Archive for the ‘Life Extension’ Category

Until now, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans has provided dietary advice for people 2 years and older, prompting caregivers and healthcare practitioners to turn to a disparate set of resources to figure out the best diet for pregnant women, infants and young children. These include famous books, such as What to Expect When Youre Expecting, and guidelines from various organizations, such as the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

And while these are influential and well-researched recommendations, by bringing this group under the purview of the broader Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the US government will for the first time take ownership of them a move that will provide a consistency that so far has been lacking.

The move also is a double-edged sword for the CPG industry. Some hope that including this group in the broader Dietary Guidelines for Americans will protect them undue corporate influence, while others see potential opportunities for innovative manufacturers creating solutions to help Americans meet the recommendations.

While we wont know for sure what the guidelines will include until the recommendations are released and vetted, this episode of FoodNavigator-USAs Soup-To-Nuts podcast explores some of the themes, suggestions and questions that dietitians and industry players would like to see addressed and how these issues might impact CPG manufacturers.

[Editors Note: Never miss another episode of FoodNavigator-USAs Soup-To-Nuts Podcast subscribe to us on iTunes.]

Even though the Dietary Guidelines for Americans are designed with health care professionals in mind and, therefore, are not very consumer-friendly, Amy Kimerlain, a registered dietitian who specializes in childrens nutrition and a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, explained at the Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo in Philadelphia last month that the inclusion of recommendations for the first 1,000 days of life is a critical first step to improving the lives of women and children in the US.

The dietary guidelines allow for general recommendations for healthy Americans across the population, and so now with the introduction of looking at the first 1,000 days, were obviously going to pay closer attention to now not only infants and toddlers, but also prenatally as well, Kimerlain said. She added, these guidelines ultimately will allow for people to look and reflect to see what changes they may need to make in order to improve their health over the long run.

With that in mind, Kimerlain said she hopes the recommendations look not only at the nutrients that are critical to a childs development, but also on what and how much pregnant women need to consume to keep themselves healthy. This includes advice around how many extra calories do women actually need when eating for two, guidance on how much weight they should expect to gain and remain healthy and how diet can help manage potential complications.

Drilling deeper into what the guidelines might include for expecting women, Kristi King who is also a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the senior pediatric dietitian at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston, says she hopes the guidelines will include specific recommendations about choline intake.

She explained that choline is a underrated nutrient, that were just now starting to figure out that within that first 1,000 days is so incredibly important for infants and brain development.

She added that this could be an opportunity for supplement manufacturers as well as select food marketers.

An early mover on this from the supplement side is Life Extension, which is a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., based company that launched at FNCE its Prenatal Advantage multivitamin. Like most other prenatal supplements, Life Extensions Prenatal Advantage includes folic acid and DHA, which have long been recognized as essential for developing infants. But it also is one of the few prenatal supplements that includes choline.

On the food side, one of the best sources of choline are eggs, one of which provides 25% of the recommended daily value.

Mickey Rubin, the executive director of the American Egg Boards Egg Nutrition Center explained the importance of the eggs in providing choline as well as more generally supporting maternal and infant health.

Despite the importance of choline to developing infants, he noted only about 25% of expecting mothers are familiar with it, compared to 90% who know about folic acid. In addition, little more than half of health professionals currently are aware of choline.

Beyond choline, Rubin says the high amount of lutein in eggs also can help support developing infants cognitive development by increasing their macular pigment which has been linked to cognition.

Fiber is another necessary nutrient for expecting mothers, infants and young children that King says she wants the upcoming dietary guidelines to highlight. Not only does she say she wants to see stronger recommendations around how much should be consumed, but also guidance clarifying how best to get it including, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables, but also canned and frozen produce as well.

Related to fiber and gut health, King says she would also like to see in the recommendations advice around probiotics, including if they are appropriate for children and expecting women and if so which ones and how much.

Scientifically-based guidance in the dietary guideline recommendations around breastfeeding versus the use of formula also likely will have a significant impact on the CPG industry, predicts King.

Like many dietitians, King advocates that breastfeeding is best, but also acknowledges it is not always an option. In those cases, she says, she would like to see the dietary guidelines recommend the use of FDA approved formula, which is held to a higher safety and nutrition standard than many others from around of the world.

In addition to addressing infant formula, King predicts, the recommendations will tackle toddler milks, for which there is not the same nutritional standard as infant formula but about which much confusion and controversy swirl.

Beverages more broadly also will likely be a hot button topic in the recommendations, with experts predicting the dietary guidelines will call for significantly reduced consumption of sugary drinks, potentially including juice. It likely also will expand or include recent guidelines to restrict drinks for children under five to breast milk, water and dairy milk with only occasional consumption of 100% fruit juice if whole fruit is not an option.

These likely are only a small sample of the issues that will be addressed in the guidance. While the upcoming guidance likely wont make everyone happy or be perfect, as Kimerlain notes, it is a first step.

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Soup-To-Nuts Podcast: What might the 2020 dietary guidelines for the first 1,000 days include? - FoodNavigator-USA.com

While emphasizing safety, innovation, and partnerships at the Dubai Airshow, Boeings senior leaders said the company is focused on returningthe 737 Max to service and supporting customers and supplier partners affected by the airplanes grounding, while they also expressed empathy for those most affected by the two fatal crashes of the aircraft.

Our thoughts remain with families and victims, and we continue to support them economically and emotionally, said Stan Deal, president and CEO, Boeing Commerical Airplanes, at a briefing yesterday. All employees at Boeing have them in their thoughts, and we will use these tragedies to refocus on safety, quality, and integrity.

Leanne Caret, president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, and Ted Colbert, president and CEO of Boeing Global Services, voiced similar sentiments.

Turning to other programs, Deal said the in-development 777X will fly in early 2020, and we plan to deliver the airplane in the early 2021 timeframe, slightly later than originally hoped. Meanwhile, the company has a backlog of more than 5,500 commercial aircraft, and with global demand forecast for more than 44,000 airliners over the next 20 years at an estimated value of $16 trillion, the fundamentals remain in place for strong growth, Deal said.

Caret notedBoeing projects $2.5 trillion in defense and space market opportunities over the next decade and is continuing to see demand from the U.S. and partners around the world, with a significant portion coming from the Middle East. Caret cited the KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tanker, the new T-7 jet trainer, and the CH-47F Chinook and AH-64 Apache military helicopters as ideally suited to Middle East customers.

Boeing is also the prime contractor for the International Space Station, and Caret congratulated the UAE Space Agency and astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoorion his recent mission to the space station.

With less than 20 percent of the worlds military aircraft fleet slated for replacement over the next decade, Boeing also sees substantial demand for upgrades, maintenance, and service life extension programs, creating large opportunities for its Global Services division.

"The strength of Boeing is our unrivaled ability to deliver lifecycle value for our customers," Colbert said.

Boeing estimates global demand for $225 billion in commercial and government services over the next decade, with the Middle East ranking fourth in global aftermarket growth behind the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific.

Colbert said that Boeing maintains two parts hubs in Dubai that stock some 1.7 million parts to support customers. With big data analytics expected to play a growing role in predictive maintenance and other aftermarket services, Boeing has been operating a digital analytics hub in the UAE since 2007, although its been used primarily for flight planning services through its Jeppesen division.

Originally posted here:
Boeing Focused on Maxs Safe Return to Service - Aviation International News

TORONTO & GARCHING, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Two partnership agreements signed today will lay the groundwork for a new isotope delivery system at Bruce Power that will help provide lifesaving medical isotopes worldwide.

The agreements, signed at Kinectrics with Ontario Premier Doug Ford in attendance, involved three Ontario companies Bruce Power, Kinectrics & Framatome and ITM, a biotechnology and radiopharmaceutical group of companies based in Munich with a global network of radiopharmaceutical production facilities. This new partnership, in conjunction with Bruce Powers Life Extension program, helps to create a framework for isotope production until 2064, which is the expected life of the Bruce Power site following its Life Extension Program launched in 2016 which remains on time and on budget.

Using ITMs unique manufacturing methodology, the production of the medical isotope non-carrier-added (n.c.a.) Lutetium-177 (177Lu) / EndolucinBeta by irradiating Ytterbium-176, will be established at Bruce Power. N.c.a. Lutetium-177 is a highly pure therapeutic precursor, which is successfully applied in Targeted Radionuclide Therapy for the treatment of a growing variety of cancers such as prostate cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, or bone metastases. Pending regulatory and other approvals, the delivery system for the production of the isotope n.c.a. Lutetium-177 is expected to begin in 2022.

Ontario has been a worldwide leader in the production of life-saving, cancer-fighting isotopes and our nuclear industry is making sure that we maintain that role for years to come, said Premier Doug Ford. I am very proud to see that this important work that is being done right here in Etobicoke and Id like to congratulate Kinectrics, Bruce Power, Framatome and ITM for signing this ground-breaking agreement.

These agreements allow us to take the next step forward in providing life-saving isotopes, said Mike Rencheck, Executive President and CEO at Bruce Power. Through our partnership with Kinectrics, Framatome and ITM, we look forward to becoming part of a global network providing n.c.a. Lutetium-177 to a growing number of cancer patients worldwide.

Earlier this year, Bruce Power and ITM completed a successful feasibility study that concluded that Bruce Power and its partners Framatome and Kinectrics, following regulatory and other approvals, are uniquely positioned to fulfil the necessary requirements to establish isotope delivery units at the Bruce Power reactors for the subsequent production of ITMs n.c.a. Lutetium-177. The study examined factors such as technical, medical and nuclear regulatory requirements, radiation protection and waste management. It also verified the specific requirements of compatibility with ITM's target and processing technology.

We are pleased to see the progression of our common goal with Bruce Power and its partners Framatome and Kinectrics to produce our therapeutic no-carrier-added Lutetium-177 in North America, annotated Steffen Schuster, CEO of ITM. The qualified expertise of our partners Bruce Power, Framatome and Kinectrics will enable the fastest route in providing our no-carrier-added Lutetium-177 to cancer patients in North America and help secure the supply of high-quality medical radioisotopes for Targeted Radionuclide Therapy to cancer patients worldwide.

The installation of the irradiation services at Bruce Power by Framatome and Kinectrics, is currently planned for late-2021. Bruce Power will provide the infrastructure and be responsible for the irradiation as it currently does with Cobalt-60.

Kinectrics is proud to support the Ontario-based supply of this lifesaving Isotope Lutetium-177. With our partner Framatome, we will design, supply and license the isotope production system enabling large-scale production of Lu-177 to meet future market demand. This is a very exciting business opportunity for Kinectrics, building on our licensing, engineering, and active materials handling capabilities.

Bruce Powers unwavering commitment to life-saving isotope development expands Framatomes innovation and expertise in nuclear technologies, as we join forces with Bruce Power, Kinectrics and ITM in the fight against cancer, said Bernard Fontana, CEO of Framatome. Our contribution in developing and delivering Lutetium-177 medical isotopes not only transforms medical treatments for cancer patients worldwide, it strengthens Canadas position as a global leader in the production of medical isotopes for the advancement of human health.

- Ends -

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Bruce Power, ITM and Partners Finalize Agreement Paving Way for New Medical Isotope Delivery System Expected in 2022 - Business Wire

Editors Note: The Pamela and Ajay Raju Foundations annual high school essay writing contest was inspired this year by the Philadelphia Museum of Arts latest exhibit, Designs for Different Futures, which features ways to address the values, needs and desires of society in a changing world. The winner, Mary Cipperman, won a $5,000 scholarship, another $5,000 to support an internship with the PMAs curatorial team and naming rights on a piece of artwork purchased by the Raju Foundation (which also supports The Citizen) and donated to the museum. Mary chose the gift pictured above, called Raising Robotic Natives.

What would happen if humans could sense ultraviolet light? What if we could run twice as fast or see twice as far? What if we never aged? Technology has shaped human beings since Mesopotamian times; however, in the past two decades, we have begun to elevate the human condition beyond our current sensory and cognitive functionalities. This movement has a name: Max More, founder of the Alcor Life Extension Foundation and leading futurist, first defined transhumanism as a class of philosophies that seek the continuationof intelligent life beyond its current human form and human limitations. He described not one invention but rather a framework for applying and developing transformative technologies, such as genetic engineering, cybernetics, brain emulation, and artificial intelligence. While transhumanism could threaten our identity and welfare, it potentially affords improved productivity and survival for the future of humanity.

The idea of enhancing human beings is not new, nor is its bioethical concerns. Steroid hormones as well as neurological stimulants such as caffeine alter the human body and heighten performance. Likewise, amphetamine gained pharmacological praise as early as the 1920s. Such neurological enhancers beg the question of misuse. Doctors and ethicists alike question whether we should apply drugs that could improve mood or lessen fatigue to individuals with perfectly normal hormone levels. After all, such usage would leave behind individuals with disorders and elevate others beyond normal human abilities. Steroid hormones, for example, allow athletes to enhance their workouts and performance, but we consider this practice unethical in certain formal competitions. Still, if dietary supplements have similar effects on the human body, how do we draw a distinction between these two practices?

Unfortunately, these concerns bear even greater consequences as the magnitude of our technological development grows. Consider the difference between erythropoietin-stimulating agents and genetic engineering. Both can increase hormone levels, but the latter can alter the allelic frequencies of subsequent generations. This distinctionof inheritability, lack of precedent, and magnitude of impactmarks a new subset of enhancing technologies; those that alter human nature.

In light of these radical developments, bioethicists have begun to question how transhuman technologies could affect the boundaries and wellbeing of humanity. Permanent alterations, such as gene editing, could facilitate exploitation. Governments or higher institutions could use these technologies to increase submissiveness or institute eugenic programs. Certain individuals could choose not to alter their genes. These circumstances would increase polarizations of power and undermine equality and freedom.

