterra Resources Inc (QTA.v) paid Lawrence Page QC $72,400 in 2012. QTA.v is now a 15c stock
- Homestake Resources Corp (HSR.v) paid Lawrence Page QC $160,596 in 2012. HSR.v is now a 5c stock.
In total, that's $720,730 paid to Lawrence Page QC by the companies in his "Manex Group" in 2012 alone, and we haven't even included the fees he gets from the companies for his legal practice. Damn, I wonder why people aren't so willing to fund explorecos any longer? Must be those tricky rules, eh Larry...
UPDATE: Iwnattos adds his dos centavitos
UPDATE: Iwnattos adds his dos centavitos
LionGold had a bad day
Maybe what comes of sticking your head above the parapet once too often...
...and attracting the attention of people who know how to value mining companies instead of people who like to play baccarat. Still, LionGold (A78.sg) did have a working cap of ~$67.4m as at June 30th, so it's not a totally empty vehicle. However, Minera IRL (MIRL.L) (IRL.to) will probably be keen on that deal being a cash offer, new low share price or not.
Canned guinea pig
Gourmet alert issued:
The latest culinary innovation from the banks of Lake Titicaca is canned guinea pig (cuy), a new way of marketing the scrumptious little rodent presented at the Puno food fair last week, in Peru. As the State news agency Andina puts it, "After fattening the guinea pigs up (on alfalfa), the next step is to process them into conserved meat that has the health guarantees and is apt for human consumption". Then it's off to the supermarket shelves.
Coming to a Walmart near you.
Rodrigo Abd on coca
I've grown into a big fan of Rodrgio Abd, the photographer for AP in Peru, because his eye is uncommonly good and he picks his subject matters so well (e.g. his recent set of Lima in the rains was a thing of beauty). This weekend sees Abd's latest set published after a trip to the VRAEM region of central Peru that's ground zero for coca leaf production in the country.
I'm not stealing any of the photoset for display here, it's best that you see the whole gallery together therefore click right here and do so. Guaranteed visual enjoyment awaits you this fine Monday morning.
Canada spied on Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy
Oh what fun. Globo has the Snowden story for you, right here
And we're already getting English language coverage of this one. Here's AP, here's NYT, I'm sure you'll be able to find lots more soon.
The IKN Weekly, out now
IKN231 has just been sent to subscribers. Poor and content is rich and rich enough, but riches fineless is as poor as winter to him that ever fears he shall be poor. Innit.
Labels: otto, the IKN weekly
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