A combination of sustained high economic growth, government support and financial incentives for new businesses, particularly in the technology sector, has attracted investors and technopreneurs to Asia and in particular, Southeast Asia (“SEA”). These businesses and start-ups generate demand for office spaces. Unsurprisingly, flexible workspace arrangements are favoured for businesses setting up new office locations in the region, where premier real estates in major cities typically command a high rental. Expanding Potential of Flexible Workspace in Asia The convenience of a fully-furnished flexible workspace leasing option can be a very attractive proposition. This is important in the early days of a business start-up or new regional office. Flexible workspaces allow the option to scale up when required.  This distinguishes themselves from traditional office spaces.  The flexible workspace industry in the Asia Pacific is expanding rapidly compared to the rest of the world. Flexible workspace providers in the SEA region are aggressively opening more sites.  They are leasing larger spaces and expanding their foothold.  From 2014 to 2017, flexible workspace inventory across the region recorded a compound annual growth rate of 35.7% in the Asia Pacific.  This is much higher than in the United States (25.7%) and Europe (21.6%) over the same period. The flexible workspace industry in SEA leased more than 8.0 million square feet in the last two years.  Local flexible workspace providers like JustCo, EV Hive and KMC Solutions accounted for more than half of the space leased by all such operators in 2017. KMC alone has more than 50% market share of the flexible workspace industry in the Philippines.  JustCo’s spaces are occupied by some of the region’s leading start-ups. The photos below are examples of what is available in Singapore, for example – Office Hub – Club Co – The Working Capital –  The Collective Works Increasing Trend with Supply of Flexible Workspace Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) predicted that “the supply of flexible workspace is expected to grow in 2018 and beyond, thanks in part to the ambitions of major global and regional operators.”  Such findings are in line with Singapore-based flexible workspace operator, JustCo’s recent news, where it announced that it has signed an exclusive joint venture partnership with TICON, one of Thailand’s leading property owners and developers that is majority-owned by Frasers Property. JustCo is on a quest to “become the largest flexible workspace network in Asia by 2020.” The company’s ambitious plan is to open 100 centres over the next 2 years. Challenges of Flexible Workspaces One of the key challenges for operators in the Asia Pacific is that the office stock is controlled by a small number of landlords. For example, in the  United States, commercial holdings are much more dispersed.  In the Asia Pacific markets, a handful of landlords dominate the market.  What this means is that if a single landlord decides not to lease space to a particular operator, the impact to the operator will be significant.  This will leave the operator with very limited options to offer sufficient inventory to potential customers. It also means that property owners and developers have enough leverage to determine the scale of the flexible workspace market. Fortunately for operators in Asia, the flexible workspace is becoming an attractive option to those looking to create active, vibrant spaces where collaboration opportunities among tenants abound. Creating more Supply of Flexible Workspaces Many are considering to develop these facilities on their own or in partnership with another operator” — as with the case between JustCo and TICON.  JustCo’s joint venture partnership with TICON will give it an edge and advantage over the competition. This provides them with the stock and first-mover advantage into an increasingly competitive market.  Yet in order to stay ahead of the game, they will need to move rapidly.  JLL predicts that “join ventures of management contracts between landlords and flexible workspace operators are likely to become more common.” Joint ventures are especially attractive for flexible workspace operators seeking to expand and for investors that are interested in entering the market.  JustCo’s strategic partnership will help the company leverage and tap a wider network of industries such as commercial real estate, retail, hospitality, food & beverage, and industrial customers. More photos of Flexible Workspaces in Singapore – The Hive – The Great Room Mike Ghasemi is the founder and chief analyst of Mike Ghasemi Research Pte Ltd. He’s a retail and hospitality and travel industry futurist, analyzing trends and the use of emerging technologies to digitally transform organizations. Also Check for:-  Tungsten Power- A New Age Metal and The Next EV Story Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Tungsten is very little understood in the investing world.  At this moment, in the ASX, there is only one company that is a significant player in the Tungsten commodity space, and that is Tungsten Mining (ASX: TGN). In my opinion, this will be the next EV story. I believe that it is time for tungsten to take on The Next EV Story. Elon Musk famously starts his PhD thesis on a topic related to Tungsten Battery.  Tungsten is a rare metal, and to my knowledge, there is only one real high-grade deposit (Cantung Mine, Canada) that is economical to go into production.  Hence, it is not a simple commodity to make into production. This commodity is all about a large-scale and low-grade scenario. Anyone tells you otherwise is gunning for a job :-). As we move into the high tech space, tungsten properties become increasingly important. It is not a high usage metal, but it is of high value mainly due to its rarity status in the commodity world. WordPress Carousel Free Version What is Tungsten? Wikipedia has the following brief about Tungsten. Tungsten, or Wolfram,[7][8] is a chemical element with symbol W and atomic number 74. The name tungsten comes from the former Swedish name for the tungstate mineral scheelite, from tungsten “heavy stone”.[9] Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively combined with other elements in chemical compounds rather than alone. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolated as a metal in 1783. Its important ores include wolframite and scheelite. The free element is remarkable for its robustness, especially the fact that it has the highest melting point of all the elements discovered, melting at 3422 °C (6192 °F, 3695 K). It also has the highest boiling point, at 5930 °C (10706 °F, 6203 K)[citation needed]. Its density is 19.3 times that of water, comparable to that of uranium and gold, and much higher (about 1.7 times) than that of lead.[10] Polycrystalline tungsten is an intrinsically brittle[11][12] and hard material (under standard conditions, when uncombined), making it difficult to work. However, pure single-crystalline tungsten is more ductile and can be cut with a hard-steel hacksaw.[13] Tungsten’s many alloys have numerous applications, including incandescent light bulb filaments, X-ray tubes (as both the filament and target), electrodes in TIG welding, superalloys, and radiation shielding. Tungsten’s hardness and high density give it military applications in penetrating projectiles. Tungsten compounds are also often used as industrial catalysts. Tungsten is the only metal from the third transition series that is known to occur in biomolecules that are found in a few species of bacteria and archaea. It is the heaviest element known to be essential to any living organism.[14] Tungsten interferes with molybdenum and copper metabolism and is somewhat toxic to animal life.[15][16] What is Tungsten for? Some typical use of Tungsten, Historically and commonly used as filaments in incandescent light bulbs.  Alternative lighting has replaced these light bulbs. Used in electric contacts and arc-welding electrodes. Used as alloys, such as steel. It is most famous for being used for armour plating and armour piercing “objects”. Tungsten carbide is the main component in Cement carbide. The high strength makes it ideal as a cutting tool for machining of steel. X-ray tubes for medical use have a tungsten emitter coil, and the screen used to view X-rays rely on calcium and magnesium tungstate phosphors to convert x-rays into the visible blue light. Used in microchip technology and liquid crystals displays. It is also one of the items used to help our phones vibrate. NanoBolt Lithium Tungsten Batteries (source: www.gray.com) Researchers at N1 Technologies have been working on battery anode materials.  They added tungsten and carbon multi-layered nanotubes that bond to the copper anode substrate and build up a web-like nanostructure. This layer formed a vast surface for more ions to attach to during recharge and discharge cycles. That makes recharging the NanoBolt lithium tungsten battery faster, and it also stores more energy. Nanotubes are ready to be cut to size for use in any Lithium Battery design. source: https://www.gray.com/news/blog/2016/05/10/5-new-battery-technologies-that-will-change-the-future Fast Charging Battery (source: www.physicsworld.com) One of the studies that have happened in Tungsten batteries is that they can charge quickly.  Traditional Li batteries are still lagging in this department. Kent Griffiths is one of the researches who publish a finding on “Niobium tungsten oxides for high-rate lithium-ion energy storage”. (source:https://physicsworld.com) Researchers at the University of Cambridge in the UK  have shown that two complex niobium tungsten oxides can intercalate large amounts of lithium even when the oxides are microns in size. The new work will be necessary for developing systems that require high power delivery and fast charging (think of a mobile phone that could be fully charged in just minutes). It could also have implications for solid-state energy storage for example, in electric cars, and grid-scale storage for solar power. It is all about Nano Technology and Tungsten Carbide. The basic concept is that using the conventional Li battery structure, the need for high-speed charging will cause the current structure to overcompensate and explode and this was probably the problem with the Samsung Note issue.  The use of the tungsten niobium compound will allow a more stable environment for high-density storage and high-speed charging. One of the reported niobium tungsten oxides is built from 4 x 5 blocks of (Nb, W)O6 octahedra that are connected along shear planes, he adds. The other, the “bronze-like” phase, is held open by pillars of oxygen that prop open the atomic layers.  Both compounds are easily synthesized and allow lithium ions to quickly move through them in 3D. Their architectures also make them more rigid than other battery materials. “They may be able to safely offer higher densities at high discharge/charge rates and could thus be used in systems requiring high power delivery and/or fast charging, possibly in combination with a lower rate, high-energy-density batteries,” he says. The fact that they can readily be produced without any additional chemicals or solvents is another point in their favour. I have seen research on this technology since 2009.  The critical component is the introduction of tungsten to help alleviate the heat issue. This is where nanoengineering comes into the picture. The researchers at the University of Central Florida created supercapacitors made from nanowires composed of a one-dimensional core (made of highly single-crystalline tungsten trioxide) wrapped with two two-dimensional shells (made of tungsten disulfide) that are separated by a subnanometer gap. The research is reported in the American Chemical Society journal Nano. — www.forbes.com What Does This All Mean? If you have read my earlier article, you would know my thoughts on Tungsten.  Sometimes when you are too close to the picture, it is hard to see the wood from the trees.  I was passionate about the tungsten market, but there was always one issue that I could not understand.  The demand and supply dynamics of tungsten.  The recent pricing seems to indicate that it has come up from the low USD$200+ per MTU.  However, there does not seem to be any catalyst in the market to make it run to the highs of 2011 of USD$450 per MTU. The biggest problem for Tungsten is the view that there is a shit load of Tungsten in China.  The buyers are mostly Chinese, and there are not that many money making tungsten mines in the world. If there are no massive subsidies given or “artificially” given for the survival of the project, I don’t see too many mines coming on stream. If that is true, you would expect a spike in the pricing or a future spike.  The truth is there is no evidence of that happening, why you ask?  I want to know also… 🙂  In fact, there is strong evidence of the reverse. Maybe the catalyst is in all these new uses of Tungsten.  I believe that the specific properties of Tungsten, the high melting point, will be the one that will make the commodity more critical than any other product.  The fact that the metal is dense, durable and has a high melting point will be what is required by the high tech industry. As the marketplace continues to devour things of high efficiency, the speed of work and storage capacity, you will need metals or commodities that can handle all of those.  All the research I am seeing is there is a flow towards technology. The traditional use is still pumping along, except for light bulbs.  So the demand will always be there, and if I am correct, the new technological applications may push tungsten to new highs. It was only a few years ago that I learned of the research of tungsten batteries.  When I Googled for information, there were not that many.  However, times have changed as there are ample research papers on this topic now.  It also appears that the researchers are well advanced. Conclusions My conclusions are of optimism and pondering why this market should not be higher.  I belief that there will be a lot of demand created from the specific properties of tungsten.  The new tech, the new EV requirements will be my optimism. The lithium industry will see some downfall is my long call. My ponderance is what is the real story on supply.  If you believe that China has found a large deposit as reported in 2012, then there is no more need to waste money on deposits anywhere in the world.  We should stop exploring and mining for tungsten.  Why has the price not been deflated?  Is this like how the oil cartel has kept the oil price from falling all those years by delaying supply? I don’t think I can have an answer to that question and only time will tell. What I will reaffirm is my confidence that Tungsten may well be the next flavour of the month…..  