As we look forward, we can postulate that engineers and scientists will design not only our future, but ourselves.

Genetic engineering raises another, deeper, concern with transhumanism as well: whether we should consider human nature to be malleable and changeable, as transhumanists suggest. The 1997 Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights suggests that the genome, as the heritage of humanity, belongs not to individuals, but to our species collectively. This might indicate that genetic engineering of any kind infringes on human rights. Furthermore, cognitive technologies like brain emulation have the potential to separate consciousness from physicality. This, and other uses for AI, demonstrate that intelligent life can exist beyond human beingswhether in the form of robots or enhanced posthumans. This change is occurring now: four years ago, the Open Worm Project at Oxford modeled over three-hundred neurons of a C. elegans with computer software. The scientists then uploaded the worms brain onto a robot that emulated the movement of the original organism. If these, and other intelligences, were to gain consciousness, we would need to determine whether these constitute living beings. Further, we must be willing and able to control them.

Despite these concerns, transhumanism has enormous potential. Cochlear ear implants and bionic eyes, for example, have already enhanced human capabilities for decades. Altering the human body via cyborgization may not be inherently wrong; otherwise hearing aids would be unethical. Transhumanists merely intend to extend the magnitude of these alterations in order to overcome all death, disability, and disease. We could potentially decrease decisional fatigue and improve memory. Others even argue that pursuing these advances is not just ethical, but morally obligatory. Psilocybin, for example, has the potential for moral enhancement. If we could make human beings more empathetic, our viewpoints towards climate change and nuclear warfare could save us as a species. Thus, many bioethicists do not object to the concept of enhancement itself, but rather to its unintended consequences or safety concerns.

While transhumanism raises the concerns of exploitation and safety, it has transformed lives already and promises even greater advances for the future. Transhumanism describes not one invention or development but rather a radical alteration of the interaction between humans and their environments. To embrace it too readily would be to accept a complete and potentially dangerous redefinition of both technology and humanity. Yet, to reject it would be to relinquish a plethora of multidisciplinary opportunities. The future certainly promises a new cultural, social, and political framework for defining the very essence of humanity. It holds machines that create art and recognize faces, as well as human beings designed with metallic limbs and silicon brains. As we look forward, we can postulate that engineers and scientists will design not only our future, but ourselves.

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Raju Foundation Essay Contest Winner On the Ethics of Genetic Engineering - The Philadelphia Citizen

A new report entitled Global Soy Isoflavones Markets was recently added to the CMFE Insights database. It has allowed marketers to understand the key attributes that can help investors capitalize effectively on market dynamics, providing a market definition, product description, competitor analysis, and more.

The bulk of the report also includes the market definition, the commercial division, the examples and the difficulties that affect the market, as well as the investigation of the fundamental factors that govern the market. The survey also shows global segmentation by aggregating production, capacity, contact data, costs and revenues of key players. The industry review was conducted using Porters five forces and SWOT analysis. The report consists of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of current trends, product characteristics, end-product applications, end-users and other industry sectors.

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Table of Content:

Global Soy Isoflavones Market Research Report 2019

Chapter 1 Soy Isoflavones Market Overview

Chapter 2 Global Economic Impact on Industry

Chapter 3 Global Market Competition by Manufacturers

Chapter 4 Global Production, Revenue (Value) by Region

Chapter 5 Global Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Regions

Chapter 6 Global Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type

Chapter 7 Global Market Analysis by Application

Chapter 8 Manufacturing Cost Analysis

Chapter 9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers

Chapter 10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders

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Future analysis and scope of Soy Isoflavones Market by 2019 to 2025 | leading Companies- NOW Foods, InVite Health, ADM, DHC, GNC and Life Extension -...

The Lead

As Canadas fleet continues to age, the availability for vessels to take on major projects is becoming scarce. This fall, an oceanographic survey with the goal of monitoring climate change was cancelled by Fisheries and Oceans Canada because there were no vessels available to take on Atlantic waters. Hudson, the Canadian Coast Guard science ship, is regularly tasked with working on the offshore Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) but was not able to because it had not had its life extension check completed.

Similarly, Coriolis II, a private research vessel brought on by Fisheries and Oceans Canada for 2019, has been considered unable to participate in the Maritimes region survey, according to Robin Jahn, representative for Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The oceanographic survey is tasked with collecting and analyzing physical, chemical and biological data from Canadas East Coast in order to evaluate the changes that the ocean is experiencing. Dave Hebert, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said that one of the issues is to determine whether or not its a long-term trend or just year-to-year variability.

AZMP has never been cancelled before, and one of the many outcomes of this will be the loss of half a year of plankton sampling, which will distort the results of year-to-year data collection says CBC News.

Internationally

The international oil industry continues to be burdened by the heightened trade conflict between the U.S. and China this year.

At an energy conference in Abu Dhabi this week, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) secretary general Mohammad Barkindo stated that smoothing out a trade deal between the U.S. and China will almost remove that dark cloud that had engulfed the global economy, according to The Globe and Mail.

Next month, OPEC+, which includes the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies such as Russia, is scheduled to meet and discuss the cutbacks that were made to oil production this past January to balance supply and demand. According to UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei, slashes made to oil output have done what they were supposed to do and have resulted in more stable prices.

In Canada

Developing a floating liquefied natural gas facility off the coast of B.C. is on the horizon for Rockies LNG Partners, a coalition of Canadian natural gas producers comprised of companies such as Peyto Exploration & Development Corp., and Advantage Oil & Gas Ltd. According to Chief Executive Officer Greg Kist of Rockies LNG, floating barges would have a significantly smaller environmental impact.

Kist explained that in Northern British Columbia, there are limited flat pieces of land, so if you could remove significant cost and impact associated with trying to flatten a piece of land, we think that thats a much better outcome than land-based facilities. He said that the only land-based infrastructure required would be a control room, jetty structures and bunking for workers because the LNG equipment would be on a facility based on the water.

Three barges would be needed for the project that the Rockies LNG Partners are considering, which is estimated to produce 12 million tons of natural gas a year, Bloomberg reported. The partnership hopes to find a project site at the beginning of 2020 and aims to have the project up and running by 2026.

Noteworthy

West of the oilsands, another sector suffers its own existential crisis (The Financial Post)

Nine oil companies to watch during the green energy push (The Globe and Mail)

TSX futures slip after Trump threatens to increase tariffs (Reuters)

Saudis Are Urged Not to Miss the Train on Aramco IPO (The Wall Street Journal)

Venice partly submerged by highest tides in half a century (The Washington Post)

India says it plans to use hydrogen-based fuel to tackle air crisis (The Guardian)

The climate chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific (The Washington Post)

Air pollution nanoparticles linked to brain cancer for first time (The Guardian)

In Opinion

In an effort to mitigate domestic emissions, countries such as the U.S. have been exporting their carbon footprint, sending dirtier energy production methods like coal abroad. Joe Oliver, previously federal minister of finance in 2014 and 2015, claims that the substitution effect should be considered when analyzing the problem of global carbon leakage.

Oliver explained that if Canada started expanding pipeline infrastructure to its coasts, the countrys oil and gas supply would be able to reach international markets in Europe and Asia. He said that although this would increase Canadas emissions, more exportation would allow countries to stop being so reliant on coal and would reduce the global emission footprint altogether.

There is a disconnect between an allegedly existential threat of global warming and policies that are ineffective and frequently undermine green goals, said Oliver in his column in Financial Post. He believes that this disconnect will continue to grow until Canada recognizes that building pipelines will actually reduce global GHG emissions.

More from iPolitics

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The Drilldown: Floating barges on the horizon for Rockies LNG Partners - iPolitics.ca

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands, Nov. 11, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Natur International Corp., (OTCQB: NTRU), a farm-to-functional producer of natural and organic plant-based foods and beverages including full and broad spectrum CBD (cannabinoid) and terpene-blended consumer products, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement for a share exchange with Share International. The combined company will be renamed Share Natur International Corporation.

The merger will put Natur International in the unique position of being able to collaborate directly with the Chinese government, and more importantly, via their executive board member, Li Zeng, who is also Chairman and CEO of Hualong (Chongqing) Ltd., a part of CQ News. Share Natur will become strategic partners with CQ News, the second largest media company in China. CQ News and the Share Natur offices are both located in the city of ChongQing, which has a population of 32 million people and is located within the ChongQing Province in Southwest China, which has over 280 million inhabitants.

The combination of Natur, a leading Amsterdam-based company in the emerging functional and consumer goods marketplace, and Share International, a global import/export powerhouse and a leader in direct-to-consumer digital distribution in China with disruptive propriety software, will together form a groundbreaking vertically integrated global company. The new Share Natur International is positioned to become the professional direct-to-consumer market leader in seed-to-sale for both hemp-derived and health and wellness-based, functional solutions catering to both the food and non-food FMCG segments across both Europe and Asia.

Share Natur is committed to the global revolution in functional foods and supplements. With the explosion of CBD and cannabinoid health and wellness products, Share Natur is capturing the momentum of this revolution, ignited in North America, and poised to sweep across Europe and China.

Michael Jones, Chief Strategy Officer of Natur International, stated, Our goal in China is simple, to bring the highest quality CBD and other functional products to the worlds largest population. We have an unparalleled international executive management team and are deploying scalable smart vending machines and our proprietary mobile technology commerce platform (SHARE), which is valued over US$6 million and has been developed over 4 years, to achieve our business goals in the Chinese marketplace.

With world-class non-executive board members such as Nina Storms, Boaz Wachtel, and rt. Hon. Mark Simmonds, supporting an accomplished management team, the mission of the combined companies is to disrupt traditional retail and marketplace distribution models by connecting functional products and lean distribution channels into the world's growing allegiance of demanding consumers.

Spencer Chesman, Co-CEO of Natur International, commented, This acquisition is highly strategic and instrumental for Natur as it provides us with a leading distribution platform for our growing portfolio of unique farm-to-functional products. Following North American trends, consumers have been migrating towards functional health and wellness products, with validated supply chains and direct-to-consumer business models. However, there is currently no professional group leading the breed to brand supply chain, and traditional retail and marketplace models do not meet the demands of todays audience. Share Natur aims to seize that leadership position with a unique vertically integrated framework securing up- and downstream proficiency and world-class collaborations that feature best in class capabilities in product, process, breeding, extraction and production in fruit, vegetable, floral and hemp science, hemp derived product, terpenes and medical cannabis.

Li Zeng, CEO of Share Natur China and executive board member of Share Natur International, added, The worldwide reach of Share International, which includes Europe and China, will make us a Eurasian market leader with cutting-edge operations offering a disruptive business model and route to market enabling huge global opportunities. By bringing together these two dynamic companies, we will focus on captivating the consumer with unique technologies and functional products.

Natur Internationals heritage has been to offer functional and CBD-infused brands of juices, shots, smoothies and snacks. The companys unique technologies and genetics offer farm-to-functional CBD and nutrigenomic solutions in the cosmetics and beauty, health and wellness, and food and beverage categories. Their leading-edge affiliate marketing driven direct-to-consumer sales platform ensures authentic products reach a diversity of consumers at the fairest prices.

About Natur International Corp.

Natur, founded in 2015 to market farm-to-functional natural and organic plant-based foods and beverages, expanded its product portfolio this past year to include full and broad spectrum CBD (cannabinoid) and terpene-blended consumer products. With the portfolio expansion, Natur is moving swiftly to place relevant consumer goods in multiple health and wellness categories including food and beverage, snacks, health and beauty, supplements, sports and animal care. Natur personalizes nutrition and strives to enhance ones quality of life by utilizing the forces of nature, driven by science.

Natur applies the most advanced and emerging hi-tech health methodologies as it markets nutritious, delicious and fresh-tasting products. By applying innovative technologies to the breeding of its plant sources, the extraction of its ingredients, and delicate shelf life extension, Natur ensures the peak of freshness, and supplies nutrient- dense products that are superior to competitors offerings. The company remains astute to relevant snackification trends and goes to market through Europes leading retailers, foodservice partners and online eCommerce subscription models. Visit the website at http://www.int.natur.eu.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements in this release that are not based on historical fact are forward-looking statements. While management has based any forward-looking statements included in this release on its current expectations, the information on which such expectations were based may change. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties, some of which are described in the Risk Factors and in Managements Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, which can be found on the SECs website at http://www.sec.gov. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Contacts:

PCG Advisory Inc. Jeff Ramson+16468636893jramson@pcgadvisory.comOr Laurens Felderhof CMO, Natur+31639262609ir@natur.eu

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Natur International Corp. and China-based Share International Sign Definitive Agreement for a Share Exchange - GlobeNewswire

George Van Tassels post-war life started off typically enough. In the years after WWII, he was working as a tool and dye maker at Douglas Aircraft in Santa Monica, and living with his wife Eva and three daughters in a 900-square-foot bungalow in Sawtelle. By the end of the decade, he had relocated the family to tents next to a giant rock in the Mojave Desert where he communicated with space people who shared secrets about telepathy, immortality, and instructions to build a hemispherical umbrella dome that became known as the Integratron.

Architectural historian Daniel Paul landmarked the unusual structure in 2018, and will explain the art and science of Van Tassels midcentury wonder at Zebulon on Wednesday, November 6. In advance of the event, we talked to Paul about aliens, Howard Hughes, and more.

What is the Integratron?

Its a circular, wooden, two-story, hemispherical umbrella dome structure built by George Van Tassel near Landers starting in 1958. Its primary purpose was as a life extension machine, but Van Tassel thought it might be able to undertake time travel and antigravity experiences. It was intended to be the primary building of a ten-acre campus called the College of Universal Wisdom to educate people about the teachings and guidance of the space people.

