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  "documentTitle": "Asanko Gold Inc. (AKG)",
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  "authorName": "Carson C. Block",
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  "presentationDate": "2017-05-31 00:00:00",
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      "text": "We believe that the Nkran pit floor is fast becoming too narrow to mine, a condition known in the industry as “pinching out”.",
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      "text": "We believe that the Nkran pit floor is fast becoming too narrow to mine, a condition known in the industry as “pinching out”. At the point a mine pinches out, it is no longer economically viable to spend the additional capex required because the costs of moving waste rock are greater than the value of the ore being extracted. Because of AKG's aggressive mining, the lowest level of its pit floor is currently ~200 meters below the surface and less than ~65 meters at its widest points and narrowing to less than ~30 meters at its northeastern end.",
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      "text": "Despite seemingly being aware of the instability along the western edge of the pit for over one year, AKG's solution was not to adopt the seemingly obvious and necessary step of pushing back the pit rim and properly stabilizing it during the dry season, but to dig deeper, faster.",
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      "text": "The company's response to finding significantly less gold than estimated at Nkran was to aggressively mine the “guts” of the ore body. In doing so, it abandoned plans for ongoing wall pushbacks that would have allowed the company to slow-mine and slowly monetize what had been planned as a rich deposit. Now Nkran has now been mined into a steep “V” shape.",
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      "text": "AKG warned the market about the possibility of losing the Nkran pit on the Q3 and Q4 2016 conference calls. AKG's apparent failure to act in the face of the risk of new wall collapses in 2017 reeks of desperation.",
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      "text": "As explained last quarter, we have introduced a number of measures designed to mitigate the risk associated with a single-pit operation in a high rainfall area with deep levels of weathering. This places the mine at risk and could cause us to lose the pit for an extended period of time...",
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      "text": "As explained last quarter, we have introduced a number of measures designed to mitigate the risk associated with a single-pit operation in a high rainfall area with deep levels of weathering. This places the mine at risk and could cause us to lose the pit for an extended period of time… — AKG Management, Q4 2016 conference call",
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      "text": "19-22 Footnotes detailing conference call dates, technical presentations, and CFO discussions.",
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      "text": "Nkran might “pinch out”",
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