When will that happen? That is a good question… 🙂  It is all about the value proposition for investors. Also Check for :- Solar Energy – Could we alter the Climate? Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Recently, I have been looking at renewable energy  applications, especially solar energy.  I wondered what is the cost of applying solutions such as those large solar power farms ? Does it affect the environment, does it alter the climate? I know it sounds strange but like all physical matters, there is always a cost of doing business. Solar energy which is the most common of the renewable space is now the norm when talking about non fossil fuel applications.  Wind power generation is the next biggest and is also very significant part of the renewable space especially in Europe. Has anyone thought about the possibility of all these changes to the natural equilibrium with habitat changes and land uses that may affect the  ecosystem?  Could we alter the climate that we are trying to save? The Renewable Infrastructure. Currently we have the following items that help us become green, Solar – solar farms are today growing rapidly and they are growing larger in size. Some of these farms can power up to 200,000 homes. Wind – Wind farms are now slowlly taking a larger role however, I do think that the visual impact and thier inefficiency may limit their purpose in the future. Hydro – This is old technology and it has a great impact on the environment and society. However, it si better than buring coal, or is it? Wave – A very new technology and the real impact is still unknown. There is a fifth component to that list which I consider is green but the general public would not consider it as a green alternative.  That fifth element is Nuclear.   In 2009,  I found information showing that nuclear power has less carbon impact than any know “green” alternative power generation.  However, at the 2019 International Business Conferrence, I heard a talk mentioned that that is no longer the case.  There is now evedecnce that solar power is getting more efficent and cheaper which is why the use of solar power is growing in popularity. Footprint – Significant or Not ? According to a report entitled “Understanding future emissions from low-carbon power systems by integration of life-cycle assessment and integrated energy modelling”, which I found on www.nature.com,  the conclusion was that it is not significant unless you talking about Hydro… 🙂 We find that cumulative emissions attributable to upscaling low-carbon power other than hydropower are small compared with direct sectoral fossil fuel emissions and the total carbon budget. Fully considering life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions has only modest effects on the scale and structure of power production in cost-optimal mitigation scenarios. The study took into consideration emmissions including from manufacture, construction and fuel supply.  The study also included nuclear energy.  It is obvious that fossil fuels are the main bad energy source, but comparatively, the use of Hydro and Bioenergy are also considered bad. For a climate protection scenario, we project life-cycle emissions from fossil fuel carbon capture and sequestration plants of 78–110gCO2eq kWh−1, compared with 3.5–12gCO2eq kWh−1 for nuclear, wind and solar power for 2050. Life-cycle emissions from hydropower and bioenergy are substantial (∼ 100 gCO2eq kWh−1), but highly uncertain. What surprised me was the significant differentce between, nuclear,wind and solar and that of hydropower and bioenergy. It one thing to say the economic efficientcy of the different power generation types, but I do think that the impact will be on the footprint. The argument against not having a mine operation becasue it harms the environment when you look at farming is one that I find facinating.  The footprint of a typical mining operation makes is insignificant when compared to farming.  This is the same when you look at solar or wind farms.  The lack of Carbon Debt? When people talk about the carbon debt between types of renewable energy, I think the article above see to be a good answer. However, I do feel that people need to look at the longer term ramification of having these large solar and wind farms.  The visual environmental impact needs to be considered.  Its fine if you have a Sahara desert or a Gobi desert to put these panels.  I would think that the large area that is required for these solar farms will cause damage to flora and fauna. In regards to wind energy, some of the wind turbines are huge.  According to a report by CNBC, GE is building a turbine that is over 260m tall.  It will have a capacity of 12 megawatts and 107m blades.  According to GE, they will spend over USD4ooM developing and building over the next 5 years.  The turbine will produce over 65GWh annually. That will power about 16,000 European households An article in www.sciencing.com published some very interesting facts, For example, environmental reports underestimated the number of desert tortoises that would be displaced by the Ivanpah Solar Generating System in California’s Mojave Desert. The same solar farm also came under scrutiny when an increasing number of bird deaths were reported on its premises. Many of their wings had been melted or burned off by heat from the solar farm’s mirrors. Being a geologist, we are always made to be the anti-environmentalist. When in fact,we are more protective of the environment.  I have always thought that a solar farm is like tree logging, or land farming.  You need to clear lots of land.  We all know that the ecosystem is one that works hand in hand with all species that exist, so if you take one out, you are going to have an issue.  A bit like losing an arm, or a kidney or a liver ?  Sounds all very environmentall difficult but even a geologist thinks there must be an alternative :-). I am not saying that we dont have these alternative energy sources but what I am saying is that maybe having solar farms is very primitive? Should we be looking at better ways to use these solutions. Clean energy changing Climate This leads to the most interesting article I have read which glued together my pontification over this subject.  The fact that a wind or solar farm could actually change the climate. The bad would be what we have just discussed, which is the habitat and wildlife issue.  But there is research going on now that is trying to see if having a solar farm would trigger climate change.  They are trying to discover if solar and wind farms may alter the movement of air to a degree that it could create more moisture and allow vegetation to grow where it was not possible.  The study is made over the Sahara desert. In principle, this area would be ideally placed to house such a project, as it is sparsely populated and well placed to supply the growing energy demands of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The researchers found that, when installed on a large enough scale, both wind and solar infrastructure would trigger feedback loops that bring more rainfall and promote the growth of vegetation in the desert. In a region that is already feeling the effects of global warming as the Sahara desert creeps further into the fertile lands bordering it, the scientists say the net effect would be surprisingly positive. If readers think that this is something out of Star Trek movie, the attraction of turning the Sahara desert from a non productive patch of dirt into a ocean of solar panels or wind turbines will happen. It is in breed in the human species to be greedy to make that happen.  If that was to happen, the result of more rain, more green will happen. What we dont know is if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  No doubt, the positives is that this ocean of solar and wind energy will create so much cheap and useful power to the region. It will change the whole region to productivity that the world will need to feed ourselves. There is a few articles on the reasons why wind and solar farms can bring significant climates changes to the Sahara desert.  The one that I found had a clear explanation was that in www.theconversation.com. The Future? As technology becomes smarter and cheaper, there are now a series of panels that are made to line buildings in the big cities.  They are classed as smart windows which transfer the sunlight that shines on them to energy.  A company in Australia called ClearVue (ASX:CPV) has come up with a patented advanced glazing technology that sits within an activated interlayer sandwiched between two panes of glass.  This kind of stuff makes good sense and if commercialised, it will be a big money spinner. Through the combination of special compound materials, the interlayer prevents heat and unwanted solar radiation (UV or Infrared) from penetrating the glass pane. This energy is then redirected to the edge of the glass for controlled distribution and harvesting through conventional PV solar cells, whilst allowing the natural visible wavelength light to pass through largely unaltered. — ClearVue Limited (ASX:CPV) There is a video on their website that gives a good explanation of the technology. Another form of smart windows is one that is made of perovskites. Windows with this material allow windows to be clear on cold days but turns them dark in the hot summer sun.  Some groups have mentioned that they can harvest power like solar cells from the windows. Perovskites are materials made of a mix of elements with a particular crystalline structure, and solar cells made from them are nearly as efficient at converting sunlight to electricity as state-of-the-art silicon solar panels: The best ones convert more than 22 of the energy in sunlight to electricity, compared with 25 for silicon. By changing the perovskites’ elemental components, researchers can also control their transparency. What’s more, the starting materials for perovskites are far cheaper than existing solar cells. — www.sciencemag.org Recently, I have also been working on a wave technology concept.  It is still in the early stage of commercialisation testing but I can still see a pretty big footprint too.  It is smaller than the ones I have seen so at least that is working in the right direction.  I have no idea what the solution is but I am sure there are very smart people out there that will have an answer. Conclusion The journey to have a greener energy solution is something that I am in favour.  The reality is that the use fossil fuel will be around for probably two more generations and maybe more.  In my opinion, the uptake of renewable energy will only accelerate if ggovernmentsforce the population to do adopt the changes. For example, in UK and I suppose most of the advanced countries in Europe,  this is very evident and I can see some major changes. However, the point I am trying to highlight is that the human race is damn scared of being extinct.  The rush to be green is really driven by the material greed and not the need to be morally green.  History tells us that humans will eventually make a real mess of it because our so called “greenness” is rushed because we want the green bills.  That's why we continually look back in history and see all the things that we could or should have done better. source: All photos ar sourced from Bing. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

I came across Pointerra Limited (ASX:3DP) in late 2015 when the company was trying to list on the ASX through an RTO (Reverse Takeover). The business is a platform that stores and allow utilisation of 3D data over the internet. The platform also allows 3D data visualisation for users.  In my opinion, it is the only and best 3D company on the ASX. To simplify the story, currently, there is no easy way to handle 3D data due to the large file sizes. The complexity of 3D data has always been an issue for users wanting a cloud experience. Pointerra’s technology allows users to use their real-time dynamic web viewing tools for simple access to their data from any device in any location. Users retain control over their data with the ability to make it public or to monetise for themselves through Pointerra’s secure transaction system. How Does the Business work? It’s quite simple.  The business deals with 3D data instead of the flatter 2D format structure.  In another past life, I was heavily involved in asset management for most of the major local governments in Perth, Western Australia.  So I am very comfortable with what the company is trying to achieve.  In those days, early 2000, the applications for 3D data today was virtually non-existent, and if it were, it was definitely in its infancy stage. Today we have AR (Augmented Reality) and AI (Artifical Intelligence), and companies such as Google now want to use 3D data to complement the Google map experience.  Have a look at the news on Google Earth.  There are companies all over the place now that deal only in 3D data.  It is no longer something that is a futuristic application. If you look at the businesses such as Tensor Flight, you cannot help but think that the 3D data world is only just starting. When you have 3D data to millimetre precision, you can do a lot with the information.  You are talking about survey quality datasets.  As a geologist, when we were using handheld GPS in the field, we were looking at 1-2m errors.  These days, the handhelds are doing centimetres to millimetres, depending on coverage and allowing for correction.  What this means for the geologist is that we do not need to send surveyors out into the field and hence saving money. In the world of engineering, it started with manual labour using laser scanners to capture the 3D information.  Now we have drones and Google.  Companies such as Rio Tinto now consistently updates their 3D data for its internal uses.  When Google collects data for its purposes such as Google maps, they collect 3D datasets as well. The 3D datasets were not well used because no technology was able to handle the logistics.  This missing technology is where Pointerra comes into the picture. When you look at Figure 1, it is a very simple Business Model.  Data is captured or given, uploaded into the system (cloud-based), and you use it.  The user has the choice of using the dataset for its use and also the option to sell that dataset to its customers. How Does it Work, Who uses 3D data? Everyone.  That may seem unlikely to the everyday person, but I keep coming back to this digital world.  What people need to understand is that when they look with their eyes, they see everything in 3D.  That is how our brain works instinctively. When we look at a 2D map, we have to make an effort to process what we see which means that it is easier for a human to interpret 3D view than that of a 2D format. Hence, the digital life that we are going to live in will need 3D data.  