Who are the space people?

Van Tassel had an interest in the metaphysical sciences before he moved to the desert and evolved into speaking to space beings. He started receiving transmissions from what he called the space people and he claims to have been visited by one called Solganda one night in 1953. Dozens of other space people were channeled through his mind. He called these forms of communication an Omnibeam.

Photo by Daniel Paul

What did the alien say?

He told him that the problem with human beings is that by the time you learn what you need to know youre old and then you die and that life must be extended. He ran an interplanetary spacecraft convention there from the 1950s through the 70s. They were the first large gatherings in the U.S. of UFOlogists.

How was the Integratron built?

Architecturally it is quite phenomenal. The upper level is a dome of all exposed wood. Solganda told him not to use any metal in the construction. The design is based on an aircraft fuselage. Its a hemispherical umbrella dome made of Glulam ribs connected with wooden dowels. There is a 1.5 ton concrete and Micarta non-metallic oculus made by Westinghouse for aerospace use.

Photo courtesy of Daniel Paul

Where do you think the design came from?

Van Tassel appears to have worked with Howard Hughes on an all-wood aircraft called the D-2; it was the precursor to the Spruce Goose. If you look at pictures of the interior of the Spruce Goose and the Integratron dome theyre very similar.

Photo by Daniel Paul

What was this thing supposed to do? How did it work?

There were supposed to be 64 aluminum dirods, or extended beams, intended to spin and generate electrostatic energy. He was reading about Nikola Tesla and others, and Van Tassel thought he could generate 50,000 volts and regulate the energy of a human cell. Cells give off energy and the Integratron was going to generate trillions of negative ions. As cells age they no longer give off the proper charge, which in turn causes aging and health problems. He wanted to recharge the cells because he thought that spirits were basically electricity.

Photo courtesy Daniel Paul

Did he extend his own life?

Although it was a life extension machine, Van Tassel himself ran out of time. He passed away in 1978 and all the machinery intended to be inside was never installed.

What happened after he died?

His wife kept publishing his newsletter Proceedingsfor a while, but other people tried to take ownership, including somebody who wanted to paint it lavender and call it the Lavender Disco. In the 90s, a couple bought it and wanted to fire it up but that never happened. Three sisters from New York now own it. They are running a very popular sound bath experience. I had a sound bath but I can never be fully clean in there because I cant hear out of my right ear.

Photo by Daniel Paul

Why are you doing this talk at a music club?

It seems like they have rather diverse programming. They do interesting film events and did something with the Unarius Academy UFO group. With a name like Zebulon, youd think they might be pretty open to different things.

Whats the future of the Integratron?

I got it listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2018. The property owner was interested in protecting it for the future and was very sensitive to the legacy of Van Tassel and his creations. The psychiatrist Carl Jung called California Classic saucer country. We have an openness to the metaphysical and to high tech. Theres a lot of Echo Park vibes up there now. Its a beautiful space, the sound baths are highly regarded, and people love it.

Integratron: The Extended Life of a Life Extension Machine, A Slide Lecture, Wed., Nov. 5, 8 p.m.;Zebulon, 2478 Fletcher Dr., Elysian Valley.

RELATED: Ten Interesting Ways to Explore Joshua Tree Like a Local

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The Integratron Has a History as Interesting as It Looks - LA Magazine

Treat longevity as a national issue. Once again, the UK (lets not forget that their healthcare costs are less than half of those in the US!) offer a great example here. Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, announced a plan called HLE+5 (HLE is an abbreviation for healthy life expectancy), aiming to extend healthy lifespans of their citizens by 5 years by 2035. It would be great to see a similar initiative in the US.

Asa part of my interview series with leaders in healthcare, I had the pleasure to interview Sergey Young. Sergey Young is Founder ofLongevity Vision Fund, one of the worlds top three investment funds specializing in life extension. Sergey is also on the Innovation Board of the XPRIZE Foundation (which is most known for its Ansari XPRIZE and Google Lunar XPRIZE competitions). Sergey Young is also the Development Sponsor of Longevity XPRIZE, a global initiative to cure aging, and a member of the Financial Advisory Board of the Parliamentary Group on Longevity in the UK, helping to devise the national strategy on longevity. Based between the UK & US, Sergey Youngs mission is to extend healthy lifespans of one billion people around the world on both sides of the Atlantic through impactful socially responsible investments and by setting a personal example after all, his own goal is to live to 200.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Sure! My personal story can appear quite mundane at first, but it is one that affects95 millionAmericans. It all started with a routine visit to a doctor, where my blood tests which I neglected for 7 years, thinking I was in perfect health showed that my cholesterol was very high, which put me at risk of heart disease.

The only treatment offered by my doctor at the time was to take statins (cholesterol-reducing drugs), which I would have to take for the rest of my life. I definitely did not want to live on a pill forever, so I kept pushing my doctor for alternatives. Eventually, the doctor suggested I try a Mediterranean-style diet (lots of healthy fats, no sugar, etc.), which worked in bringing my cholesterol down to a normal range without any medication. Since then, I developed an interest in health and longevity, and decided to use my investment experience (I had been managing a $2 billion private equity fund for 20 years by that point) to accelerate longevity breakthroughs and to make them more affordable and accessible in general. This is howLongevity Vision Fundwas launched and the company mission was shaped.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

I went to a regenerative medicine conference in Vatican City last year, just at the outset of launchingLongevity Vision Fund. Apart from meeting the Pope and seeing Katy Perry in person there, what astonished me the most was when Peter Diamandis my mentor, friend and the Founder of XPRIZE, was telling the audience about how technology will change over the next couple of decades, allowing us to extend our lives to at least 150. Then he paused, his face lit up with excitement, and asked who in this audience wants to live to 150. Obviously, I immediately raised my hand, but saw Peters expression change to shock and surprise only a very small percentage of people in the room had raised their hands. I was one of the few.

Id assumed most people would jump at the chance to live longer, if it was offered. But clearly thats not the case. In fact, in a recent Pew Research report on radical life extension,56% of American adults said they would not want to live to 120. The opportunity to extend our lives is within reach, and people might

turn it down. So Ive set out to dispel misinformation, fear and disbelief that this topic commonly incites. Not only through my work atLongevity Vision Fund, but also by sharing information in a book called Growing Young, which I hope to release in Q3 2020. I want people to get educated on longevity rather than get scared of it times have changed and the breakthroughs in medical science and technology now make it entirely realistic to live to 100 and beyond all within our lifetime!

What makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?

Probably that the company is driven by someone who plans on living to 200! On a more serious note, Longevity Vision Fund has a focus specifically on affordable and accessible technology. Our goal is to democratize longevity, so we look for scalability and breakthrough potential in the companies we invest in.

A great example of how we make longevity more accessible and affordable is our investment in EXO Imaging, which develops portable ultrasound imaging devices at a very low price point. In fact, it makes ultrasound imaging so affordable that it actually becomes accessible to every healthcare provider in the world. Imagine being able to get your ultrasound scan done at your family physician, without having to be referred to a hospital (with the associated waiting time and costs this can bring!). Or using the portable device anywhere it might be required at emergencies by ambulance paramedics, or even the patient themselves (after a short training). And since EXO Imaging uses AI to process the scan, it has the potential to maintain, and even exceed, the accuracy of ultrasound scans that rely on interpretations of doctors without the support of this technology. This means that ultrasound scans can become as common and mundane as checking your blood pressure at your doctors office. Imagine the relief, affordability and improved access that cancer, thyroid and many other patients can enjoy!

Can you share with our readers about the innovations that you are bringing to and/or see in the healthcare industry? How do you envision that this might disrupt the status quo? Which pain point is this trying to address?

I use3 Horizons of Innovationto map the longevity & healthcare innovation space:

At Longevity Vision Fund we focus mostly on horizons 1 and 2. The main pain point we are trying to address is making sure that longevity is accessible and affordable to everyone in the world. We do this by supporting scalable technologies with breakthrough potential that can democratize longevity. For example, our portfolio company Insilico, an AI in drug discovery company, has demonstrated its ability to identify design, synthesize and validate a novel drug candidatein just 46 days, compared to the typical 23 years required for a standard approach used by the majority of pharma.

What are your 5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)

Lets jump to the main focus of our interview. According tothis studycited by Newsweek, the US healthcare system is ranked as the worst among high income nations. This seems shocking. Can you share with us 35 reasons why you think the US is ranked so poorly?

You are a healthcare insider. Can you share 5 changes that need to be made to improve the overall US healthcare system? Please share a story or example for each.

Thank you! Its great to suggest changes, but what specific steps would need to be taken to implement your ideas? What can individuals, corporations, communities and leaders do to help?

Everybody can implement these steps in their lives as of today! If you are interested in learning more, you can read Blue Zones by Dan Buettner or go to my websitesergeyyoung.comwhere I put out information on longevity (absolutely for free) as part of my mission to extend lifespans of one billion people. And if you are reading this that includes you!

What are your favorite books, podcasts, or resources that inspire you to be a better healthcare leader? Can you explain why you like them?

Here are my three favorite books:

Another great resource is Abundance 360 by my friend and XPRIZE Founder Peter Diamandis. It offers some great guidance on understanding how to navigate exponential technology and use it to achieve Moonshots.

How can our readers follow you on social media?

Follow me onLinkedin(Sergey Young), Facebook and Twitter (@sergeyyoung200)

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

Original post:
The Future of Healthcare With Sergey Young, Founder of Longevity Vision Fund - Thrive Global

BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions and 3stepIT announce that their joint venture "BNP Paribas 3 Step IT" started trading in October.

This new entity offers a complete and more sustainable way to manage technology lifecycles. It delivers a service based on circular economy principles; a service that anticipates the needs of companies looking for more flexible and sustainable "product as a service"2 financing solutions.

BNP Paribas 3 Step IT combines the strengths, expertise and geographical cover of the European leasing leader, BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions, and the Finnish specialist in IT life cycle management (management, refurbishment in own logistics centres and re-marketing), 3stepIT, to take the latters successful approach out of its Nordic stronghold and deliver it across Europe.

BNP Paribas 3 Step IT provides a complete service to companies to help them manage technology investments (mainly smartphones, tablets, PCs and laptops). The service adds value at all points in the lifecycle. It helps: Analyse their needs to develop a lifecycle planProvide the funding to select and acquire the planned equipmentMonitor and manage equipment in use: where it is, who pays, how much it costs, when to replace it, as well as automating many routine IT administration tasksReturn equipment at the end of the contract, for secure data destruction followed by refurbishing for resale, when the value recovered helps reduce rental costs

In practice, this approach helps clients improve their IT service level, with up to date equipment; and provide IT devices at a lower overall cost. It also helps run IT in a more sustainable way, because the devices are refurbished, rather than dumped.

We refurbish 97% of returned devices for re-use, with less than 3% being recycled. Our focus on sustainability also confers sustainability on our clients own use of IT. Extending the life of equipment displaces the manufacture of new product and spreads the manufacturing carbon footprint across two users. Including manufacture, transport and power costs in the calculation, this reduces the carbon footprint by 36%. Electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream on the planet, and the source of 70% of landfill toxic waste. Re-use reduces clients e-waste contribution by around 48%.

Sustainability is a growing factor in IT planning. While 15% of organisations say it is a consideration today, a further 67% say they intend to integrate sustainability into their IT plans within the next two years3. A circular economy lifecycle approach, that delivers product life extension for over 97% of returned devices, will interest these organisations.

"Since we announced this joint venture, many international companies have wanted to learn more. The lifecycle management service meets their business needs, and aligns with their values in terms of responsibility. Becoming more sustainable is increasingly a competitive differentiator, and a consideration for clients, partners and investors. As well as serving clients broader needs, this alliance is in perfect sync with the BNP Paribas Group strategy to support circular economy initiatives," said Charlotte Dennery, CEO of BNP Paribas Leasing Solutions.

"We are delighted to take our solution across Europe. BNP Paribas 3 Step IT will offer a more sustainable approach to using technology, on a large international scale - a breakthrough for a circular economy business model, and a response to our customers demands for a global service, said Carmen Ene, CEO of 3stepIT.

1. European countries covered by the alliance:Joint venture: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.Commercial partnership: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden.

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BNP Paribas and 3stepIT commence tech leasing joint venture - Finextra

There is a reason the Liberty City community was once known as Hog Eye Country, and as of late the name has been revived as the area once again is being inundated with wild hogs.

Bo Camp (whose great grandparents, Della and Ben Chapman, settled in the area in the mid-1800s) said, There are actually several stories pertaining to the name. One had to do with a man whose neighbor let his hogs get into his pasture. He supposedly caught the pigs and sewed their eyes shut to prevent them from coming back in. But, I doubt that seriously happened even though my great grandparents actually had a post office in their home at one time called the Hog Eye Post Office.

My grandparents then bought 200 acres at the hub of the area where the four-way stop sign is now, and my mother was born in a house on one of those corners. They used to kill hogs and hang them in the smokehouse. The hogs that were not needed for butchering would be turned loose along the Sabine River banks to feed off the acorns and other stuff and then rounded back up again in the fall to kill for enough meat to get through the winter months.

Of the 4 to 5 million feral hogs in the United States, an estimated 2.6 million call Texas home. Feral hogs can be found in 99% of Texas counties and cause an estimated $52 million in damages to Texas agricultural enterprises each year, according to the Texas A&M Agricultural Life Extension.

Pat Sheets, who lives near the Sabine River, said, Something has got to be done. The wild hogs have destroyed my pretty green pasture, the dam across my pond and are now in my front yard. The holes are terrible almost two feet deep but long where they have rooted. If anyone needed something buried, I could easily do so.

Pat, age 81, is gaining the reputation of being the next Wyatt Earp having shot a hog recently near her deer feeder. She said, They are mean and they are dangerous. I had a wild boar chase my dog almost right up to me, and I shot at the ground to keep from accidentally hitting my dog. The hog turned after I shot, otherwise it would have gotten me. I was okay while it was happening, but the minute I sat down on my porch I started shaking.

One of her neighbors caught a photo of a 400 lb. hog on his camera last week and another neighbor, David Bardwell, has shot three of the hogs in his pasture within the last two weeks, according to Pat.

She readily admits, I am getting too old to stay up late at night when they come up. I need to be able to do things during the daytime. I did have a young boy shoot one off my back porch and that was around midnight.

I have dragged the holes with my front-end loader of the tractor attempting to fix it. When you drive over them it is like driving over a rub board.

Deer season will start soon and Pat plans on calling in professional hunters two weeks into the season to have enough time for her own deer hunting.

Eddy Holley, who has pastureland near Hwy. 31 East, said, You should see my pastures. They have rooted all the way across my land and have now crossed over the highway. Wild hogs are smart. They will come out late in the evening and go to the same place for two to three nights in a row then they will move. A lot of people think you can trap them, but that is not easy. Billy Higginbotham, who retired from the Texas A & M Research & Extension Center stressed through his seminars that you have to put bait in the traps first to get the feral used to going into the pen. Then set the trap.

I dont have much luck with the traps, I have better luck with Stay Tuf fence. I have learned it is easier to fence them out than to try to get rid of them after they have destroyed it. By the way, in Texas, it is legal to shoot a hog because of the amount of damage they do.

According to Eddy, owner of Kilgore Feed Company, I personally believe the corn deer hunters put out is a drawing card for the animals. They were not used to food being readily available, having to root for grub and other stuff before. If you stop and think about it, one sow can have a litter of 10 or more pigs each time. That is at least 30 pigs per year from one sow, so you can easily see why we are having such a problem.

Damage to vehicles from the hogs is enormous, according to Gerad Waits, manager of Patterson Body Shop in Kilgore: So far, we have seen 13 vehicles that have hit hogs, he said. Drivers dont know what they hit a lot of times, but we can tell by the hair left on the vehicle. We have also repaired vehicles damaged by 41 deer, one cow, 18 raccoons and, the last couple of weeks, four coyotes. And we havent made it to the end of the year yet.

Nonetheless, the hogs have become a serious problem. As for me, I think I will stick with Pat Deadshot Sheets.

MOTHER NATURE helped make the Soup & Pie Luncheon at St. Lukes United Methodist Church a big success again this year. That cold front arrived just in time according to that bunch.

DONT forget to turn your clocks back one hour this Saturday evening or at 2 a.m. Sunday morning officially if you care to stay up that late. We will gain that extra hour of sleep, but for the most of us driving home in the dark.

MAY HIS LOVE AND LAUGHTER fill your hearts and your homes throughout the week. In the meantime, we may be reached at chitchatlinda@aol.com or 903-984-2593.

Continued here:
ChitChat | It's a little wild in Texas | Lifestyles - Kilgore News Herald

The provinces economic forecast is looking promising for 2020, but outside the oil industry all is not rosy.

Thats according to APECs Economic Forecast for the Atlantic region, released yesterday.

Newfoundland and Labradors real GDP is expected to rebound by 2.7 per cent in 2019, led by stronger oil production and mining. For 2020, APEC is forecasting 2.4 per cent real GDP growth, as oil production is expected to increase by 9 per cent.

Capital investment meanwhile is expected to improve by 16 per cent in 2019. the first growth since 2015, with a further 4 per cent advance in 2020.

Despite growth in the oil industry, the rest of the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador continues to struggle. Employment is up 1.4 per cent over the first nine months of the year, but has fallen by 8,000 since peaking.

Outmigration continues to be an issue, weakening the local labour force. The population fell by over 8,000 people since it peaked in late 2016.

Retail sales are down nearly 2 per cent in the first seven months of the year, while the housing market is also suffering from outmigration according to APEC. The sale price of existing homes is down by 4 per cent in the first nine months of 2019.

9 per cent growth in oil production will be somewhat muted as Terra Nova production is scheduled to be offline for six to seven months in 2020 as its drilling vessel undergoes an asset life extension. APEC is also expecting employment to drop slightly in 2020 as work on Muskrat Falls winds down.

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Economic Forecast Up Thanks to Oil, But All Other Areas Struggling - VOCM

VANCOUVER Nov 6, 2019 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Lucara Diamond Corp earnings conference call or presentation Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 2:00:00pm GMT

Lucara Diamond Corp. - Founder, President, CEO & Director

* John P. Armstrong

Lucara Diamond Corp. - VP of Technical Services

* Zara E. Boldt

Lucara Diamond Corp. - CFO & Corporate Secretary

Joh. Berenberg, Gossler & Co. KG, Research Division - Analyst

Good morning. My name is Pam, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Lucara Diamond Q3 2019 Results Conference Call. (Operators Instructions) Ms. Eira Thomas, please begin your conference.

Eira Margaret Thomas, Lucara Diamond Corp. - Founder, President, CEO & Director [2]

Yes. Yes, they do hear you. Please go ahead.

Eira Margaret Thomas, Lucara Diamond Corp. - Founder, President, CEO & Director [4]

Sorry, I had music in the background there. Okay. Let's start this again. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining us for a combined call to discuss the results of our recently released underground feasibility study together with our Q3 results.

Joining me today, we have Zara Boldt, our CFO; Dr. John Armstrong, our Vice President of Technical Services; Ayesha Hira, our Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy; and Gord Doerksen, Principal at JDS Energy and Mining and our feasibility study lead on the underground project.

Before we start, I would just like to remind everyone that all of the speakers on the call today will be making forward-looking statements. Please refer to the cautionary statements on Slide 2 of the webcast for more detail.

So addressing the big news first. Lucara is delighted to be reporting strong positive economic results from its recently completed bankable feasibility study, contemplating a 15-year expansion of its 100%-owned Karowe diamond mine in Botswana. Karowe, which has been in production since 2012, is a unique top-of-class diamond asset renowned for its consistent recovery of large, high-value, type IIA white diamonds and the only mine in history to ever recover 2 +1000 carat diamond. Over the past 7 years of open-pit mining, Karowe has mined and sold 2.6 million carats, generated $1.5 billion in revenues and has consistently delivered high operating margins, better than 60%.

Since 2014, Lucara has also paid out more than $270 million in dividends, well in excess of the total capital invested to build and upgrade our mine. With the completion of our 2019 bankable underground feasibility study, we could also confidently state that this is just the beginning. Resource work completed since November 2017 identified a much larger economic opportunity at depth than was previously envisaged driven by the increasing contribution of higher-grade, higher-value EM/PK(S) ore. Underground expansion would double the mine life outlined in the original 2010 feasibility study, deliver net after-tax cash flow of $1.22 billion and gross revenues of $5.25 billion. The underground alone will deliver close to $4 billion of those revenues.

It is also important to note that approximately $200 million in revenues generated from exceptional high-value diamonds like the Lesedi La Rona and the Constellation were not included in our economic analysis and represent a significant opportunity for revenue upside. We are highly confident of further large high-value stone recoveries, especially as we mine deeper and gain access to higher-grade, higher-value EM/PK(S) ore. We just can't predict exactly when they will come. Based on the recoveries to date, these exceptional diamonds could add upwards of $500 million in additional revenues over the proposed new life of mine.

Another key takeaway from this study is that the cost to expand our mine underground is affordable and can be largely funded out of cash flow and anticipate the short payback period of under 3 years. What's more? Operating margins remain healthy despite the application of conservative diamond pricing models that take into consideration the current difficult market environment. Lucara's short-term view is that the market is now stabilizing. Longer term, the fundamentals are expected to strengthen in line with supply shortfalls from mature depleting mines in Australia and Canada.

Our return to diamond prices observed in 2015 would nearly double the NPV of this project to $1.4 billion at a 5% discount.

Engagement with the Botswana government has been ongoing, and with the feasibility study complete, we are now in a position to file for a mining license extension to cover the remaining open pit and proposed underground mining operation. To this end, we will be meeting with the government in the near term to present the results of the study and finalize our plans for stakeholder engagement.

To take us through the results of the underground feasibility study in more detail including assumptions and key inputs, I would now like to turn the presentation over to Dr. John Armstrong.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John P. Armstrong, Lucara Diamond Corp. - VP of Technical Services [5]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thank you, Eira. Good morning and good afternoon to everyone. I'm very pleased to provide this breakdown of the results of the study. So my plan is to run through the key findings of the study. And I think on the one slide you were looking at, we can see some of the key findings. Basically as part of the feasibility study, the resource model has been updated with conversion from inferred to indicated between 400 and 250 meters above sea level within the South lobe and an extension of the inferred classification from 250 meters above sea level to 66 meters above sea level, which is, again, against the previous model which had the base of the inferred at 250 meters above sea level and the kimberlite remains open below the 66 level.

I would say that overall, the mining method selection was data driven and the method chosen is long hole shrinkage, and we'll get into the details of that as the presentation proceeds, provides access to high-value, high-grade ore [earning] in the underground mine life. With the underground mine ramping up coincident with the depletion of the open-pit reserves and the proposed schedule does not require processing of stockpiles to mitigate against any production shortfalls during the transition from open pit to underground.

The payback period happens what we're mining in competent granted host material. And overall, we're going to maintain ore to the plants of 2.6 million to 2.7 million tonnes a year. And the combined open pit and underground scenario, as you see on the slide, provides a strong economic argument for proceeding.

I'd like to mention the technical team. Lucara engaged with JDS Mining and Energy (sic) [JDS Energy and Mining] to be the study lead under the direction of Gord as Eira indicated. JDS assembled a group of their own internal consultants and external consultants that is world class, extremely experienced, are subject matter experts with proven track record of project delivery and mine construction.

Right? In terms of the data elements, Eira did touch on this, but Lucara and Lucara Botswana have been engaged with the government of Botswana from the early stages of the study, and we've maintained that communication. As Eira indicated, we'll be sitting down with the government in the next few weeks to present the results of this feasibility study to initiate our stakeholder engagement and proceed with filing for a mining life extension to cover the remaining open pit and proposed underground mining operation. The projects in its conclusions have been very much data driven using historical data, operational data obtained from 7 years of mining, processing, diamond recovery and diamond sales from Karowe. And as indicated earlier, we have an extensive set of new information obtained over the course of the feasibility study.

Identified key focus areas of hydrogeology, geotechnical constraints of the kimberlite and host rocks have been addressed through this intensive set of work programs. The data collection started back in 2016, ran through the PEA process which was completed in 2017 and has been substantially updated and augmented by the feasibility study, and you can see and read some of the metrics on this particular slide. I won't run through all the details. And ultimately, the quality and abundance of data was deemed sufficient and suitable for the level of the study being presented.

I'll touch quickly on these next set of slides, which is the -- on the resource update. I mean the [space] underpins the whole decision to proceed with the feasibility study. We've updated the geological model. We've updated the resource model. This has resulted in the -- a new base of indicated resource sitting at 250 meters above sea level. Previously, that sat at 400 meters above sea level. So we've added 150 meters of indicated within the South lobe, and we pushed the inferred down to 66 meters above sea level.

The work has been supported by detailed core logging of geotechnical and delineation holes that were drilled as part of the 2018-'19 FS study, complemented by additional dry density, detailed petrography and microdiamond data, which is augmented by our previous work in 2018.

Now we can look at the Mineral Reserves Statements (sic) Mineral Reserve Statements for the remaining open pits and now classification of probable mineral reserves within the underground portion of the deposit, and this table is represented here also in the press release. And you can see the split between the open pit and underground reserves and the split between the dominant rock types. Within the underground, we have 33.5 million tonnes with just over 5 million carats available for the feasibility study as a probable mineral resource.

Now I'll touch on diamond pricing. A set of size frequency distribution and value models were generated for the EM/PK(S) and the M/PK(S) domains within the South lobe. These are the dominant rock types present within the South lobe. And based on data gained over the last 2 years or so, we've been able to develop these independent SFD and value models for both the E and the M/PK(S). The parcels used to model the SFDs are very robust. The M/PK(S) model is informed by approximately 410,000 carats or greater than a year's production. The EM/PK(s) model is informed by approximately 45,000 carats of targeted production and compared against a set of some 150,000 carats of daily EM/PK(S) production where I have SFD sizing data for that particular daily production.

The average price per carat models are a function of the size frequency distribution and value by size class. The value models for the EM/PK(S) and M/PK(S) have been adjusted in the plus 10.8 size category to reflect current weakness in the price achieved for large, high-quality rough to our tender sales. The average price proposed for the feasibility study are based on a view that, that portion of the market will see price improvement by 2025 but at levels that are still conservative against the market high and also against pricing used in 2018.

I'd just like to remind everyone looking at this particular histogram plot on the bottom that our achieved average prices that have -- over the last -- since 2014 represent a blend and are weighted by the proportions of carats recovered and sold from the various lobes, and you get an idea of what that looks like in terms of the pricing metrics on that histogram slide.