Whatever we use to view it will need to be allowed to process and visualise this information smoothly and seamlessly.  The system will need to be able to be used anywhere and on mobile devices. Therefore, if you understand the uses of high-resolution aerial photography and tools such as google maps, you will be excited about the endless possibilities of 3D information. There are two main parts to this understanding, Storage The user’s visualisation of the data. The capturing of the data is the simple part. Business Model In Figure 2, you can see that entire business and potential income streams for the company.  Just so that I put the potential into context, construction of a building, or a refinery or a bridge will be so much easier to visualise in 3D.  Like when high-resolution photography came into play, it was terrific. For example, when I was using the high-resolution photography for collecting information for asset management. I could see the paving tiles enough to measure it. When you use 3D data, it is not just the visualisation; it’s the ability to calculate things on an engineering accuracy scale. Pointerra claims that they can provide users with the ability to do all these things.  Think of the utility companies and the miners such as Rio Tinto and BHPs of this world doing the uncrewed dump trucks and trains.  They would need to know in 3D, every millimetre of any scenario of their working environment. What is the Technology? I will declare at the outset that the detailed understand of the technology to me is unfortunately not my strength. What I do know is that there seem to be a lot of people out there that understand it and are making enterprise agreements with the company.  Autodesk is one of them and that, to me, speaks volume in this part of the industry.  A giant like Autodesk is a fantastic endorsement.  Pointerra’s patent-pending technology is best summarised in Figure 3, outlining the multiple facets of how things work. What’s the Attraction? If you believe the sales pitch that Pointerra is telling the investor world that there are no competitors out in the marketplace, you will start to see the myriad of income streams (Figure 4). As we continue to live in a world of AR and AI, you can imagine that the use of 3D applications will have no end.  With the onset of 5G, the use of large data format will become more accessible and more widespread.  For example, take the virtual shopping of Alibaba, the use of AR to showcase engineering products such as shipbuilding, large infrastructure projects such as railways, construction of power grids, the study of sun shadows for large urban developments… etc. All of these will require the precision survey and the use of 3D data in applications will be the norm rather than the exception. It is a bit bewildering to think that there is an endless use for 3D data.  From a geographical, technical background, I understand that the use of mapping is critical in everyday use.  The commercial world needs to understand maps to make money. Think about how Uber is to survive if they don’t have a master on maps.  How would companies such as Westfields decide where to put their shopping centre and what content will they need in those centres without maps to tell them population densities, spending habits, age distributions etc. In the City of South Perth, they are running a driverless bus.  You would wonder how does that bus know where to go, how to go…etc without the third dimension information.  In my opinion, the use of 3D data is now just being  accessed by users. Figure 5 below gives a general understanding of some near-term application for the products that Pointerra can provide at the moment. The People I remember when I was at the launch of the RTO, I was listening to the presentation and I was immediately impressed with the fact that the core people are all in the industry. If you look at the team behind the company, they are the people who helped Rio Tinto build the technology to be able to drive a dump truck remotely.  They were involved in the technology to capture and apply 3D data in pit surveys.  Just remember that to have a truck drive uncrewed, you need exact data.  Now if you are a company that lives in this world, you want your team to be vested in the business.  The founders of the company are part of the main shareholding. To me, this is critical.  If you have the best technology and the people working it has no interest in the well-being of the company, you will have a problem. What is in it for the Investor? The investor is only really interested in the capital growth of the company.  The capital growth of the share price is the only requirement for all things commercial, $$$. As of the 28th September 2018, the share price of the company is not too far from my exit in the stock 18 months ago.  It went for a rally in late 2017 on the back of the announcement of the Autodesk relationship, but it has since dived (Figure 6).  However, I believe that the new reports on the new income stream have put the company on a good momentum upwards. I re-entered the stock late 2017 after the announcement of Autodesk as I felt this was a journey in the right direction.  Unfortunately, the decline has meant that I have been averaging down :-).  I will say that this is a stock that, fortunately, or unfortunately (time will tell), I believe the darn story.  Having been in the mapping industry for the last 25years + as a geologist and a local government consultant in asset management, I can see the potential of the business.  I was a big user of GIS (Geographical Information Systems), so I appreciate digital maps and the wonder of seeing things in 3 dimensions. Peer Comparisons At these prices, the Market Cap of the company is around the AUD20M mark.  If you look at the closest comparison on the market, Nearmap, you have to wonder if there is a lot more growth.  The last time I looked at the Market Cap of Nearmap, it was almost 800M.  It may be of interest to people that Robert Newman, who is the Managing Director and CEO of Nearmaps, is also a Non-Executive Director of Pointerra.  If you want a vote of confidence on the business, that has got to be one.  Remember that Nearmaps was once at these early stages. When I look at Nearmaps and what they are doing, I cannot help myself to think that the flat structure (2D data) cannot compare with what Pointerra is offering. The difference is market awareness and proof of concept.  Nearmap has a great product, and they are doing well, and I think the high-resolution game has a market. Pointerra will be valued at those levels when the proof of commercialisation begins to filter in from the marketplace.  The last few announcements are already giving some signs, so fingers crossed. Another thing, I don’t think Nearmap has made any money yet, and they have a Market Cap of 800M.  Think about that concept.  A few months ago, Nearmap raised AUD$70M at AUD$1.70. My Concerns The company does not get this message out to the commercial world. They run out of money before delivering the message.  A capital raise at these prices again would not be good for the existing shareholding. With such a great story, why are there not more buying into the stock? In their latest Annual Reports, a few Non-Executive Directors are being paid a decent salary- from a chainaman standard; the amount is decent  :-).From experience, many NEDs don’t do anything and are handsomely paid that would add to the cost of doing business.  However, if they are doing things, then that is a different story. Conclusion Pointerra, in my opinion, is going to be a great story. The technology is fantastic and assuming that they can fend off any competition, this will be a tremendous journey. Think about what it means to be able to have precision 3D data that is available to everyone. If you appreciate the use of 2D maps such as those that are being used in Google Maps and used by Nearmaps, what could the possibilities be with one extra dimension? I hope you appreciate my thoughts and enjoy the read. Samso Declaration I am currently a shareholder of Pointerra (ASX:3DP) The purpose of this piece of writing is not to sell Pointerra shares. I have not been paid by anyone to write this article. It is also not to convince the reader to buy the shares. I just thought it is an excellent story to share. Samso is all about sharing thoughts and ideas. NOTE: The information contained in this article is general information only. Any advice is just general advice. Neither your objectives, financial situation or needs are taken into consideration. You should consider how appropriate the information (if any) is to those objectives, financial condition and requirements, before acting on the advice. Conflict of Interest Notice SamsoPty Ltd does and seeks to do business with companies featured in its articles. As a result, investors should be aware that the Firm may have a conflict of interest that could affect the objectivity of this article. Investors should consider this article as only a single factor in making any investment decision. The publishers of this article also wish to disclose that they may hold this stock in their portfolios. Any choice to purchase this stock should be made so after the purchaser has made their inquiries as to the validity of any information in this article. Publishers Notice The information contained in this article is current at the finalised date. The information provided in this article is based on sources reasonably considered to be reliable by Samso Pty Ltd, and available in the public domain. No “insider information” is ever sourced, disclosed or used by Samso Pty Ltd. Also Check For:- Possibly the Best Copper Stock on the ASX : Castillo Copper (ASX:CCZ) Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

In 2016, I started telling people to be excited about Nickel stocks.  First of all, they should start looking at the best Nickel stocks that are unloved now and awaiting a Happy Ending.   The LME (London Metals Exchange) started to show a decreasing warehouse stock level.  Also, the nickel price looked like it was bottoming out.  Most noteworthy, it gave me the impression that the declining curve had taken a slight deviation.  Consequently, the interest for Nickel is now a matter of history thanks to the Cobalt bull run.  In addition, the word was out that the Li-Battery needed more nickel than cobalt …etc  Oh yes,  and suddenly every nickel projects became Ni-Co projects… 🙂 My Thoughts However, my optimism is more related to the whole base metal market rather than just Nickel.  In my opinion, we have just come off one of the worst commodity crises.  So I felt with that prolonged downturn, it cleared out a lot of underperformance.  This normally meant that productivity will slowly set in for the long run.  Certainly a shallower but definitely longer wavelength of growth. Industry people tell me that there is currently about 25 weeks of surplus on the LME.  The stockpile, and according to the industry,  needs to come down to within 10 weeks and that will start to move the price. In regards to the supply issue, the general consensus from industry people is that the supply crunch will come in 2 years time.  This is the kind of timeline that the current producers and near-producers are aiming for their projects to be at maturity.  Companies such as Panoramic Resources Limited are now restarting their  Savannah Underground Nickel Mine in the East Kimberley, Western Australia. So I am guessing that the journey has begun. It is because of this factor that I like some of the lower ranks… The unloved or unknown stocks.  So I came up with the 4 Best that I like. I was going to do 5, but I got lazy… 🙂 Panoramic Resources is a company that I tag as a Valued proposition.  They are miners.  There are the Western Metals, Mincor, Norlisk, BHP, Eramet…. etc. These companies are not what I think are the unloved/unknown stocks.  I am not saying that they are of no good, in fact, I think they are very worth looking at as when things kick on, they are going to be money earners for everyone. I just bought some Western Metals… hopefully, that is a good move :-). No.1 – Legend Mining Limited (ASX: LEG) Legend Mining has come on the scene with the Rockford project, located in the Fraser Range province of Western Australia.  The project is a joint venture between Legend (70%) and Creasy Group (30%) with Legend being the operator.  The concept is to find a Nova-Bollinger style nickel-copper and Tropicana gold mineralisation. The project is has a large tenure. In fact, a total of 12 contiguous Exploration Licences covering 2,792km2.  It is 120km northeast of the Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper deposit, owned by Independence Group NL. As you can see in the diagram below, it lies along the strike of the large Gravity anomaly that house the Nova-Bollinger nickel-copper deposit. Nickel exploration is not easy and finding that Ni-S body is a lot harder than your typical gold deposit.  As a geologist who has limited nickel exploration, I have been told by good authority that finding a Ni-S body is very hard.  However, with the new technological advances in geophysical tools, it is easier now than before. As I am told. The diagram below illustrates why this is a good story.  As you can see, there is good sized mineralisation grade complimenting a decent length of mineralisation.  Always good to see some meterage in your intercepts.  There is no doubt that this is a greenfield project but so was the Nova-Bollinger mine and DeGrussa.  In fact, so was many other projects. The exploration that has been done by Legend is proving that this is a relatively safe bet. Price Chart The price chart activity is certainly more active within the last 12 months. It’s obvious that the activities are clearly related to to the Rockford project.  A joint venture into one of Mark Creasy’s projects seems to be the flavour of the month.  Since cashing out from the Novo-Bollinger project (Sirus Resources LImited), Mr Creasy has had a few more wins so I will envisage that LEG will certainly be on many watch screens in the investing sector. The only disadvantage  I see is the Market Cap of AUD80M.  It is pretty high for an explorer. The most important concept to remember is that Mark Creasy has a 30% stake in the project and a 28% stake in Legend Mining Limited.  This is a Mark Creasy company and if they get a sniff of success, there will be no issue finding new money to continue. No. 2 –  Rox Resources Limited (ASX: RXL) Rox Resources Limited (RXL) is a very interesting company. AUD15M cash EV of 3M Market Cap of 15M. East Fisher Nickel Project – Mineral Resource of 2Mt @2.5% Ni for 50,600 tonnes contained nickel. Mt Fisher Gold Project – Mineral Resource of 973,000T @ 2.75 g/t for 86,000 oz contained gold. (To be divested into another new IPO in 2018/2019). Collurabie Nickel Project – Inferred Resource of 573,000T @ 1.63% Ni, 1.19% Cu, 0.082% Co, 0.85 g/t Pt, 1.49% g/t Palladium. The East Fisher project was discovered in 2012.  