This next slide is a couple of schematics cross sections of the AK6 kimberlites. One of the most significant findings of the various resource upgrade drilling programs that have been running since 2016 has been the determination that the EM/PK(S) units became increasingly significant with respect to diamond content and volume at depth within the South lobe, especially below 400 meters above sea level. And now based on operational data produced -- based on operational data, we are confident that some of the world's largest gem-quality diamonds have been sourced from the EM/PK(S). What's also shown here on this diagram is the split between the indicated and inferred at the 250 meter above sea level. You can see in the shaded diagram on the left where we have the EM/PK(S) in purple becoming the dominant rock type as we get deeper in the resource. And you can see within the inferred, there's another unit now coming in called KIM-3, which has attributes more similar to the M than the EM/PK(s), sitting within the inferred category.

Next slide, please. Now we're going to talk about the underground mine design and the selection of long hole shrinkage as the preferred technique. Trade-off studies were completed that examined a variety of underground options including block caving, assisted block caving, sub-level cave, sub-level retreat. The AK6 kimberlite and the host rocks of the crew sequence present a very unique setting. Particularly at Karowe from surface, we have about 140 meters of the salt which overlie about 120 meters of sandstones locally with interbeds of red mudstone that are very poor quality and are water-bearing and followed by a mudstone domain and 140-meter package of carbonaceous shales with discontinuous coal seams.

So this package is about 400 meters of sedimentary sequence overlie basement granites. The kimberlite of the South lobe and the basement granites are a very good rock quality with UCSs of 130 to 150 MPa with sparse jointing. The remainder of the host rock package are of reasonable rock qualities. However, there is a substantial thickness of weaker material with UCSs of 30 to 40 MPa within the 140-meter sequence of carbonaceous shales, intercalated coal seams that lie on top of the basement granites.

Regional in situ horizontal stresses are low in the country rock, roughly half that of the vertical stress, while the pipe has elevated horizontal stresses as evidenced by the results of wireline overcoring in situ stress tests that were conducted as part of the geotechnical data program. The South kimberlite is much stronger than normal, and the in-depth test work, data analysis, including detailed core logging, geotechnical core logging, the in situ stress measurements, eliminate natural caving as an option and present a good opportunity for stoping. The mining method selected is referred to as long hole shrinkage, and the plan is to systematically drill and blast the kimberlite on a vertical retreat basis. Drilling and blasting will occur from a series of sub-level space of 100-meter vertical intervals, access via 2 vertical shafts and internal ramp system developed within the granite and also developed within the kimberlite itself to avoid lateral development within the weak carbonaceous shale sequence.

Long hole shrinkage, with this technique, a significant portion of the blasted muck is left in the stope during blasting and stoping or during the actual mining activity. That acts to assist and stabilizing the host rock, and we only extract the swell during this drill and blast phase.

We'll see a few schematics coming up of mucking will take place from a number of draw points on the 310 level or 310 meters above sea level, which will form the main extraction level. Once the column of South lobe is fully blasted, stope is drawn empty by mucking out of the draw points. Production rates are sufficient to maintain the 2.6 million to 2.7 million tonnes per annum of ore to the ore processing facility.

The underground portion of the mine alone will produce an average 392,000 carats a year, mining from the 700- to 310-meter above sea level elevations, with a 13-year production life after an initial 5.5 years of preproduction development and ramp up the full underground production. The resource economically favors long hole shrinkage over sub-level caving for its bottom-up approach. It take advantage of the higher-value kimberlite at depth, coupled with low operating costs and derisk the project with respect to geotechnical and hydrogeological issues of host rocks.

This next slide is an isometric diagram of the underground -- [Karowe's] underground workings. So we're going to walk through this in a series of steps. You can see the 2 vertical shafts. There's the production shaft and the ventilation shaft. And on the next slide, we're going to see some more details around the -- kind of the physicality of those particular items. I just want to reinforce the advantages of this method when we're looking at this isometric diagram. We get extraction of the highest-value rock first. We have low and delayed dilution. We have development and production of the underground, can occur while simultaneously with pit operations. So we'll be developing the mine at depth where we're still operating in the pit. We reduced the dewatering risk by how -- using grouted shafts and delay surface breakthrough into the open pit for 5 production years. We have minimal developments in poor ground and the development of the extraction level, which we'll discuss on the 310 level, is designed to manage natural caving should it occur. And we have the ability to rapidly increase the draw on the mucking rate once the resource is fully blasted.

We have flexibility, we have less risk, and we have the ability to mine below the 310 level within the indicated resource down to 250 and potentially beyond. The shafts that we sunk at the same time with the ventilation shaft dedicated as a heavy lift, providing access initially on the 680 level for the purpose of a drill level and establishment of a dewatering gallery. Water control and hydrogeological context of the deposit and host rocks are key elements of the mine plan. The 680-level dewatering gallery will provide the necessary infrastructure and access to dewater the overlying red mudstones in advance of open-pit mining in the preparation for underground mining and bridging of the crown pillar into the open-pit scheduled for 2029.

The main extraction level, 310 level, has a layer of more typical of caving mines with a total of 56 draw points, underground pressures and basically a normal layout for rock-handling systems underground. The place oriented 2 21-tonne skips for conveyance to surface. Total lateral developments of the proposed underground is approximately 16.3 kilometers on 8 levels with 2,800 meters of vertical development in shafts and then raises. Development of the extraction level and shaft design allow for deeper ore to be accessed below 310.

This series of summary tables with the main aspects of the design for the shafts, the levels, the extraction. We get 8 levels, 6 of which are accessed from the shaft, 2 of which are accessed by -- through internal ramping either up from the 320 level or down from the 680 level. The key takeaway here, I think, is to drive our attention to the extraction level design with 56 draw points from 5 panels that brings significant operational and extraction flexibility. The potential to increase production in the period post-2029 once the stope is fully blasted is there. The ore tonnes per meter of development at 2,000 tonnes a meter aligns with more lines of caving operations and sub-level-type operations. The powder factor and hole burden is aligned with the current open-pit operations. So basically, the drill and blast regime that we'll be using underground is almost identical to the same that we're using in the open pit at the present time. And we have blast studies that indicate that our comminution and our size distribution of the muck will be easily handled within those draw points.

This is a cross-sectional view, a bit of a cartoon for stope design and sequence. The pyramidal sequence is proposed for the drilling and blasting of the stopes at Karowe. The blasting sequence will create a dome-shaped back at the top of the blasted volume to maintain the stability of the back. Stopes will be blasted sequentially upward in 17.5-meter increments until a 30-meter sill pillar is left between the drill panel and the stope back. And that final 30-meter sill will then be blasted and terminate access to the drill panel of that location. Drilling will take place from sub-level spaced approximately 100 meters apart, using in-the-hole hammer rigs, and the idea is to drill downholes. The key points to take away from this diagram -- and basically, we will start at the extraction level; blast the drawbells; proceed up to the next level, the 380 level; and initiate blasting from the 480 level down and progress that stoping upward. Once we get into the domain of the pipe which has the carbonaceous shales and the sedimentary rocks as the country rock will leave a skin of kimberlite behind, which will provide additional support against dilution, and then we'll take this skin later in the mine life as we prepare to reach the crown pillar into the bottom of the open pit.

Drilling and blasting activity is proposed at a rate of around 21,000 tonnes per day with mucking of the swell of approximately 7,500 tonnes a day to draw down the stope to accommodate the blasting of the next 17.5-meter lifts. The bulk of the host rock is of good quality. And this, combined with the cylindrical shape of the ore body, prevents low risk for substantial waste entry, and the kimberlite skin will provide additional confining support against the host rock as does the broken muck before a final drawdown.

This particular slide now shows that we're going to get into some of the financial and resource aspects of the proposed underground operation. This is an illustration of available carats by rock type and level. I think what we can see is we're going to see this carry through to the next set of slides. As you can see that at the bottom level, so the 250 and the 300 level that the amount -- the volume of carats available is dominated by the EM/PK(S). And as you can see from the diamond pricing and the coarse nature of that size distribution, that is also the highest-value rock available within the column. And we'll see that, as I say, flow through the next set of slides.

The next set of slides also do address indicative and estimated volumes in tonnes and carats, costing and expense estimates. And I would refer you back to the cautionary statement at the beginning of the presentation while we go through these slides.

We're looking now at the indicative production schedule. And what this shows is basically the distribution of tonnes by rock type for the open pit and the -- basically, the crossover to underground tonnes in 2025. The key takeaway from this particular diagram is that when we look at the value of the material that's coming out of the underground, we see that the peak in [2030], 3 or 4 years of underground production, dominated by the EM/PK(S). And you can see that from that particular diagram. And then mid-underground mine life as the M/PK(S), not unexpectedly, becomes a more significant driver of the volume since this particular unit becomes more significant in the shallower portions of the South lobe that we see a decrease in the overall value. And we'll see -- later, we see a bit of a drop-off in the carats, but we're still maintaining in excess of 300,000 carats a year. And there's no expectation to see treatment of stockpiles during that transition from open pit to underground. We see the stockpiles come through in the last 3 years of the mine life where we process remaining working stockpiles and the life of mine stockpile.

This next slide shows some production metrics, which is basically showing carat production by year and by source. And we can see a boost in the carat and the influence of the EM/PK(S) and the ramp-up in the early period of the underground with production of approaching 500,000 carats a year and over 400,000 carats a year for a number of years in the early part of the underground mine life for a total recovered carats from the underground of 7.8 million, an average grade of 14 cpht and dragging in those stockpiles at the end of the mine life for processing.

Next slide, please. We'd like to now touch on preproduction CapEx, sits at USD 514 million. This is driven, obviously, by the mine development with shaft sinking costs running around $160 million of that and the remaining underground development sitting in around the same, $160-odd million. We will need additional power at Karowe to support the underground operation in terms of hoisting and ventilation. So we -- as part of the feasibility study -- and shown in the numbers for the feasibility study is a new 29-kilometer long, 132-kV power transmission line running from a new substation constructed by Botswana Power Corporation into the mine site, and that will provide sufficient power for the current requirements and the underground development. Work on this power line process is ongoing in parallel with the feasibility study. But again, I say all the costs for that power line are shown in the feasibility study economics.

Other infrastructure required to support the underground operation include various surface buildings and facilities adjacent to the 2 vertical shafts, a construction camp and expansion of coarse and fine tailings facilities. Based on understanding gain from the mining, milling and diamond recoveries from unweathered hard (inaudible) kimberlite over the last 4 years in conjunction with additional test work as part of the feasibility study. The current flow sheet is deemed suitable for processing of the underground sourced kimberlite and diamond recovery in line with the resource model.

Now we're going to run through some of the economics. I won't spend a lot of time on these slides. In the interest of time, everyone can read the numbers. The first one is the stand-alone underground scenario with the life of mine average price per carat of $725, 13 years of mining and milling of underground-only ore with a 20.8% internal rate of return at 16% post-tax IRR and less than a 3-year payback.

We're showing now on this particular slide the combined underground and open pit, laid out similar to the previous one. We have 7.84 million carats that could be recovered at an average price of $670 a carat. This is the combined open pit and stockpile scenario which were the end of the mine life with $1.2 billion post-tax cash flow; 56 million tonnes treated; $5.25 billion in gross revenue and an after-tax NPV of 5% of $718 million; and again, less than a 3-year payback; and average life of mine operating costs of just $28.43 a tonne ore processed.

This slide can be married with the previous pie diagram, showing the breakdown of the preproduction estimated capital. And we can also show here estimations on sustaining costs for both the underground and open-pit operations for the $514 million of preproduction cap and an estimation of $208 million of life of mine for sustaining and closure costs.

I think we'll emphasize here that the underground operation will continue. What's been established by the open pit is a high-margin producer with respect to operating cost per carat. And you can see the breakdown on the left-hand side of that -- or the right-hand side of the slide of the cost per carat from the various aspects of the operation, and again, with an over in excess of $500 a carat margin.

This is -- the next slide depicts the operating costs for the underground, the unit cost per tonne milled, unit costs, dollar per carat and life of mine estimates. Then now we're showing the underground-only operating estimates. Again, for underground mining processing, G&A and the total number is reflected on this particular diagram.

This slide shows the open-pit underground post-tax cash flow. As I indicated, the estimated schedule maintains the mill throughput of 2.6 million to 2.7 million tonnes a year without a production dip. The main takeaway from this is the big capital spend that you can see in the early part mainly coming through in 2021 during the shaft-sinking period and then strong post-tax cash flows in the early years of the underground. This is the influence of the higher-grade, higher-value plus 400,000 carat production per annum that will come in the early years, dominated by the EM/PK(S). In terms of sensitivities, this is also presented in the press release. Obviously, the main sensitivity is diamond price.

And then I think we should talk a little bit about some of the project risks. Obviously, project execution, which involves procurement, labor financing, are key risks that we will have identified and we'll work very hard to mitigate against. The schedule in terms of dewatering and assuring no different production, the dewatering schedule is tight and requires us to get down to that 680-meter level to allow us the longest period of time possible for dewatering of the sandstones and the mudstones that we'll be mining through with the underground stoping and the open pit.

Opportunities. There are short-term opportunities with respect to the newly updated resource model in terms of pit optimization and scheduling, and this work is ongoing. Opportunities exist below the 310 level for additional ore access from the underground workings. There's a potential for increased production rates post-2029. The shafts at 2.7 million tonnes a year of conveyance are not at full capacity, so there's the ability for additional hoisting. And then we would look at increased mill throughput. We have resource potential in the North and Center lobes that will require drilling and work from underground. And obviously, the recovery of high-value stones will have positive impacts to project economics.

Looking at the indicative schedule is the timing. We can basically look at this, and I will speak to a little bit in the next steps. We can see from this particular schedule that 2020 is not extremely capital intensive. And that main expenses come through in the second half of the year as we prepare for shaft sinking, and then we can see that the early works with the camp construction and some of the other surface work and the power line coming in, in mid-2022 to align with finishing and completion of the shafts, fitting in the shafts and getting ready for the ramp-up of underground production through 2023-'24, ramping up to full capacity '25-'26.