In fact, I reviewed the project and wanted to put in a bid to buy it for my previous life.  Originally, this is a gold project and I felt that there were limits to the project.  I still think that is the case.  The location is pretty remote and you would need to find a lot more to make the gold work.  What I did not expect was the discovery of the nickel in the project.  This I feel will make a difference.  The discovery of the nickel is a game changer for RXL and I hope they can make this work.  In addition, with the addition of Collurabie Nickel Project, this company could provide a few surprises. I am surprised that with the discovery, things have not really happened for RXL in the share price department.  I was a shareholder a few years ago and sold out making some coin but it seemd to have stayed pretty much stagnant since that time. The photos above are some samples from East Fisher. I spoke to Ian Mulholland about the prospectivity and he explained that the ore bodies are still open and there many upsides to the story.  The good part of these deposits is that they are shallow and within 70km from the nearest mill. Collurabie is further east but when you look at the final picture, I think this is a workable project.  There are definitely some negatives, but they have the money to do the work required. The mineralisation from a geologist point of view is interesting. For me, at this stage, I am enjoying the whole geological story.  I wished I was this studious when I was doing the geological degree. Price Chart If the nickel price does head north, this will give RXL a lot of room to move.  However, the 5-year chart below shows that there is a disparity between what the potential of the company and what the market values it. This is one of those issues when a company has legacy issues and the market just does not like you. Looking at the stock, there are about 1.3B shares and that does scare some real investors away.  The stock has traded in a downward trend for too many years for a company with AUD15M in the bank.  Just does not make sense. I think they need some chinamen in there to stir the pot… 🙂  Only a chinaman can make leftovers a staple dish… Fried Rice… Long soup…Short soup… No. 3 – Talisman Mining Limited (ASX: TLM) Talisman Mining Limited (TLM) is another company that I feel is worth a good read.  They had the tenement adjacent to Sansdfire Resources Limited and when they announced the discovery of the DeGrussa deposit, and TLM share price went flying.  The management comes from good history, ex Jubilee Mines NL. If I am correct, Jubilee Mines sparked off the last run of nickel discovery in the early 2000s. The industry was having a hangover from the 1999 disaster, and the discovery of nickel was sparking the workflow. After the discovery of DeGrussa, TLM worked on their Springfield project (the one adjacent to DeGrussa) and discovered the Monty Copper Mine.  As I write, they have recently announced that they have sold that project for $AUD70M + to Sandfire with extras. So for a small company, that is a good result.  As you can see in the price chart below, it is not a bad investment/punt for the investor. The discovery of Monty would make a good read too. Maybe I will see if I can do something about that in the future. The Sinclair Nickel Project This is located in the famous Agnew-Wiluna Greenstone belt.  Probably the best known world-class district for Ni mineralisation.  It is a historic mine. It has produced 1.58Mt @2.44% nickel for 38,599t of nickel from 2008 to 2013.  The site has all the infrastructure for a working mine and has been under care and maintenance since the downturn of the nickel price. I am no expert in Nickel but my understanding is that as these lodes are very small but have high grades, so the chances of finding more are very high.  Look at the Kambalda nickel mines.  They have been producing for decades. Assuming that the management is not planning to mine the market and are really making an effort to make this work, I would bet money on finding more workable lodes of nickel sulphides. What I do know about nickel sulphides is that they are damn hard to find.  As a result, when you do find them, they tend to be something that can work.  Consequently, from an exploration point of view, I would say that I will rather be exploring at a place where there is much smoke and have been known to be flammable.  Furthermore, always remember that they are in a well know nickel province. I know I sound like I am repeating myself,  the reason I like Talisman very much now is that they are going to have a heap of cash and they have good ground to drill. To top it all off, there is a great chance that the nickel price will go up. Looks like a good combination to me. From the last published presentation, I like the look of their interpretation,  strike extension and the grades look very consistent. No. 4 – Poseidon Nickel Limited (ASX: POS) Poseidon Nickel is something of an oddball.  I actually know very little but the latest corporate moves make me think that I am missing something.  I know what they have technically.  How anyone would want to pump lots of money into the company makes me think that there is something that I have not understood.  Most importantly, I know that they a very high-grade Nickel mine, Silver Swan which is within the Black Swan Project. Price Chart Looking at the price chart, there is nothing there that will excite most people.  For instance, the lack of spikes and I mean noticeable spikes is boring.  However, I do know that there are a lot of big wigs in this stock. So if there are corporate moves, one must take note and start asking questions.  The latest manoeuvring corporately makes me more than interested. Black Swan The project is 600km east of Perth and 50km northeast of Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.  There are three components to the project, Black Swan open pit Silver Swan underground mine. Black Swan sulphide concentrator (2.15Mtpa) and supporting infrastructure. The Black Swan deposit contains serpentine ore (0.74% Ni) and talc carbonate ore (0.72%). The Silver Swan underground mine contains 147,000T @ 11.48% Ni for 17,000T  contained Ni What’s Happening with the Project First of all, as I have mentioned, there was a flurry of activities the last few months culminating in the latest scenario. There had been many talks in the street that something was happening and as a result, I have sort of kept abreast on the goings of POS.  Not diligently but it was in mind.  The result was the resulting capital raising that made headlines.  The latest fundraising is apparently going into the restart of  Silver Swan and Black Swan.  There are also talks about exploration drilling in several of their prospects.  The good news is that I am bullish on the nickel price.  Companies like POS will be in the box seat with a rising Nickel price. They have the infrastructure and the mines.  Their pricing is unloved and this is why they are on my list of things to watch. They have a Market Cap of AUD100M and I guess for a miner, that is not too high. Share price sucks but if they can make Silver Swan work again, then things may change. Finally, I  recently saw an article by  SmallCaps, regarding the exploration of the Abi Rose high-grade nickel discovery that made a good read. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

After writing the last post on Misunderstanding Dementia – A Common Issue, I have developed more passion to share the awareness of Dementia.  The response I received were all very complimentary.  Interestingly, when talking to people, they are still fixated on the memory loss as the primary symptom.  In this post, I want to share on some of my research on the good things that you can do as friends and family of dementia. I find it challenging to write this post as I am never one to dwell on negatives. However, over the years of caring for my parents, I have a great appreciation for the aged care industry.  Watching these people who cared for us all those years now become people that do things you are not accustomed to is not pleasant.  I don’t think this is anything new as every reader will agree. Cultural Issue Too many people still feel the embarrassment and taboo of talking about these topics.  I think the ethical side and those from the older generation is very much to blame.  I am slowly realising these issues as I speak to more people.  I feel that the misunderstanding is a result of not wanting to be associated with the stigma of an illness such as Dementia. It is not due to a lack of understanding of facts… As they say, we immigrants bottle our culture and we take it out and use it as when we see fit. However, the place where we come from has been progressing with time and when we look back, we find that we have indeed been living in a culture that has been stuck in a bottle. When I was trying to get my last post out to the general public, I started to see that there are many associations here in Australia. To my surprise, Malaysia and Singapore had a few too.  I should touch on that in upcoming posts.  Reading the news from those places made me think that people like me should share our thoughts on this topic.  I call my self a “Banana” (Yellow on the outside and white on the inside), and we should help bridge the gap. Life Continues But in a Different Way In my opinion, as bad as this topic is, my parents are still relatively healthy.  For example, my mother is now playing mahjong and cards four times a week (when they go to the Chung Wah Community Centre) and she has never played that over the years.  She only started playing cards after going to the centre. I cannot speak highly enough about what the Community Center means to us.  The staff are great at making the experience fun and comfortable.   There are many people with different level of care there and are well cared. I do encourage that friends and family of the aged do check these places out.  Another topic for the next blog… 🙂 My parents look forward to going there.  They bring their newspaper, snacks (homemade by us :-), and they come back telling us of who they met and what they did…. who did what, who was funny…  who was a pain…etc.  There was even someone who made Texas style BBQ sauces and they bought some back for us.  All of them are living a whole new, different life but they are existing and relatively enjoying their life. Having dementia, as bad as it is, has many positives as well.  My mum now plays mahjong and cards… 🙂  Recently, she was also trying to play pool. How the Community Centre Works. The great thing about the community centre is that participants get to mingle and mix with together. A van comes in the morning to pick them up between 8:30 and 9 am and takes them back around the 2:30 pm mark. I have been there and they are able to do the following, Group Exercise Play Games such as Mahjong. Not sure if old Asians play scrabble 🙂 Staff are there to encourage communication, They have morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and even dinner if required. Watch television. The greatest benefit is that they are able to do relatively normal things.  They still think of what they want to eat, and respond pretty well to conversations.  It may not be what we consider as normal conversations, but it is still a conversation.  There are many sad stories but its how you make of a situation. Speaking to a relative who has family in Melbourne last night, there is a lot of people who do not know of these kinds of help.  I encourage readers who are in similar situations to seek these kinds of help. Whether you are in Australia or another country, the relief from 24hr care will help maintain good relations. On the occasion, there is an outing that happens and they go to see places. They were taken to go fishing one time too.  Now that is a good life. The Inspiring Stories. I felt inspired by a guy in the US who made a documentary about his mother and dementia.  The way he goes about doing things shows that you can still have normal conversations, it’s just on different topics.  There was a video they went out to have ice cream.  When you have acted as a carer, you notice the small things. You say to yourself, wow, we can also do that, now that is a good idea, why did we not think of that….etc You can see the sad side or the encouragement side.  I prefer to see a great effort he makes to create a difference in the story. I encourage readers to share their comments and create awareness that there is life even with the discomfort of this illness. There is a video on a Dementia Village that I attached to my post on Dementia, where there was this social worker who had the best attitude in dealing with the awkward behaviours of citizens of the village.  I have started the video below at the stage where she was being interviewed, From my experience, I do find that the carers all have this kind of mindset, or at least similar.  Having seen a few carers over the years, they are a special breed of people.  They give respite to the primary carers and I tell you, it is very appreciated.  It also makes life easier.  My advice for all carers is to make sure you take full advantage of these services.  I appreciate that many of these services may not be affordable for many people but it is worth seeking the alternatives. Personally, the more I learn about the issues, the easier it is for me to deal with situations. It is not about me expressing my assumed knowledge, it is all about sharing that its a work in progress. Some Interesting News – Promising News There is an article talking about that there are ways you can do to prevent Dementia.  This was published by The Economic Times, titled Good News: Now, dementia can be predicted 10 years in advance.  It quotes research that was done by the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. “If those individuals at highest risk can be identified, a targeted prevention with risk-factor reduction can be initiated early before disease has developed, thus delaying onset of dementia or preventing it,” said Ruth Frikke-Schmidt, a professor at the University of Copenhagen. The study looked at data on 1,04,537 people in Copenhagen, Denmark, and linked it to diagnoses of dementia. Researchers found that a combination of age, sex and a common variation in the APOE gene could identify high-risk groups, with a seven per cent risk for women and six per cent risk for men in their 60s. There was a 16 per cent and 12 per cent risk, respectively, for people in their 70s; and a 24 per cent and 19 per cent risk, respectively, for those aged 80 years and  … Dementia Rates Declining? There was one article that I thought was interesting.  The article mentioned that researchers found that those who completed high school were less prone to develop symptoms of dementia.  They talk about being healthy to reduce cardiovascular issues. Doing this may have some influence on the risk of adopting symptoms of dementia.  However, another result showed a rather surprising result.  This was that overweight and obese study participants actually had a lower risk of dementia than others. (source: https://www.senioradvisor.com/blog/2017/01/the-good-news-about-dementia-rates-theyre-dropping/) They mentioned that this is still too early to be factual, as other studies connect excess weight with heart disease, which can raise dementia risk. The reasoning may be that the extra weight late in life might offer some protection against cognitive decline. Is It True? To me, that may have some truth.  When I recently spoke to a pharmacist he mentioned that the in traditional medicine, people are taught that if you have high cholesterol, you must remove it.  In fact, that level of cholesterol is the basic building blocks for the other parts of the system. Removing it will dampen that body sequence to develop its own “medicine”.  Anyway, I am no medical practitioner but when this was explained, it was really interesting. This is a part taken out from the article, Dementia rates are in decline The percentage of adults 65 and older with dementiadropped from 11.6 percent in the year 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012, according to data analysis published in the January 2017 issue of JAMA Internal Medicine. That analysis bolsters another reported released in 2016, which found that dementia rates droppedby a total of 44{e84228ce8c9f7001611629be1db85467cf541581cf1fd5424de0612b3249e3f5} since the late 1970s through 2008. Any decrease in dementia rates is good news, not only for seniors and their families, but also for public health. Dementia is the most costly condition a person can face, because it can progress slowly over many years, during which patients require round-the-clock supervision to prevent wandering, falls, and distress. Caring for a loved one with dementia is more than a full-time job, and professional care is expensive. The Alzheimer’s Association says the total cost of caring for people with dementia in the US was $236 billion in 2016. My Research However, my research from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare show, The prevalence of dementia has increased—it affected approximately 252,000 people in 2006, which represents an increase of 40{e84228ce8c9f7001611629be1db85467cf541581cf1fd5424de0612b3249e3f5} to 2016. There is a link available to the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Dementia. Whether the rates are increasing or not, the fact of the matter is that people need to care in the best possible way.  As the world is going into an ageing period of our history, we are going to see more issues than less. Like everything old, it needs TLC and maintenance is not going to be cheap. I was inspired to write this follow up after talking to a few people who gave me the impression that there was this downhill slope when you have dementia.  Life is still worth living and it is up to us who are “normal” to make it as comfortable as possible for them. Also Check For:- Dementia Awareness- A Common Issue of Misunderstanding Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

A lack of Dementia Awareness in our society is not helping to detect one of the most devastating diseases.  There is a misunderstanding that dementia is all about memory loss.  It is discerning to learn that the average Joe in the street does not know what is dementia. Dementia can strike anyone, and there are so many types of dementia. Research shows that there will be over 65 M people in the world with have dementia by 2030.  This number is expected to increase to 100M by 2050. The Myth Dementia is not a part of Alzheimer’s disease. In actual fact,  it is the opposite, Alzheimer’s disease is a type of Dementia. What is Dementia? According to Dementia Australia, Dementia describes a collection of symptoms that are caused by disorders affecting the brain. It is not one specific disease. Dementia affects thinking, behaviour and the ability to perform everyday tasks. Brain function is affected enough to interfere with the person’s normal social or working life. Types of Dementia According to Dementia Australia, Dementia is the umbrella term for a number of neurological conditions, of which the major symptom includes a global decline in brain function. It is a condition that has been noted in people for hundreds of years. Dementia was a relatively rare occurrence before the 20th century as fewer people lived to old age in pre-industrial society. It was only in the mid 1970s that dementia began to be described as we know it today. We now know dementia is a disease symptom and not a normal part of ageing. There are over 100 diseases that may cause dementia. The most common causes of dementia include Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. Alzheimer’s disease Vascular dementia Lewy Body disease Frontotemporal dementia Alcohol related dementia Down syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease HIV associated dementia Misunderstanding  Dementia As I mentioned above, most people, when asked what dementia is, would say memory loss. This thinking is common, and however as you can see from the definition above,  memory loss is just one small part. From my reading and speaking with some researchers in this field, they all agree that misunderstanding dementia will become a sociological problem for our society. As you can see in the Dementia Australia definition, this disease affects the thinking, the behaviour and ability to perform everyday tasks for the sufferers. The person’s typical social or working life is altered as the brain function is changed, and there is no mention of memory loss.  There are many cases of dementia where the person takes on another identity and leaves loved ones , wondering how they have been isolated in that person’s mind. Personal Experience My wife and I are a “carer” for my mother, who has these symptoms.  Memory loss is prevalent, and its the first thing you observe.  However, it’s the other parts that are hard to manage regarding, not understanding what a real situation is and what is not a real (made up in their mind) situation like did they eat that, take that, move that. What is done or spoken is real or made up? This one is tough because they are not telling untruths on purpose, it is just in their mind, and you have to figure out what is real and what is not valid. Managing the paranoia character? The accusation of anything you could think of and even the things you would never have thought you could ever be accused of in normal life 🙂 Patterned behaviour requirements. Using boxes of tissues in days because they need to wipe the plates and utensils that you are going to wash anyway, washing every item of clothing every day of the week, rain, hail or shine? 🙂 People with dementia symptoms are great pattern followers.   We are told to help create as many new things to do as possible. We are told to help the brain create new paths, to promote the brain do new things, and get out of the regular patterns in their mind. I feel that the best way is not to ask them what they want but to give them what is right for them.  I found that simple things such as asking what they want to eat or asking them if they’re going to do this or not, you are sure to get the same answer. What we did not notice. Looking back, I noticed the “weird” behaviour first but just thought that she was being difficult and being this and that… It was not until the memory issue became apparent that we started thinking about the possibility of dementia.  Again, we have fallen straight into the “misunderstanding dementia” syndrome. When we started reading more, we learned about the paranoia and the odd behaviour were caused by dementia. However, it never really became the light bulb moment until much later because we never really understood what we read. This moment is an awareness problem. I am saying that we thought the part where she was difficult, the annoying behaviours, the annoying things that she would say, was her being difficult.  We now realise that these were clear signs of symptoms already.  That was dementia. Family and friends need to understand and accept the way they are now. Sadly, this is not the case in many cases, as people tend to forget the human side of compassion.  I know that this may appear to be a very unfair statement in many cases but its the raw truth.  Dementia patients will be challenging socially, and they will cause your life severe problems. Care Providers (have to mention them…) The carers we have, from the Chung Hua Association, are the best.  All I can say about them is that they make our lives so much better.  And to top it all off, I see them treating my parents with the greatest of care and respect.  I understand that this care is also exceptional in the community centre as well, with the other aged people.  I have seen it with myself. Unfortunately, I can only vouch for the  Chung Hua Association as they are the only ones I have experienced firsthand. I am sure the other care providers are just as good.  I see lots of care providers around, and I am sure they provide exceptional care. My 5 minutes of Fame and Glory A few months ago, the Chung Hua Association ( Aged Care Providers) asked us to go and participate in a survey. Unknowingly we were the centre of attention with The Australian, The ABC and the WA Miniter for the Age Care, Mr Ken Wyatt being there to talk/interview us.  The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Institute for Dementia Research (NNIDR) was making a short video for Dementia awareness, and we were one of the candidates.  I  did not realise that we were the only person who turned up and so we were the single target for all the guests, the VIP guests, and all the media. We also met with Dr Bianca Brijnath and Nick Lee ( both from the National Aging Research Institute) who were doing this project (called Moving Pictures). We learned a lot from speaking to Nick later on in regards to similar behaviour from dementia patients.  It was Nick who talked about needing to give them more pathways, as in disrupting their patterns to help their brains work better. Anyway, we made all these comments to these people.  What surprised me was that everyone was taken back by what we had to say.  I never realised that the lack of awareness was so extensive. I think even Minister Ken Wyatt, was enlightened by our comments.  The whole idea was that we would help make a video.  The video will be distributed to non-English speaking families and friends to help recognise and eventually care for those affected by dementia. The 5 minutes of fame included being written up in the news and being shown on ABC TV. Read the ABC article Read The Australian article. I have included the ABC news segment.  The quality is not the best but its the best I could do 🙂 Something interesting I found this youtube video that I thought I will share.  It is an app that was created to show the world through the eyes of someone with Dementia.  It was created by AlzheimersResearch UK Read the comments. It is interesting because it gives a sense of what the level and type of care expectations.  The couple is from a loving partner perspective and the character Joe is obviously from another level.  This is what happens when you need care… How we manage our world with Dementia. I will make it implicitly clear at the onset that the following is something that works for us.  There is no argument that every situation is different.  However, I would like to think that the basic principles that I am sharing, will be helpful to other people who are in the same position as Sandra and I. The key for me being in a dementia environment is to make yourself understand that the things that they do are not typical.  Now, this is one of the hardest things to do as it is very reasonable for us humans to react on impulse. We get emotional, and we become sentimental.  Unfortunately, in my opinion, that will make the situation worse.  Ignoring the need to treat them as anything other than being different will detract us from treating them with respect and dignity. I do believe that this is not easy.  Only people who are not in this environment will say otherwise. I have a friend who describes all the same symptoms in her mother. He describes the same “crazy stuff” that is common with dementia.  Generally, the patterns are very similar.  I am no expert in the dementia world, but I will say that every case is different.  Some are severe, and some are milder. The best things to do – what works for us Acceptance and Patience.  We are learning just to let her be who she wants to be in her world.  Again, this is not easy. It is from lots of frustrations, anger and total frustration that has taught us to look at the issue.  However, we have to treat her as she treated us when we were annoying babies, not being able to feed ourselves nor clean ourselves.  This act, I will admit, is a difficult thing to master.  However, as soon as we did that, it became easier for us to deal with the “issues”.  I will say that this is an ongoing learning experience and we are by no means saying that we are saintly and perfect… 🙂 In our case, my parents have been together for 50yrs+, and as far back as I can remember, they were a do everything together couple.  Hence, my mother is the one who cares and does everything so in her old age; she still looks to do that.  In my mother’s case, she still sees that as her role. When this role is replaced (even partly), the defensive nature of the human being (remember at this stage, the person is in and out of “sanity”) comes out.  So it is tough to understand the real reason for that “weird” reaction. The hard part is that the truth is intermingled with the half-truths and the nontruths. So this mix is challenging. The way we manage is to filter what is necessary so that we can try to find the truth. Those thoughts that we filter as “not important”, We agree with them and ignore. In summary, what works for us is learning to have more patience (more than you ever thought you could have) and ignoring the “annoying” ways.   Ignoring these “annoying” behaviours is an ongoing learning experience for us… :-).  As I have mentioned earlier, the best approach is to do what is right for them and not let them do what they want. Their need to do things that do not make sense will drive the average person bonkers… 🙂 We are lucky… We draw on conversations between friends and associates, and readings from the internet to try and make sense. In our case, I feel that the fact that they are still a couple does shield us from more issues.  