With that, I would like to thank JDS and Gord for the excellent work that he and his team have done delivering this quality study in an extremely compressed time frame. So it's a, like I said, a very quality piece of work. It shows the way forward, I think, for Lucara and delivering a positive economic results and a very unique asset with some very unique geology and some very unique diamonds.

With that, I will pass the call back over to Eira.

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Eira Margaret Thomas, Lucara Diamond Corp. - Founder, President, CEO & Director [6]

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Thank you, John. To sum up, Lucara is highly encouraged by the results of the Karowe underground Feasibility study which has outlined a much larger economic opportunity than first envisaged and represents an exciting, world-class growth project for our company. A significant portion of the cost to expand our mine underground can be funded from cash flow, and the investment is expected to be paid back in under 3 years as we've mentioned numerous times.

The mining method is ideal for allowing us to exploit the highest value part of the ore body first. It is important to reiterate that the study has used conservative assumptions around diamond price, an important lever in the economic analysis. A return to diamond prices observed in 2015 would significantly reduce or even eliminate the requirement for external financing and would more than double the NPV at a 5% discount.

In the first half of 2020, as John has stated, the company will focus on detailed engineering and early procurement initiatives as financing options are explored. The anticipated capital requirements represent less than 10% of the initial CapEx estimate for the underground project overall, and the company anticipates funding these initial expenses from cash flow.

I, too, would like to thank Gordon and JDS. And I would like to now turn it over to Zara Boldt, our CFO, who is going to take us through a summary of our Q3 results.

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Zara E. Boldt, Lucara Diamond Corp. - CFO & Corporate Secretary [7]

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Thank you very much, Eira. Starting on Slide 31. We've got some highlights from our third quarter. Operating performance in the third quarter was strong, with mining and processing activities and our operating cost per tonne of ore processed at $31.06, all tracking well to guidance. Revenue in the current quarter was almost identical to total revenue in the same quarter last year despite the number -- higher number of carats sold. We sold 5 diamonds for more than $1 million each and 1 diamond for more than $2 million in the third quarter tender. The gem-quality blue and pink diamonds recovered in the third quarter will be sold in our December tender.

We completed 5 sales through Clara in the quarter, and the total value transacted on the platform doubled to USD 2.4 million. Our customer base has also grown significantly with 27 participants on the platform as of September 30, and it's now over 30 participants at the present time.

You will have noted our decision to suspend the payment of the quarterly dividend, effective immediately. With the results of a positive feasibility study for development of an underground mine at Karowe now in hand, our Board of Directors determined that the suspension of the dividend would be in the best interest of the company and its shareholders. We are of the view that the best use of our available cash is directed to early works, including detailed engineering, procurement initiatives and project financing. The anticipated capital requirements in 2020 represent less than 10% of the preproduction CapEx estimate, and we do expect that our cash flow next year will be sufficient to support that work while we arrange external financing to supplement the expected contribution of our cash flow from operations to develop the underground.

We anticipate that our external financing requirements could be met with some form of debt financing. At this time, we are not contemplating an equity issuance. We will provide further guidance as this progresses.

Moving to Slide 32. We look at our financial highlights for the 9 months ended September 30, 2019. Similar to our third quarter results, our revenue of USD 136.5 million on a year-to-date basis is almost identical to the same period last year. Consistent with the last few quarters, we continue to recover smaller, lower-value diamonds. While still profitable, the smaller goods do impact the average price per carat sold. And you can see that impact in the decrease from $564 to $436 per carat sold in the chart at the bottom left.

Our net income to date is $4 million or $0.01 per share. Consistent with previous quarters this year, our net income has been significantly impacted by depletion and amortization expense of $38.1 million. In the third quarter, we recorded a 24% increase in our quarterly operating expense as compared to Q3 2018. This increase results from a combination of several things, including an increase in the average cost per tonne mined, lower volumes of total tonnes mined, an increase in total tonnes processed and anticipated increases in certain consumables and labor expense. Despite this increase, our year-to-date cost per tonne processed at USD 31.06 is trending to the lower end of our guidance.

Our adjusted EBITDA is about 10% less than our 2018 comparative at USD 50.2 million, with the main driver of this difference, the increase in operating expenses. Cash flow per share from operations was $0.08 per share in the current 9-month period as compared to $0.09 per share in 2018.

Moving to Slide 33. We have our operational highlights presented on a year-to-date basis. The results are fairly consistent with our operational performance during the first half of this year, and we've spoken previously about the differences when compared to the same period last year.

Moving to Slide 34. We have our 2019 outlook. We have revised our 2019 guidance for revenue, narrowing our range to between $170 million and $180 million for the year. We have also narrowed our guidance for carats recovered and sold, estimating that we should be between 400,000 and 425,000 carats for those ranges due to consistently higher recoveries mainly in the smaller size classes. We've also narrowed our waste mining guidance to be between 6.5 million and 7.5 million tonnes this year. Finally, we expect our cost per tonne mined to be at the lower end of our revised guidance of USD 32 to USD 34 per tonne processed.

Moving to Slide 35. We've got our capital structure. As of September 30, we had cash of $4.8 million, nothing drawn on the working capital facility but $50 million available. Despite the current downturn in the diamond market, we are generating enough cash to operate our business, develop the Clara platform and to have been a steady dividend payer. The feasibility study has outlined strong economics, and we are confident that our external financing requirement will be modest with attractive financing options available to supplement the expected contribution of our cash flow from operations to fund the underground project.

With that, we have concluded the formal portion of the presentation, and we'll now open the floor for questions.

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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[Operators Instructions) Your first question comes from Edward Sterck, BMO.

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Edward Christopher Sterck, BMO Capital Markets Equity Research - Analyst [2]

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Just wanted to ask perhaps a bit of a detailed question on the blasting phase. So that -- presumably, that is all happening upfront before you start drawing ore. And I just wanted to ask whether the cost of the blasting is included in the capital cost. And then if not, just to -- I guess that -- the cash -- online cash costs are going to be higher during that blasting phase and before the serious drawdown of the rock pile commences.

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John P. Armstrong, Lucara Diamond Corp. - VP of Technical Services [3]

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More:
Edited Transcript of LUC.TO earnings conference call or presentation 5-Nov-19 2:00pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

It was 3 a.m. on a typical Saturday in Geneseo. UHots was closing and there was nothing to domy alumni friend was visiting, so we trudged through the rain back to my place for an early morning catch-up. His life is a lot more exciting than mine, so I listened intently as he told me of his post-grad misadventures.

Did I ever tell you about the time I was almost recruited into a cult? he said casually. No, he had not. I listened intently as he told me of a private subreddit he had been added to and the pseudo-intellectual who ran the page, inviting people who had like-minded views to join.

This got me thinkingthis subreddit cant be the only page like this on the internet. Since then, I have uncovered similar communities and ideas (i.e. places where spiritual thought meets modern politics and personal musings) grasping for meaning in the digital age. I believe the new frontier for religious thought lies not in the worship spaces of yesteryear, but in online forums and other digital spaces where one can make their beliefs heard and gain a following.

Spiritual groups born and bred online occupy a space somewhere between absurdism and grave sincerity. There is a whole spectrum of those who believe, dont believe or are simply curious about a given sect of online spiritual thought.

In conducting research, I came across the website for The Church of Google, a parody religion founded in 2009 with the goal of creating commentary about the sophistication and increasing symbiotic relationship that technologies like Google play in our lives. I also came across online forums such as MySpiritualgroup, which is self-described as an online spiritual group which seeks to gather all genuine truth seekers from around the world and focuses on metaphysics and esoteric thought.

Additionally, there are countless Reddit forums, like the one my friend joined, focused on the interplay between religion and psychedelics, anarchy and the alt-rightto name a few topics that have been brought into the conversation via dedicated subreddits.

One of the most intriguing online spiritual movements is one called H+, or Transhumanism. According to H+pedia, an online Wikipedia-esque transhumanist encyclopedia, transhumanism can be defined as a belief or movement in favour of human enhancement, especially beyond current human limitations and with advanced technology such as artificial intelligence, life extension and nanotechnology.

While prescribers to the philosophy might describe themselves as post-religious, there is something fundamentally spiritual about their way of thinking, which combines the concept of human transcendence with modern technological advancement. I may add that transhumanists are the same people in favor of gene modifying and strong AI technology, as well as proponents of the concept of technological singularity.

The internet is chaos, and so it only makes sense that spiritual communities that have formed from the internet are chaotic as well. The wide range of content, from intellectual to idiotic, underscores the wide range of beliefs being vocalized. Not only have we been ushered into a new age with technology providing platforms to express opinions, but the very opinions themselves have also been altered and shifted due to the emergence of the internet and what that means for human development.

As spiritual discussion online continues to mold the worldviews of many internet users, it is important that we attempt to broaden our understanding of this emerging intellectual discourse in order to better understand its real-world implications.

You can call Hayley Jones a metamorphosis rock because they do well under pressure!

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Religious and spiritual online forums consist of chaotic, impactful ideas - Lamron

Its big. Its round. Its the Chanhassen weather ball.

Well, actually its the National Weather Services WSR-88D dual-polarization radar, but that doesnt really roll off the tongue.

Its an integral piece of government equipment, responsible for gauging rain, snow and tornadoes throughout the region.

Its also a prominent landmark, visible to drivers along Lyman Boulevard and, notes Chanhassen City Manager Todd Gerhardt, those attending athletic events at the nearby Chanhassen High School.

I always thought it would have been cool to paint the Storm logo on the weather ball, Gerhardt said, of the Chanhassen High School mascot.

Kris Dahl lives in Chanhassens Valley Ridge Trail neighborhood, about a football field length from the weather ball. He uses two of the citys biggest landmarks to help visitors find his home turn at Princes Paisley Park, turn at the weather ball.

In September, he witnessed a rare site a giant crane lifted the round casing off the stand so workers could perform maintenance on the equipment. He contacted the newspaper with photographs.

So, to learn more about the radar, we contacted Eric Ahasic, a National Weather Service meteorologist and radar expert who works out of the Chanhassen office. He responded to questions via email.

What is the official name of the weather ball?

The weather ball is officially called a weather radar. More specifically a WSR-88D dual-polarization radar. Even more specifically, a Weather Surveillance Radar, 1988, Doppler which indicates that the radars became operational in 1988 and have Doppler wind retrieval capabilities.

What have you heard people call it?

Weve heard it referred to as the golf ball tower before, in addition to the weather ball. Spaceship gets thrown around as well.

What do you call it around the office?

We just call it the radar.

What equipment is inside?

Inside is a large dish, similar to a TV satellite dish, that is constantly rotating while sending out and retrieving signals. The dish has a diameter of 30 feet.

What does the equipment in the ball detect?

The radar operates by emitting microwave radiation (the same as in your microwave at home!) and listening for any energy that is reflected back to the radar by particles in the atmosphere (raindrops/hail/snow/dust/bugs/birds/etc.). Unlike your microwave at home, the radar transmits energy at 750,000 watts (compared to 800-1,000 watts in the average microwave).

Who uses this information?

Anyone who has ever looked at a radar image is using our information. Whenever you view radar online, on a smartphone, or on TV, that data is coming from our radar here in Chanhassen.

What would life be like if we didnt have the radar?

Radar is the most useful tool we have to monitor all modes of precipitation, ranging from severe thunderstorms with tornadoes to light snow and drizzle. By using the dual-polarization and Doppler radar capabilities of our radar, we are able to see signatures of tornadoes forming sometimes half an hour or more before they actually touch down.

The number of casualties from tornadoes would certainly increase, as lead time on our warnings would drop. Our radar is essential during heavy rain and flooding events, as well as we can estimate how much rain is falling in areas where we have no measurements of rainfall.

How did the radar come into play during the recent snowfall in the Dakotas and Minnesota?

The radar lets us identify areas where it is snowing vs. raining, and where the snow is the heaviest. We are able to adjust our winter weather warnings and advisories in real time based on this data.

However, one limitation of radar is that the beam of energy is always getting higher above the surface as it gets farther away from Chanhassen due to the curvature of the Earth.

Since snow comes from clouds that are much shallower than your typical tall summertime thunderstorm, the radar beam will sometimes overshoot the top of the snow in portions of our area (especially across portions of western Minnesota). We rely heavily on surface observations and observations from weather spotters in these areas, as the snow will be invisible to the radar if it overshoots the top of the clouds.

How many times does the radar spin around per minute?

We are able to operate the radar in different modes depending on what type of weather we are expecting. We spin it the fastest during severe weather, as we want the most frequent updates as possible. In its fastest mode, the radar can complete a complete turn in 30 seconds. However, the radar has to perform a separate scan to measure the precipitation intensity and another to detect the winds, so the fastest we can currently get data is every 1 minute.

No. Even if we lose power to our building, the radar has a backup generator that will keep it running. However, we routinely take the radar down for brief periods in order to perform scheduled routine maintenance. We always schedule this routine maintenance during periods of quiet weather.

Occasionally, the radar undergoes larger maintenance projects which are scheduled well in advance (rain or shine) to fit in with similar repairs on other radars across the country.

What work was recently done on the radar?

We recently replaced the pedestal unit on our radar in September, as part of the Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) performed on all of the radars across the nation.

The radar pedestal unit is the mechanical parts that allows the radar dish to spin and point up and down. The four SLEP projects are necessary to repair and update outdated parts of our radar (installed in 1995) in order to ensure its operation well into the 2030s.

How often does the ball need to be maintained?

The radome itself is pretty low maintenance, usually only needing a new coat of paint every few years. We perform routine maintenance on the radar itself regularly such as changing the oil to ensure the radar spins smoothly, and calibrating the antenna/dish/transmitter to keep the data quality high.

Does the cold weather ever impact its operation?

No, while it gets cold here in Minnesota, we have weather radars in Alaska that have operated in temperatures well below -40 F.

Why is it in the shape of a ball?

The ball is the protective covering, called a radome, that protects the spinning radar dish. The round shape is most effective at deflecting wind and hail from impacting the radar, as well as prevent any interference from the radome degrading the radar data.

How tall is the entire structure?

The radar is around 150 feet tall to the top of the radome. NWS radars are commonly placed on tall towers to ensure the beam stays above nearby trees/hills/etc.

What is the diameter of the ball?

The dome is 39 feet in diameter.

What is the exterior of the ball made out of?

The radome needs to be made of a strong, but light, material that will not interfere with the signals coming in and out of the radar. Our radome is made out of fiberglass, and is designed to stand winds up to 150 mph.

What does the entire structure/equipment cost?

A NWS radar costs anywhere from $10 million-$15 million to install, and around $500,000 a year to maintain.

How many of these are there across the United States?

There are 159 NWS WSR-88D radars across the U.S. and its territories.

Where is the next closest radar?

The next closest NWS radar is the one in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, 137 miles away. Neighboring NWS radars are also located in Duluth; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Aberdeen, South Dakota; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to the NWS radars, the FAA operates a smaller radar in Woodbury, Minnesota, to provide coverage for the MSP Airport vicinity. We are able to use data from this radar as well in our operations.

How did you get interested in radar work?

Well I can remember the date exactly when I first was interested in weather, April 19, 1996. I was all of 6 years old and a tornado narrowly missed our house in Illinois, one of 39 tornadoes that day across the state. I became fascinated with tornadoes after seeing the damage and news coverage after that event (the movie Twister coming out a month later in May certainly didnt hurt either). In order to learn about tornadoes, you have to learn about radar, so that is where my interest started.

As I went through college, I discovered all of the other ways radar is used to detect and predict different weather phenomena, including doing some research on using radar to study lake-effect snow.

After graduating, I spent a spring researching tornadoes with smaller mobile radars attached to the back of semi-trucks, called Doppler on Wheels. Our goal was basically to get as close to possible to tornadoes in order to study them, as fun as it gets for a weather-nerd like myself.

Whats an average day like for you?

There really is no average day, but as a meteorologist the main part of my job is forecasting the weather for our county warning area covering most of the southern half of Minnesota and west-central Wisconsin. This includes a standard seven-day forecast but also aviation forecasts for seven airports across our area, including MSP International. During hazardous weather in all seasons, our office is also responsible for issuing watches, warnings, and advisories in order to protect life and property.

Our office also provides decision support services to many large events going on throughout the year across our county warning area. From small community events to the Super Bowl and Minnesota State Fair, we assist the organizers of these events who request our support by providing daily weather briefings and notification of hazardous weather approaching the event so they can ensure the safety of those attending.

What else would you like to add?

Id like to promote NOAAs Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors initiative, where we partner with businesses and organizations in our communities to promote and spread weather safety and preparedness information. If you would like to work with us to help make your community more resilient to potential weather disasters, check out the initiatives website at weather.gov/wrn, or email us for more information at nws.twincities@noaa.gov.

Link:
All hail the weather ball | Chanhassen News - SW News Media

Avacta Group and cancer drug developer ADC Therapeutics SA have entered into a collaboration agreement.

The partnership financial terms of which were not made public will develop drugs combining ADC Therapeutics pyrrolobenzodiazepine-based cytotoxic warheads with Avactas Affimer targeting platform.

ADC Therapeutics will cover all Avactas costs during the project. The firm also has the right to obtain exclusive licenses to the Affimer proteins for clinical development and commercialization.

Matt Vincent, Avactas VP of Therapeutics Business Development, told us: The license ADC Therapeutics has from Medimmune for the PBD-based drug conjugates includes the ability to use that toxin with a certain number of antibodies and a certain number of non-antibody targeting moieties.

Through our meetings and diligence with ADC Therapeutics, I believe the Affimer platform was selected because of multiple factors: the speed with which we can generate human Affimers to designated targets in order to begin animal testing; the flexibility in formatting, such as to utilize serum half-life extension techniques different from antibodies so as to avoid Fc-mediated recycling that may cause off-target toxin release or to create multispecifics; and tumor penetration characteristics that can be fine-tuned with the Affimer platform.

Affimers are small proteins that target and bind molecules on cellular surfaces in a manner analogous to monoclonal antibodies.

The key difference is that affimers are optimized to enhance their structural stability. They are also more resistant than mAbs to changes in environmental pH and temperature.

In addition, affimers are also easier and cheaper to manufacture than mAbs. Their small size means they can be produced in large quantities in modified cell lines.

Dr Vincent told us: Affimer-based biologics can be less expensive and with less complicated manufacturing requirements when compared to antibodies.

He explained that, Production of therapeutic antibodies is generally highly optimized, but because of the limitations of the antibody structure two different chains with multiple disulphide bonds and post-translational modifications still can be expensive and time consuming in manufacture for use in human patients.

In contrast, amongst the various formats we use for Affimer therapeutics, including those likely to be considered by ADC Therapeutics, the product is generally a single chain protein which reduces the complication of production.

Vincent added that in the context of drug conjugates, we also think the relative stability of Affimers in organic solvents permits a higher yield of drug conjugate as the existing coupling chemistries can be harsh enough to result in antibody loss and decreased percentage yields of final conjugate product from starting materials.

Pyrrolobenzodiazepines are a class of compounds that kill cells by binding their DNA and interfering with replication. In nature they are made by a group of bacteria known as actinomycetes.

Research suggests pyrrolobenzodiazepines could be a useful alternative to cytotoxic payloads such as calicheamycin, because they are not cross-resistant with other chemotherapy agents [1].

In addition, they have a unique mode of action sets them apart from the tubulin binders like maytansinoids and auristatins that currently dominate the antibody-drug conjugate arena.

Avacta has already licensed the affimer technology to several other organisations, the first of which was Moderna Therapeutics in 2015.

And in January last year, Avacta agreed a deal with OncoSec Medical Incorporated, focused on gene therapies. A few months later the firm entered into a co-development partnership with Bach BioSciences.

More recently Avacta partnered with LG Chem Life Sciences, a division of the South Korean LG Group. The firm has since said the agreement could be worth up to $310 million.

References

[1] https://www.adcreview.com/pyrrolobenzodiazepine-pbd/

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Avecta teams with ADC Therapeutics on conjugates - Bioprocess Insider - BioProcess Insider

Day two of The Superyacht Forum will this year focus on the future of superyacht ownership. Findings from The Superyacht Agency have revealed a large generational shift in wealth that will result in an increasing number of 30-40-year-old billionaires. It can be argued that the next, younger generation of superyacht owners will be far more eco-conscious than their predecessors, in-tune with modern opinions and arguments along the no planet B theme.

Diving straight into an often-taboo topic, our morning panel discussion, The Future of Planet Superyacht gives centre stage to the sustainability debate. Panellists including a representative from the Water Revolution Foundation, will explore the needs, expectations and demands of future clients related to the impact our industry has on the earth and the oceans. As recently announced by British Marine, 2019 has been the superyacht industrys 7th year of consecutive growth, with generated revenues rising to 660 million, representing an increase of 7.1% on last year, according to their website. To ensure the industry continues to grow, on a global scale as well as in Britain, it must move with the times and provide the market with sustainable alternatives, which are already in popular demand, illustrated aptly by the ongoing development and investment into hybrid propulsion systems and other environmentally conscious innovations. This movement, however, cannot only be driven by owner demand, but it must also be driven by the industry itself.

Continuing the theme of sustainability, one of day twos panel debates, The Impact of Ceramic Coatings Solution or Problem? will address the hot topic regarding the life extension of paint systems. The topic is not one to be ignored and thus makes its way into our programme further to the arrival of various protective coatings entering the sector, which a panel of experts will explore in more detail, and consider the impact of these cosmetic solutions in order to understand if they are good or bad for the overall paint system. Finishes, after all, are not only one of the most visible and aesthetically vital elements of a superyacht project, but also remain one of the most costly and, at times, litigious build factors.

While considered by many to be an unnecessary evil, of particular interest to owners and owners teams is one of the afternoon sessions, State of the Insurance Market which will see representatives from Hiscox MGA, Lead Yacht and Willis Towers Watson considering what the future of insurance. After a period of market softening, that has seen premiums shrink to an all-time low, as well as deductibles, high broker commissions and additional coverage, the panel will explore the markets current period of correction, which has seen the market harden and premiums increase, in order to highlight why the changes have been necessary. Lay conception would assume that premiums move in one direction down. After all, if an owner has had a superyacht for 10 years and no claims, why should their premiums increase? Simply, the market, in its previous form, was unsustainable and without correction, there would be few underwriters willing to insure superyachts. In addition to the market itself, the panel will consider incidents and losses, exploring where the risks really lie, as well as looking at the ways that superyachts are changing in terms of their makeup and usage.

A unique group of industry leaders and superyacht owners, accompanied by their family and future flag-bearers, will discuss what they have discovered throughout their ownership, what they expected, and most importantly to our delegates, what they want for the future...

Day two concludes with what is set to be one of the most significant panel discussions The Superyacht Forum has ever hosted. The VIP panel, whose names will be revealed on SuperyachtNews over the coming days, comprises a unique group of industry leaders and superyacht owners, accompanied by their family and future flag-bearers, to discuss what they have discovered throughout their ownership, what they expected, and most importantly to our delegates, what they want for the future. Get your notebook at the ready and prepare to join us in Amsterdam from 18th 20th November here.

Profile links

Hiscox MGA Ltd - Yachtsure24

The Superyacht Forum

Water Revolution Foundation

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What will the future of superyacht ownership look like? - Superyacht News - The Superyacht Report

Gwede Mantashe missed a golden opportunity to revitalise our electricity sector. When he announced the IRP, the minister should have taken the time to demonstrate his willingness to be bold, decisive and constructive in ensuring South Africas energy security. There were four distinct steps that should have been announced, but werent.

First, the minister should have walked away from the pipe dream that is the Grand Inga project. South Africa signed an agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2013 to take up at least 2500MW from the project (roughly 5% of South Africas installed capacity), at an estimated cost in excess of R200-billion. But Inga 3, the dam intended to supply this electricity, has been stalled since the 1990s. Now the Congolese government are looking to scale down the project and the Chinese-Spanish consortium that was awarded the construction contract, are at loggerheads. And apart from the construction challenges, there are transmission issues too: to get the power to South Africa, the power lines would have to cross thousands of kilometers of foreign soil and be subject to the vagaries of various threats. We recently saw the impact of weather on the Cahora Bassa power lines, which resulted in extended rolling blackouts earlier this year. Rather than standing guarantor for this unlikely source of power, South Africa should be investing in domestic power production.

The second thing Mantashe should have done is to immediately open up Bid Window Five for renewable electricity independent power producers (IPPs). Renewable energy has been identified as the quickest and one of the lowest cost solutions to South Africas electricity supply gap the shortfall between supply and demand that has arisen because Eskoms aging power plant fleet can no longer meet the needs of our people, and our economy. Various reports indicate that the supply of electricity from new renewable energy IPPs could be brought online in two years, compared to the lengthy build time for other types of power plants. Renewables also address our commitment to reducing our carbon emissions, something Eskom is fundamentally incapable of doing.

Earlier this week, Mantashe told the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy that renewables would not be given preference over other forms of new generation. When we open applications for new generation, everybody will be able to bid for that, including renewable producers, he said.

Sadly, Mantashe seems to regard anyone who proposes renewables as a potential solution as a lobbyist for foreign technologies and companies intent on destroying South African jobs. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is not about killing Eskom or destroying our coal industry. The reality is that our country needs electricity to ensure economic growth. We need foreign investment to help create employment. We need to clean up our polluted atmosphere especially in Mpumalanga. We need quick fixes, at affordable prices something renewable energy IPPs can assist with. Mantashes ideological and union-based opposition to opening Bid Window Five is counter-productive. The stop-start process that has been followed to date has seen component manufacturers go into liquidation and investors pulling out.

Third, the IRP highlights the decommissioning of the Grootvlei (1120MW nominal capacity), and Komati (904MW nominal capacity), coal-fired power stations in 2020. Both plants are past their projected lifespans. But, in both cases, they have among the highest availability factors of the entire Eskom fleet at 89% and 87% respectively. Mantashe should have proposed further life extension measures to keep these plants active in the short term, to ameliorate the shortfall in electricity supply from the other Eskom plants.

Last, we would have expected Mantashe to make two significant regulatory announcements. The first would be a ministerial determination to allow those municipalities which have the technical ability and financial resources to purchase electricity directly from IPPs. This falls under Section 34 of the Electricity Regulation Act and is a direct responsibility of the minister. His (and his predecessors) failure to do so has resulted in the City of Cape Town taking the minister and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to court to force him to act wasteful expenditure that could be avoided if Mantashe was prepared to work in the best interests of the country, rather than kowtow to the unions and failed ANC ideology.

The second pronouncement that would assist our beleaguered electricity sector would be to ease the regulatory and registration requirements on small-scale embedded generation systems. This would need to be done in conjunction with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA), but the announcement and commencement of a dialogue in this regard would incentivise more South Africans to invest in off-grid and grid-tied solutions and thereby relieve some of the demand on Eskom.