My father, who has no dementia symptoms, but has mild Parkinson’s, shield us from those behaviours as he is her source of conversation. In many cases, when there is a single surviving parent, and they have dementia symptoms, I believe that it is more complicated. What’s Happening Now. Just this week, I received an email from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) National Institute for Dementia Research (NNIDR). The NHMRC was inviting expressions of interest from people living with dementia and carers/former carers of people living with dementia to be on their Consumer and Community Involvement Program Reference Group. I gladly volunteered to see if they would accept me into the Reference Group.  I wanted to join because I feel that it is an excellent way for me to give back to society. — In fact, this prompted me to write this blog as I have the intention to do this for a while now.— The primary purpose for me wanting to join the Reference Group is so that I could give them time and share my exposure to an unfortunate process of growing old.  In truth, there is no possible way for us to improve old respectfully nor in any acceptable, respectful way.  However, a better understanding of what happens to us at that stage of our lives may help the people who will eventually care for us.  I am speaking of the carers that will be the people who will help us finish our life in this world, whoever that may be… HOPEFULLY…. Please feel free to contact me with any comments or questions. I have included lots of links to people and organisations, so they are probably going to know more than me.  I would think that people such as Dr Bianca Brijnath and Nick Lee would be the best point of contact, so I am happy to pass your details and questions to them. To conclude this blog, I want to leave with this perfect message made by Alzheimer’s Research UK I think it is a good message to think about… To end this on a positive note, I found a CNN documentary regarding a village in the Netherlands for people with dementia. source: New film project to raise dementia awareness in migrant communities, by Nicolas Perpitch https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/research/boosting-dementia-research-initiative/nhmrc-national-institute-dementia-research-nnidr https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/health/language-barrier-an-added-problem-for-families-dealing-with-dementia/news-story/af4b524e1a192fd34766cb91061c3a9a Feature photo Also, Check for:–  Best way to find a Gold Mine : A Mineral Exploration Success Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Bombora is a fantastic story to showcase why we do mineral exploration…  The fact that the someone did the research, applied for the tenement, did the work and ultimately had success is the reason why I am sharing the story. The company involved is Breaker Resources Limited (ASX:BRB). I was reading the news with the headlines “Breaker back in favour with Bombora gold bounce” written by Stuart McKinnon.  Upon reading the article, I thought, this is an exciting project.  Hence, I continued spending more time reading it and I was right… it is a fascinating story. The Bombora gold project is  100km east of Kalgoorlie.  It is a large tenement holding, 550 km2,  and completely 100% owned by Breaker Resources (ASX: BRB). The cool part of this story is that it has been unexplored for the last 20 years and have had little historical exploration.  The best part of that is that it has only about 5-10m of cover. Over the last 10 years when I have been doing lots of project evaluation, I remember seeing so many projects with the same style. Those characteristics are not unique.  All they needed was some drilling but with the equity market the way it was during those times, they never made it. If you look at the state of the exploration market, there has not been any real exploration since probably the 1990s.  What exploration that did attract money found some great things but in general, there has been very little money going into the market.  However, I did see a lot of money starting to flow into the market in the last 12 months which is very encouraging. Mineral Exploration – The Historical Story On the 17th July 2015,  the company announced that the drilling at Lak Roe would commence. The main target was a 4km-long zone of supergene gold mineralisation defined by historical drilling as see in Figure 1 and Figure 2.  Eighty holes were to be drilled for a total of 3,200m.  The historical data consisted of drilling from 1991 to 1998. The maximum depth of mineralisation was within 30m.  Everything else was untested.  Drill chips from these drilling showed clear evidence of sulphide and carbonate alteration within the dolerite (— It is pretty amazing that this project lasted this long and has been ignored over all these years.  There would have been geologists and prospectors walking over these things and nobody had pushed for more work to be done.  And to top it all off, I believe that they picked this project up by applying for it, meaning it was basically free.—).  The was no drilling within the salt lake and the lake cover appeared to be thin as they could see outcrops within the lake to the immediate west of the dolerite. The aim of the drilling is to test any potential structural zones. In a layman’s explanation, the place where there is a weakness (lots of faulting/shearing) will lead to fluid movement and hence mineralisation.  I should have listened more when I was in university in those structural classes… On the 26th August 2015, Breaker Resources announced that they had found a new Gold System at Lake Roe. The headline news was that they had found bedrock mineralisation (Figure 3).  This means for those who are not clear is that they have found mineralisation in the basement, basically where you want to find it. The comment by the Managing Director of Breaker Resources basically sums up the situation, “the drilling has exceeded all of our expectations. The coherence, grade and extent of mineralisation encountered in a reconnaissance drill program of this nature is unusal and indicates a potentially significant new gold system” Although at this stage I don’t think that anybody is talking about the future or possible future size (well, not formally anyway…) it could become in the future, no can deny that these are encouraging results.  Remember, there is not a resource definition in sight, no JORC (my SEA associate/investors, please take note), but these are super encouraging results.  Remember that it was this kind of persistent exploration that discovered many supersize deposits in the past. The announcement continues to describe that bedrock mineralisation is best developed over a 2km-long zone in an area of structural complexity to the south where it is open along strike.  it has an overall strike length of 5.5km (Figure 4; 8-m drill hole spacing).  Mineralisation is up to 300m wide and hosted by a dolerite unit up to 800m wide (Figure 5). Remember that the initial drilling program was just a look and test thought and the drilling was to “refusal” (basically meaning as far as the drill rig can go, which is usually on top of bedrock) The photos below are from that Phase 1 drilling program. Phase  1 means that there is a Phase 2.  Phase 1 was a test of the new found gold system.  Another 181 holes for just under 8,000m. Results 3.3m @ 3.48 g/t Au 15m @ 1.46 g/t Au 9m @ 1.63 g/t Au Alteration observed 30{e84228ce8c9f7001611629be1db85467cf541581cf1fd5424de0612b3249e3f5} of drill holes end in +50ppb Au in relatively fresh rock with grades up to 12.87g/t At this stage, the Phase 2 results, I assume (and we all know what happens when you assume…) that the results would have been more than encouraging and there would probably be some sort of excitement that something big may be around…  I think to put myself in their shoes, I would be thinking what could I do to stuff this all up….. I would be more nervous than excited… 🙂 At this point, the systematic drilling that followed, as we know now, resulted in what is a rather large gold resource. The key point I am trying to make here is that without the drilling program that the management persisted with, there would be no discovery.  The initial work was in applying for the ground as vacant ground in 2014.  Upon grant, the company had progressed in one year, a project with very little historical drilling to a project with a future 1M ounce resource. Breaker Resources Limited listed on the ASX in 2012 and today in 2018, they are looking at a 1M+ ounce gold project within 60km of two mills and 100km from Kalgoorlie.  Now that is what I call a good job.  Looking at the presentation in July 2018, the market cap of the company was around AUD$38M,  I think at the time of writing the market cap was USD$41M. Figure 6 shows clearly the journey taken over the years and the highlights of each significant step taken.  You would think that at this stage of the resource drilling, this share price must be pretty much ready for revaluation.  I will point out that at this stage, I am not a shareholder of this company.  I will say that as I write and as I do my own research,  I am thinking hard about whether I should take a position or not. (Update: 10th September 2018, shares are up 5c as we publish) The overall grade may be low but if they can make money getting it out, it is still AUD1600 an ounce.  We are in Australia and in this part of the Goldfields, I don’t think we will see too many issues with things such as unpronounceable bats, or bees or yellow flowers…etc. However, I do worry about the fact that the resource is at a grade of 1.6g/ t.  I do keep reminding me that Millennium Minerals Limited had very low grade too and they got that to work. Although, I do wonder if all the investors ended up making money over all those years … :-). The super pit is also at the very low grade end but that is a very very big hole in the ground. In the back of my mind, I keep hearing this very important quote ” Grade is King…Grade is King…”  This does worry me but at this point in time, I will say that there is still plenty of time to solve that “issue”.  I don’t mean that it will get better but I think if they can pay themselves into the higher grades and chase those underground grades, it would be a good story.  After all, its all about cost per vertical metre.  Just like selling noodles… I learned a lot when I was with Silverlake Resources.  Listening to the miner’s talk was a good education and I will not say that I know enough to run a mining project. What I learned did give me a good appreciation of what needs to be done, what is required and what is most likely to work or not. As you can see in Figure 7, the location of the project is in good company when it comes to the gold endowment.  In fact, one of my favourite spots in the Kalgoorlie area is the Kurnalpi and the Mount Monger-Randalls district.  Although I think the later is now pretty much taken up by the Silverlake people. ———————————————————————– This reminds me of another place that had bedrock mineralisation and was given up because the directors of the company did not follow through (lack of funds). Now if given a second go with some money for drilling, I am sure they would give it a good go with some drilling. However, that seem unlikely so hopefully one day, someone will find their glory there and make history. ———————————————————————– One of the interesting fact that I like cautiously, is the length of the strike.  Like a rather smart person who used to work with WMC once said, think of an upside-down lightning.  Mineralisation flow to point of least resistance.  Although a large strike is good, I do sometimes think that if it was smaller, then the mineralisation may be more concentrated and not so spread out. Of course, you could also say that if you had a big lightning, then you could have a very concentrated large strike. I agree with that statement also, however, 1M ounces in one spot is a lot easier and cheaper to mine than a large area… 🙂 Another potential issue could be with the fact that 58{e84228ce8c9f7001611629be1db85467cf541581cf1fd5424de0612b3249e3f5} of the resource in the Indicated range. This will mean more drilling and how long that takes will be interesting.  There is definitely a bear in the gold price and how long that bear hangs around may affect the journey.  Mind you with the strengthening of the USD, this could help the gold price. However, if this bear takes the gold price near to that USD$1,000 mark like back in 2014, it would certainly make things interesting when they have to raise money.  Market sentiment seems to follow the USD pricing. Silly as it may seem, but the market seems to do that historically. I know I have mentioned this already but this low-grade thing is important in a bear market. I understand that these days anything above 1g/t is considered good.   Some will point out that there is the large proportion that is of a higher grade, but I only see the global resource grade.  However, I do want to make it clear that I am not negative on the resource.  I am just trying to give a balanced point of view :-). As for the Bell Porter report and all the broker reports that have come up. I treat them with the amount of salt as those that you may find in Lake Roe.  It is a salt lake right ?… if not then the meaning is lost. Like those reports in 2000,  I remember lots of reports telling us how much things such as One Tel would be worth….etc 🙂 That was just me doing a bitch session… 🙂  I am entitled to do that as I am the author….. 🙂 Basically, my experience is that if the margin works during mining, the rest is just administration purpose.  The key is in the simple business of selling your product for a profit. If you can do that, you will be ok. The exploration upside will be the icing on a very tasty cake when the time comes to converting exploration targets into resources and reserves.  I have seen several companies do that and this is what drilling will do for the health of your project. For me, this journey is all about the process of exploration and the excitement of finding it.  Once that is done, the rest is pretty boring.  Important but boring. Well, I hope you have read this far and I have added some value to 5 minutes of your life.  Thanks for reading and I hope you will be around for the next journey. Unless stated, all information is taken from presentation and announcements from www.breakerresources.com.au Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

To me, Carlow Castle is a strange project that has been around for a long time. It even had a small resource but the general public would never have heard of it. It was as if it was unloved and was one of the projects that would be stranded. It was all about lithium for a while and then suddenly cobalt reared its head up.  I came across the project only when I became a shareholder of the company many moons ago. The company started pumping out announcements and I thought hey, I am a shareholder of a cobalt company.  After doing some research on the project, I came to feel that this Carlow Castle project was the thing, it had real potential to be something great.  Then the conglomerate gold rush came and it was all on for the punters… 🙂 I still felt that Carlow was the prize.  At that time, I was a firm believer in the resurgence of base-metals and Ni especially.  I also became a copper fan for some reason.  Anyway, Carlow to me was all about this part of the equation and I was happy that I was in on the action.  Like my normal thing, I just let the market do its thing and I was very comfortable with  the team at Artemis, after all, they have vested interest to make the share price go up too.  That part happened and then everyone was happy…  however, I have yet to see Carlow become the mainstay of the company till now…  well, I hope that’s what it will mean. On the 31st January 2018, Artemis Resources Limited (ASX: ARV) announced the following, 4.5 Mt of Cobalt/Copper/Gold JORC Resources at Carlow Castle – Karratha, Western Australia Highlights: Significant increases in Carlow Castle JORC 2012 Resources. JORC 2012 compliant Indicated and Inferred resources at 0.05Co cut – off grade, have increased to 2.3 Mt @ 1.3 g/t Au, 0.11 Co, 0.5 Cu & 1.6 g/t Ag within a global resource of 4.5 Mt @ 0.9g/t Au, 0.07 Co, 0.4 Cu & 1.3 g/t Ag. Deposits remain open and further drilling is planned in Q1 to expand resources. Open Pit optimisation studies and scheduling have commenced. Carlow Castle is only 30km north – east of Artemis’s Radio Hill treatment plant. On the  29th August 2018,  ARV announced what I think is a significant addition to the deposit.  The interception length and the grades observed in my opinion shows that the company may be showing signs that they have a better handle on the mineralisation.  The image below is a part of the announcement.  It is on the Artemis website. I am not saying that this is going to be a world class mine.  However, I am now happy that more work is being done and have become more than intrigued by the potential of this project.  The length of interception announced has got to get people excited, if not, they need to get their heads examined. It is nice to see that amount of drilling and the results are looking to be building a nice picture.  I hope that the management will continue to take the punt and drill this bugger out.  I can see that there appear to be zones happening.  A more gold-rich zone and a more cobalt-rich zone ( or a less gold-rich zone). This announcement follows another on the 6th August which also shared some great intercepts which I believe shows the consistency that is needed to make this project viable from a technical point of view. The commercial viability part will need more work. The crew in Artemis have done an excellent job in doing the drilling the correct but painful manner. There have been many projects that have been drilled out in a hurry to please the equity markets.  I guess it is a easy thing to do when you have loads of cash to drill holes.  It is easy to be good when you have the money to test ideas and concepts :-). One of the things I would have a concern would be it’s the mineral assemblages…  Too much copper/cobalt and you have a headache…  The amount of this and that is not always a good thing in mining 🙂  However, I guess having a good problem to wonder about is better than not having to wonder about a bad problem. According to a release on the 19th June 2018,  Artemis mentioned the following, 67.30 Gold Recovery (calculated head grade 13.8 g/t Au) 55.50 Cobalt Recovery (calculated head grade 0.84) 87.40 Copper recovery (calculated head grade 2.16 Cu) Those numbers are not the best, but it will do for now.  As I mentioned the downside of this project, in my humble opinion is the metallurgical factors. The recovery rate of 67.30  is not fantastic, but I think with the time that they have, I would hope that they will try and work that out.  The good thing about the team at Artemis is that I can see grey hairs mixed amount no hairs… Means that they have been around and have done much thinking… 🙂 One of the things I like about Carlow Castle is that it has an excellent chance to be an open pitable mine, and the future resource upgrade should make it very viable.  There are probably many technical people out there that will argue, but I will preferably be on the side of most likely than most unlikely at this stage.  If they can make the resource bigger and get a really good handle on the structure and metallurgy, this will be a great little project. I agree that there is still a long way to go.  There may still be many issues that may be counter-intuitive to making Carlow attractive, so time and spending those millions in the company’s bank account will be important. Logistically, this is a great place.  Carlow is a stone’s throw from Karratha and the infrastructure will a non-issue. As mentioned, the geology is complicated, and this is good because this could mean that there will be more goodies hidden (the ever optimist in me is always looking at the bright side 🙂 ).  As I mentioned earlier, traditional EM (Electro-Magnetic), IP (Induced Polarisation) nor magnetic geophysical surveys have not picked up Carlow.  It appears that only SAM (Sub Audio Magnetic) was effective.  For those interested in understanding more, please feel free to contact the buys at Artemis.  I am sure they will give a better explanation than me. Structurally, the last announcement made mention that the mineralised body seem to be turning south. This is another encouraging new information and could lead to more upgrades.  The next phase of drilling will be very interesting. However, I would say that we all need to be patient as it will take more than a couple of drill holes to define where the mineralised body is heading.  As easy as it turning south it could also face more change in direction. As I keep mentioning, the complexity of the deposit is a good thing as long as the drilling keeps following any new ideas. You probably will never see it in the same category as Bou Azzer, but it will likely find its level of significance.  Like many of these cobalt hopefuls out there, there is a big difference in a project that can work or a project that cannot work.  Blackstone Resources (ASX: BSX) went to Canada to drill a high-grade Cobalt project and was riding high with its share price reaching a high of AUD$0.66. Another drilling program later and they are now at AUD$0.11. Logistically, they were also in a challenging area. If they had a positive result from their drilling,  they would have had to figure out how to manage the processing part. Most investors out there would not think about this.  I must admit that I sometimes feel like that as well.  Why bother about those silly things like whether a mine is ever going to be built in that place, even though it could be in that godforsaken place… 🙂  In the heat of buying shares, one can easily overlook some silly but essential factors :-). Carlow on the other case is flat, and the only hill is that from an ant.  I visited the place in October 2017 with great thanks to Artemis Resources.  A smooth drive on bitumen road north and then a turn south on a dirt road and you are on site.  Not precisely remote by anyone’s definition. As you can see in the photos above, the area is a fantastic place to work.  All you have to worry about is the extreme heat in summer and the flies between the seasonal change between the cold and hot seasons. With all the right points that we have mentioned, there is one issue that is worth mentioning. There is an increasing amount of regulatory obligations that a company has to go through these days.  I understand the head banging issues and the whole waiting for approvals…etc.  However, I see that as just part of the cost of business.  As a sagacious man once told me (he has little hair left, whats left is white and is of an age that is north of 50) a convenient thought. In Africa, you deal with the ownership and corruption and guns, in Asia, you deal with the ownership and the corruption, in PNG, you deal with land ownership and corruption (personal experience), in Australia, you deal with the Mines Department and the Environmental madness…  So I think it is an even distribution of issues. I remember a very prominent person in West Perth saying that he spent continuous days in a North African (could have been Eritrea) minister office waiting for a signature….. But I believe they sold that project after doing work for many millions and they did well. From a former company director and exploration student, Carlow is an excellent project to grow. I do feel that there is a great chance of Carlow making the grades. Looking at the projects in the small company space (although the market cap of ARV is not tiny), there are very few “base-metal” projects (I don’t like the Battery mineral terminology) out there that gives me the feeling of growth and blue sky.  Most would look at the resource number and say its small. The more detailed investigation will most likely make it even smaller with many questions, but I think there is still a lot of meat that will make Carlow Castle the dark horse in the Cobalt scene. Remember that as much as the associated minerals can become an issue, if resolved, this can be a massive positive.  If all the credits make a play, this deposit, whether it is a Cobalt, Gold or Copper project, will become very cost effective and make a lot of money for ARV.  I have purposely made little reference to Carlow Castle as a cobalt project because I think this jury is still out having lunch.  When I was last having conversations with associates, who have many opinions, we all agreed that this could have as much chance of being a gold deposit as it is to be a cobalt project and a minor extent a Copper deposit. In conclusion, I do feel that this is one of the better projects to watch.  Very complicated but there is enough smoke already to show that this is a project worthy of keeping and nurturing.  In my opinion, this will add value to the company and will have more chance of making a mine than not. Just in case people are wondering, I am not a shareholder of this company at the time of writing……. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Last week, my wife Sandra and I decided that we would go away for a few days.  The aim of the trip was to find a place that we can just do nothing.  There will be no visits to anything, no wineries, no galleries, no restaurants, no cafes…just accommodation and a good supermarket if required.  The only requirement was that the place had to be nice and comfortable and of course, plenty of nature (well at least some). The result of our search was the Eight Willows Retreat….. It was fantastic.  We could not have hoped for the best place.  The room was top notch, the kitchen was clean and tidy and we used it for every meal of our trip. The bathroom was the same.  And the place was quiet and absolutely had no distraction. Not even a cafe. The photos of the room below are what we experienced. There was no photoshop happening. (sourced: (https://www.eightwillowsretreat.com.au). We wanted a place where we were able to just enjoy each others company and really have a break and we found it. When we arrived on Friday afternoon, we reminded ourselves that we will not go out unless we had to buy supplies.  So we settled down to opening some local wines that we had brought down from my collection. I brought down a Pierro 2005 Fire Gully Shiraz and a Capel Vale Regional Series 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon and the wife brought a dessert wine from the Wise Winery. With one of the most important requirements of comfortable and clean accommodation sorted out, we set out to settled ourselves and started the rest of the holiday.   The aim of this trip was one to enjoy the colder temperatures of the South West and we were not disappointed.  We would have loved a fireplace and that would have been perfect.  We had some very cold nights. When I was booking Eight Willows, I saw a comment and it said that we should visit the Bunbury Fresh Market on our way to buy our supplies. That was a fantastic stroke of luck as when I did stop to check it out, it was a nice surprise. This place is so well stocked and presented and well priced.  The way the whole place was set up just made you feel that you wanted to buy and things are so fresh.  I have driven past this place so many times and never thought about stopping.  It was always the rush to get to the destination. I think this will change now. On Saturday, the next morning was welcomed with a nice black coffee and some nice chilled morning air.  We walked around the place with the camera to get some photos of the native flowers around the accommodation.  Then it was back “home” for a nice warm hearty home cooked breakfast outside on the patio.  This was seriously paradise. No kids, No noise, No rush, No phone calls…just the nice chilly air and the warm wither sun. The rest of the morning we sat down and discussed life things such as family and business.  It just feels like when we are home, things are just doing and no thinking and planning. In some ways when I think back, the trip turned out to be a brainstorming session. Kind of felt like it was one of those company events I read about but never done… 🙂 After doing some work in the morning, we took a trip to Cawaramup to buy some nice ice cream and honey from Gourmet Food Merchant.  This has always been our favourite place to visit as they always have something you want to buy.  I must say that they have a great range of things.  I think most of the range is from the region and this is always the reason for us to visit.  One of the most interesting items that we have bought was from the Truffle Farm, a salt mixture with some truffle.  It is one of my favourite cooking items… 🙂  Spoken like a true convenient cook… 🙂 This is also the first time we took the time to walk around the town of Cawaramup, not that it takes a long time to walk around.  We found a nice place that sells teas and lots of other nice things. It’s like an interconnected shop called Seven Seas Teas.  Very friendly people and they have a good range of teas although we were not interested in the teas, we did end up buying a small pot.  It just gives us a place to walk around and have something to do.After loitering around the town, it was to off to Howard Park.  When we checked into Eight Willows, we were told that Howard Park will give us a bottle of wine if we joined their club.  This is a damn good reason to visit them… 🙂  This we did and we went away with some nice photos and a free bottle of red wine… I know… its the chinaman in me…..   Free is always good.  