Mantashes failure to seize the moment has long-term consequences for South Africa. Instead of opening our grid to competition and ensuring energy security from a domestic perspective, he has defaulted to the status quo, and we are left marking time, waiting for Eskom to switch the lights off. Again. DM

Kevin Mileham MP is the DA Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy

Kevin Mileham is a Democratic Alliance Member of Parliament and a Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy

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OPINIONISTA: Mantashe's Integrated Resource Plan could have been so much better - Daily Maverick

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Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) reintroduced Tuesday legislation is designed to reduce the nations nuclear weapons budget by $75 billion over the next decade.

The Smarter Approach to Nuclear Expenditures (SANE) Act would enhance national security and cut what they deem redundant and destabilizing nuclear programs.

The United States should fund education, not annihilation; that is our future, Markey said. We need sanity when crafting Americas budget priorities and more and improved nuclear weapons defies common sense. The SANE Act cuts nuclear weapons and delivery systems that we dont need so we can invest in the people and programs that will make America safe and prosperous in the future.

The bill reduces the purchase of Columbia-class submarines from 12 to eight, cutting the existing ICBM fleet from over 400 to 150, and trims deployed strategic warheads from approximately 1,500 to 1,000; cancels development of a new air-launched cruise missile and an associated warhead life extension program; and lowers to 80 the purchase of new B-21 long-range bombers.

These disastrous weapons will never be the answer to solving our complex and ever-changing national security threats, especially with a reckless administration in charge of the codes, Blumenauer said. We should not be investing trillions of dollars of our budget on an outdated and irresponsible nuclear arsenal. There are far more important programs and initiatives that will actually help and protect the American people. This legislation will put us on the path towards a safer, nuclear-free future.

More:
Bill seeks to cut nuclear weapons budget - Homeland Preparedness News

Canaccord has raised its target price for Perseus from $1.05 per share to $1.20 per share (current price: 84 cents per share).

() operates two gold mines in West Africa, Edikan and Sissingu, and is developing its third mine - Yaour.

The companys share price has outperformed most of its gold producer peers since August, which can be attributed to a growing recognition of its improved operational stability and a diversified production base.

has increased its target price for Perseus to $1.20 per share (from $1.05 per share) on incorporation of Canaccords updated gold price deck and revisions to FY20 forecasts.

Following is an extract from Canaccords research update:

SepQ production in line, beat on costs: Group production of 66koz was broadly in line with CGe of 68koz, with AISC of US$922/oz lower than CGe of US$1,022/oz on improved unit costs at both operating assets. The result implies a run rate in line with H1'FY20 guidance which at this stage looks comfortably achievable, in our view. SepQ operational cashflow was strong at US$30m, with cash and bullion at quarter end of A $179m.

Edikan - lower feed grade driven by mining sequence: Edikan produced 44.1koz at AISC of US$1,027/oz, vs CGe of 49.4koz at US$1,031/oz. Production was lower on milled grade (0.91g/t vs CGe 1.03g/t) and slightly lower recovery. The grade performance was a function of mining sequence with grades expected to improve over the remainder of FY20. AISC was slightly higher on lower production offsetting lower mining and processing unit rates.

Sissingue - beat on production and costs: Sissingue produced 21.7koz at AISC of US $709/oz, vs CGe of 18.6koz at US$870/oz. Production was higher on plant throughput (453kt vs CGe 380kt) driven by better than expected mining rates following successful implementation of wet season mitigation controls. AISC was lower on higher production, compounded by lower unit rates.

Outlook: FY20 guidance is unchanged at 260-300koz at AISC of US$800-975/oz, and is weighted with a 54% split in favour of H2. Our FY20 production forecast increases slightly to 280koz at AISC US$955/oz (from CGe 277koz at US$989/oz) on incorporating higher grades at both Edikan and Sissingue in 2HFY20.

Growth - Yaoure progressing in line with forecasts; mine life extension opportunities at Sissingue : Yaoure site earth works were largely unaffected by the wet season and progressed in line with plan. Contractors began mobilising to site late in the SepQ with full construction of the processing plant expected to commence this month. Targeted construction finish and first gold pour remains on schedule for DecQ'20.

At Sissingue, regional exploration at the Zanikan prospect has identified multiple mineralised structures over a strike of 500m. Highlights from drilling include 12m at 4.5 g/t from 60m, 10m at 5 g/t from 136m and 8m at 60 g/t from 80m. While early stage, Zanikan presents as possible new satellite for Sissingue, incrementally adding to the remaining ~4 year reserve life.

Our target price increases to A$1.20/sh (from A$1.05/sh) on incorporation of our updated price deck (2019-2025 average gold price +5% to US$1,548/oz, LT +5% to US $1,603oz; LT AUD:USD -4% to 0.68) and revisions to our FY20 forecasts.

PRU has outperformed most of its gold producer peers since August, which we attribute to a growing recognition of PRU's improved operational stability and now diversified (i.e. lower risk) production base. We continue to see PRU as undervalued on both an absolute and relative basis, and maintain our BUY rating.

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Perseus Mining has target price raised by Canaccord Genuity - Proactive Investors Australia

Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) has been given an average recommendation of Hold by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.70.

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Co upped their target price on shares of Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. KeyCorp restated a sell rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Sealed Air in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, ValuEngine downgraded shares of Sealed Air from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

NYSE SEE traded down $0.38 on Thursday, reaching $41.31. The company had a trading volume of 63,752 shares, compared to its average volume of 722,588. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.08. Sealed Air has a 1-year low of $30.47 and a 1-year high of $47.13. The companys fifty day moving average is $40.88 and its 200-day moving average is $42.86.

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.16 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Sealed Airs dividend payout ratio is 25.60%.

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SEE. Motco acquired a new position in shares of Sealed Air during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Doyle Wealth Management bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the 2nd quarter valued at about $40,000. CSat Investment Advisory L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. CSat Investment Advisory L.P. now owns 1,234 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Massey Quick Simon & CO. LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sealed Air in the 3rd quarter valued at about $96,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Sealed Air by 51.4% in the 2nd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 2,894 shares of the industrial products companys stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 983 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.58% of the companys stock.

Sealed Air Company Profile

Sealed Air Corporation provides food safety and security, and product protection solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Food Care and Product Care. The Food Care segment offers integrated packaging materials and equipment solutions to provide food safety, shelf life extension, and total cost optimization for perishable food processors in the fresh red meat, smoked and processed meats, poultry, and dairy markets under the Cryovac, Cryovac Grip & Tear, Cryovac Darfresh, Cryovac Mirabella, Simple Steps, and Optidure brands.

Further Reading: Understanding the two types of arbitrage

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Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) Given Average Recommendation of Hold by Brokerages - Mitchell Messenger

SUBMITTED EDITORIAL BY HYDROFINITY

Did you know that most hi-vis garments only have a maximum life of 25 washes, with many losing their reflective properties after just five washes? That means if hi-vis clothes are washed twice a week; they will no longer comply with current EN ISO 20471:2013 standards in just 12 weeks.

To ensure workwear and PPE help people stay safe and seen in challenging and dangerous working conditions, items need to be replaced when faded, torn, dirty, soiled, worn, defaced, or not visible from 300m, day or night. When hi-vis tape is damaged or soiled, it fades to a matt, dull colour. If its not reflective or shiny, its time to replace the garment.

Why do reflective strips fade after washing?

It is essential to maintain the cleanliness of high visibility garments. If they are dirty the visibility will be compromised.

Reflection strips are very sensitive to heat and chemistry, but most washing machines need high temperatures and large doses of detergent and other chemistry to remove industrial soiling such as oil and contaminants.

How to maintain long term visibility?

There is a solution for extending the life of hi-vis garments though. The Hydrofinity commercial washing machine - which uses XOrb technology can help reflective strips keep their reflectivity for up to 50 washes, doubling the maximum life of most hi-vis garments!

Rigorous life extension testing that was verified via a third party earlier this year, show hi-vis strips that were washed in the Hydrofinity machine had a significantly higher retroreflectivity score after 50 washes than hi-vis strips washed in a comparison washing machine.

The control sample (which was unwashed) had a retroreflectivity score (CIL/m2) of 346. The sample washed in the Hydrofinity machine had a score of 314 and the sample washed in the conventional machine had a score of 98 after 50 washes.

Mike Ferrand, managing director at Hydrofinity explains why the Hydrofinity machine can extend the life of reflective strips.

The XOrbs used in the Hydrofinity machine provide a gentle agitation which significantly reduces the damage caused to the high-tech fabrics and reflective trim whereas conventional machines tend to rely on aggressive agitation to clean reflective gear.

"Our machine also uses less chemistry and washes at lower temperatures than most conventional machines which helps hi-vis strips keep their reflective properties for longer. We aim to support textile service companies in reducing their spend on new textiles whilst reducing waste.

Case study: Georges, France

Hydrofinity customer, Georges, have 10 Hydrofinity machines across their five sites in France and specialise in the cleaning and maintenance of workwear. They currently process the outfits of 25,000 employees and have plenty of high-profile customers including SNCF, Renault Design and Air France.

Georges recently won the contract to clean the PPE of workers restoring the Notre-Dame Cathedral, this was because they can remove all traces of ash and lead particles whilst prolonging the life of the uniform. To read more about Georges, http://mygeorges.fr/

Originally posted here:
Extending the life of hi-vis garments - Laundry and Cleaning News

PRINCETON JUNCTION, N.J., Oct. 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MISTRAS Group, Inc. (NYSE:MG) has scheduled a conference call for Tuesday, November 5, 2019 at 9:00 am Eastern Time to discuss its results for the third quarter of 2019. A press release with the third quarter results will be issued after the close of market on Monday, November 4, 2019.

The call will broadcast over the Web and can be accessed on MISTRAS' Website,www.mistrasgroup.com. Individuals in the U.S. wishing to participate in the conference call by phone may call 1-844-832-7227 and use confirmation identification code 7277122 when prompted.The International number is 1-224-633-1529.Those who wish to listen to the call later can access an archived copy of the conference call at the MISTRAS Website.

About MISTRAS Group, Inc.

MISTRAS is a leading one source global provider of technology-enabled asset protection solutions used to evaluate the structural integrity of critical energy, industrial and public infrastructure. Mission critical services and solutions are delivered globally and provide customers with asset life extension, improved productivity and profitability, compliance with government safety and environmental regulations, and enhanced risk management operational decisions.

MISTRAS uniquely combines its industry-leading products and technologies - 24/7 on-line monitoring of critical assets; mechanical integrity (MI) and non-destructive testing (NDT) services; destructive testing (DT) services; process and fixed asset engineering and consulting services; and its world class enterprise inspection data management and analysis software (PCMS) to provide comprehensive and competitive products, systems and services solutions from a single source provider.

For more information, please visit the company's website at http://www.mistrasgroup.com or contact Nestor S. Makarigakis, Group Director, Marketing Communications at marcom@mistrasgroup.com.

Media Contact: Nestor S. MakarigakisGroup Director of Marketing Communicationsmarcom@mistrasgroup.com1(609)716-4000

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MISTRAS Group Announces Conference Call to Discuss Third Quarter 2019 Results on November 5, 2019 - GlobeNewswire

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) is scheduled to issue its quarterly earnings data before the market opens on Wednesday, November 6th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter. Sealed Air has set its FY 2019 guidance at $2.70-2.80 EPS and its FY19 guidance at $2.70-2.80 EPS.Parties interested in participating in the companys conference call can do so using this link.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $0.64 by $0.16. Sealed Air had a negative return on equity of 121.14% and a net margin of 7.84%. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.64 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Sealed Air to post $3 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

SEE opened at $42.00 on Wednesday. Sealed Air has a 1-year low of $31.29 and a 1-year high of $47.13. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $41.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.72. The stock has a market cap of $6.47 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.08.

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 20th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.52%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sealed Airs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.60%.

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Sealed Air from $45.00 to $42.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. ValuEngine cut Sealed Air from a sell rating to a strong sell rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Co increased their price objective on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated a sell rating and set a $39.00 price objective on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. The company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $43.46.

Sealed Air Company Profile

Sealed Air Corporation provides food safety and security, and product protection solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Food Care and Product Care. The Food Care segment offers integrated packaging materials and equipment solutions to provide food safety, shelf life extension, and total cost optimization for perishable food processors in the fresh red meat, smoked and processed meats, poultry, and dairy markets under the Cryovac, Cryovac Grip & Tear, Cryovac Darfresh, Cryovac Mirabella, Simple Steps, and Optidure brands.

Recommended Story: Operating Income

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Sealed Air (SEE) Set to Announce Quarterly Earnings on Wednesday - Riverton Roll

In a first for the sector, industry bodies Subsea UK and the Umbilical Manufacturers Federation (UMF) have joined forces to deliver a conference focussing on the new developments and opportunities which exist in the subsea umbilicals industry.

The global subsea umbilicals, risers and flowline market is forecast to be worth more than 5 billion by 2021 and the half-day conference, which will take place on Thursday, 21 November at the Chester Hotel in Aberdeen, will focus on the opportunities which exist in the growing sector. Ahead of the conference, a networking reception will take place at the hotel the Wednesday night before.A number of experts, including representatives from oil and gas super-majors and service companies will explore a range of topics relating to subsea umbilicals including project achievements to date, life extension and safety. Shell, Equinor, Subsea 7, Aker Solutions, Oceaneering, JDR Cable Systems, Fibron, Nexans, MAATS Tech and Trelleborg will all deliver presentations at the event.Neil Gordon, chief executive at Subsea UK, said: The subsea umbilical market has seen a massive growth in recent years, and it is predicted to expand and be part of a multi-billion-pound market. We have developed this conference in direct response to the number of opportunities which exist in subsea umbilicals and created a programme which showcases the latest technical advances and knowledge which exists in the sector.

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Conference to focus on the subsea umbilical industry - Engineer Live