But we did buy a bottle of Mad Mish Moscato. Prior to picking up our free bottle, we stopped and took some photos. I have always wanted to take some photos of this bridge.  For some unknown reason, I always seem to feel that I had no time to stop for taking photos.  After hanging around Harward Park for a while, it was back home to some finger food and wine drinking. I even ignored a trip to the Grove Distillery which was literally just around the corner from us. The Sunday morning was again a morning of doing nothing but taking on the feeling of freedom and a protein fueled breakfast.  Again I spent more time working and Sandra was doing her knit work, we suddenly realised it was midday.  The problem was that we were not hungry. Determined not to fall into the trap of eating out, we decided to get some fresh air and then come back to Eight Willows before we were starving and will eat anything and everything. Fresh air meant a trip to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory for some free chocolates …again the chinaman ….. and a hot chocolate.  Sandra was commenting that I had been drinking a lot of coffee lately and that I should have something else.  Drinking tea was not going to help as tea has more caffeine than coffee, so hot chocolate it is for a change. Every time I visit this place I always want to take a photo of the Kangaroo Paws out the front.  In fact, I have been taking photos of the Kangaroo Paws since my first visit to this place in 1999.  Not sure why but it seems to be the something I wanted to do :-), must be the bright red colour.  Writing that has made me realise that I have been coming to Margaret River region for holidays since the early 1980s.  Seems to be my comfort place.. :-). After purchasing some chocolate buttons (70% Cocoa), we went back to our place for our version of “tapas” lunch and more wine drinking… 🙂  But seriously, it was a great time of talking, sharing ideas and just connecting without the hustle and bustle of a busy family life. As we were having so much fun, we decided to check if we could extend our stay. Thinking that since we have not seen many people the whole weekend, this is going to be a no-brainer.  To our surprise, the place was booked out !!!! Now that is a sign that this is a place to keep on my come again list. Although it was a disappointment it means we had a great time and this makes us want to come back again. This has been our kind of holiday, just not rushing around and just doing the simple things in life.  When we are doing our rushing around and trying to fit into a life that society seems to dictate, we forget the simple pleasure of just making a cup of coffee and talking to each other. Life is for living and having experiences that make a difference. Sometimes, these simple things add more value to our life than a very expensive item of material. Also check for:- Tungsten – The forgotten Critical Metal Story Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Since coming across the Tungsten industry in the second half of 2011, I have been a firm advocate on its place as a member of the critical metal space. Tungsten is one of the hardest metals to understand, in terms of market direction and the demand and supply directions. It is also the metal with the highest density property. Tungsten’s other special property is that there is no viable substitute and the demand for the metal is traditionally very inelastic to price changes. Historically, when prices were rising, demand followed but from about 2014, prices dropped and we have not seen a recovery. Annually, the global market is between 80,000 to 100,000 tonnes of metals used so it’s a small market. China is (was ?) a major user of the metal, China holds the largest resource in the world but during that price rising period, China was also a net importer of tungsten concentrate. So we are told… to me that did not make any sense. In my past life as the Managing Director of Siburan Resources Limited (ASX: SBU), I watched the price of tungsten rise to an all-time high of nearly USD460/mtu (metric tonne per unit) to a low of sub-USD240/mtu. If I am not mistaken, it could have gone below USD200/mtu. Mark Seddon – 2012 sourced: http://tungsteninvestingnews.com/4082-mark-seddon-why-you-should-look-twice-at-an-ugly-duckling-metal.html “ In the context of an approximately 80,000-ton annual market with 3% growth, you need 2,400 tons of additional tungsten metal per year in supply, and with 5% growth you need 4,000 tons. That’s one new big tungsten project per year. It is difficult to see where that supply could come from. In the current market, miners can’t get the financing needed to take projects from a bankable feasibility study to construction. It’s a big problem. .” In 2011, The British Geological Society published a list of what it considers the 52 most critical metals in the world. The list was compiled based on global abundance, location of production, reserves and supply risk associated with the political stability in the jurisdictions where the metal occurs. Tungsten was second on that list. The report highlighted that tungsten (as well as rare earth) has lower recycling and low substitutability. The supply risk for tungsten stems from China’s role in the industry. China accounts for approximately 83% of global tungsten concentrate production and about 62% of global tungsten reserves. China became a significant player in tungsten production in the mid-1980s. By the late 1990s, it had flooded the global market with tungsten causing concentrate prices to plunge below most western producer’s variable cost. As a result, the vast majority of western mines were closed. These were all the good thoughts at that time however, the market came crashing down which sort of made these comments questionable. What is a good Tungsten grade? The majority of tungsten deposits contain less than 1.5% tungsten trioxide (WO3), and most have grades of only a few tenths of a percentage point. A very high grade would be over 1%, like North American Tungsten’s Cantung mine. If I am not mistaken, the Cantung mine may be the only producing mine that had that kind of grade. What’s interesting in the Tungsten world? Have a look at the Northcliff project called Sisson in New Brunswick, Canada (http://www.northcliffresources.com/i/pdf/NCF_FactSheet.pdf). It’s a Tungsten-Molybdenum project that has a total resource of 334MT at 0.066% WO3 and 0.021% Mo The other is the Nui Phao project in Vietnam owned by the Masan Group (Apparently they make their money from 2-minute noodles). It has a total resource of 97.4MT @ 0.1% WO3. It has Tungsten, Flurospar, Bismuth and Copper. Outlook The issue with Tungsten is the market price. There is no spot market and it is very hard to measure or predict the direction of the price. What is apparent is that whatever you do, you need a large resource to sustain any mining activities. In my opinion, you need a Sission-type kind of deposit. Small deposits with high grades will find it extremely hard to make it work. Look at the old mines in China, they are all large scale and low grades. In conclusion, like all mineral resource projects… Make sure they are mining the mineral in the ground and not the one on the stock market ……. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso

Late 2017, I met up with an associate of mine who told me that he was working on a very interesting project, conceptual in manner, using new theories and using recently released information from the Mines Department. He told me that it was in the Wheatbelt areas. I was thinking that this is farm land… people grow wheat on these farms… sure there were some history but there are a lot of these isolated discoveries that were there but nobody would have thought to go and chase them….. As usual, we parted ways and i never followed up…cause I was too lazy or just did not think that it was such a great thing… mind you, at the at that time, the small cap sector was running hot and everything was about Cobalt and the Conglomerate Gold in the Pilbarra. On 15th January, Cygnus Gold Limited (CY5) commenced trading on the ASX. I heard that they raised AUD6M and had over-subscription of another AUD6M. Now I did some research and after another meeting with my friend on another matter, I found that my friend traveled with well healed people…. I am glad he still takes my phone calls 🙂 I met my friend in March 2018 and I remember the stock was still north of 30c. Now, what is most fascinating for me is that the whole concept reminded me of the Gold Road Resources journey. How they ventured into and area that was of similar unloved territory. Now if they made that wild story work, this could be very interesting. Gold Road Resources went after the Yamarna Belt and locked up the whole region. The Yarmana Greenstone Belt was know as something that will not have the endowment of the Norseman-Wiluna Greenstone Belt as it was not of the same age. There were some mineralisation but the believe was that it will never be of the same scale as the Kalgoorlie Norseman-Wiluna Belt (Figure 1). Even the almighty Western Mining thought it was not going to happen because there was no water….. The Yamarna is approximately 1hr and 45min by air from Perth. There is now no argument that it is major goldfield (Figure 2). The resources that they have found is rather amazing. Remember that the company owns nearly the whole 180km of strike…..Yes, the whole belt………… There are two main players in this wheatbelt region, Cygnus Gold Limited (ASX:CY5) and Explaurum Limited (ASX:EXU). CY5 was an IPO and i believe EXU was a RTO done in mid 2015 (I could be wrong on EXU). EXU: Last Traded 10th August 2018 : $0.086 (MC 41M) CY5: Last traded on 10th August 2018 : $0.089 (Market Cap : $4M) The concept for Cygnus was that the Wheatbelt region geologically was similar to the Kalgoorlie goldfields and this area has largely been overlooked. As in most early exploration strategies (many times this is due to the money telling the geologist what to do), the theory was to chase the low hanging fruits. With so much attention given to the Kalgoorlie Goldfields, Leonora-Leinster-Laverton region, the Murchison, and then the Yandal Belt, the rate of exploration in the Wheatbelt area was lost in space. Like the discovery of the Boddington gold mine in the Darling Range in the early 1980s, good explorers with the sense of adventure will find what they are looking for in the end. Think about Tropicana, Sandfire, and Nova. These are all exploration success stories in the last 10 years. The story for Explaurum is very interesting and as I discovered in my research, the company’s history has a connection to me …. this is so wierd…. Explaurum is basically Auzex Exploration, which was one of the previous owners of the Kirwan Tungsten Project (NZ) which I picked up in my past life as the MD of Siburan Resources Limited. The Board of Explaurum has done this before and they come from the land of the Long White Cloud. While writing this, I am now seeing the familiar names of Chris Baker, John Lawton, Gregor Partington. What a small world. Good to see them have the continued success. I know Chris from my doings in NZ during the Siburan days. In May 2018 the Company announced the completion of a Feasibility Study for the development of Tampia, which confirmed it as a high-margin gold project.  In addition, Explaurum announced an initial Ore Reserve of 7.2 Mt grading 2.09 g/t Au (485,000 oz contained). The all-in sustaining cost (AISC) is A$896 oz for the first two years of operations and A$998 oz over LOM, with 104,000 oz Au produced for each of the first two years of operations. Pre-production Capital Cost estimate is A$119 million (including a $10.8 million contingency) and payback in 18 months from commissioning. As you can see in Figure 6, the resource is not too bad for a wheat farm… 🙂 Tampia was first discovered by BHP in 1987 and exploration in the early to mid 1990s established a high grade, shallow resource. Since the mid 1990s, very little exploration was carried till Explaurum acquired the the project in 2012. Typically, the project was generally unloved due to a poor understanding (maybe lack of market perception) of geology, mineralisation and mettallurgy. Like the famous SAS motto, “Who Dares Wins”, Explaurum took on the challenge and has come up looking like a hero. At this stage, things are looking good and I hope they make it good. I love this kind of stories as I am championing exploration. Its where all the added value are found. The moral of this story is listen to good explorers, back companies that spend money in the ground, and companies that don’t pay their CEO $350,000, even if he is sitting on the drill rig, and doing the real geological stuff ( unless that guy is me….). There are no more easy fruits to pick, if someone is telling you that there is a project where you can easily go and mine it, think again. When I look at all these stories of successful exploration I admire and envy them as that is what this game is all about. Being associated with the teams that had the discovery of Bronzewing and Merlin Diamonds in the first 3 years of my dislocated geological career, I had got the bug since then… the discovery. One day it will happen… 🙂 These are the kinds of investments that I like, cheap and have the potential of finding something substantial and when that happens the magnitude of added value will be high. Imagine that CY5 makes a discovery ? This is practically a virgin goldfield to be discovered. Look at the Gold Road story…. The biggest problem with the industry at this point is that lack of support for real exploration and this shows when you look at the fund raising process. investors like to believe that it is easier to re start a mine than to explore for something new. Remember why the mine shut in the first place. If it could not survive last time, it will not now. The cost of mining is at today’s inflation rate and not back 20 years of whatever years ago. Till next time…. Note: I do not hold any shares in any of the companies mentioned at the time of writing. Disclaimer The information or opinions provided herein do not constitute investment advice, an offer or solicitation to subscribe for, purchase or sell the investment product(s) mentioned herein. It does not take into consideration, nor have any regard to your specific investment objectives, financial situation, risk profile, tax position and particular, or unique needs and constraints. Read full Disclaimer. www.samso.com.au If you find this article informative and useful, please help me share the information.  I try and write about topics that are interesting and have the potential to be of investment value.  It is not easy to find stories that fit those parameters. If you or your organisation see the benefit of what Samso is trying to achieve and have a need to share your journey, please contact me on noel.ong@samso.com.au. About Samso