I have been working in the recruitment business for 25 years – and the talent shortages we are seeing now are the worst I’ve ever known.

Many of the digital leaders I speak to say talent shortages are making it hard for them to keep up with the pace of change, particularly in cyber security and software development. This is a common picture across Europe, the US and beyond.

It’s not just tech, of course. The various and complex effects of the pandemic mean there are shortages across society. For example, in Belgium, if you’re looking for a cleaner, you’ll be looking for about seven months on average; some of our top restaurants are open only three days a week because of a lack of top chefs; and some students have been given a pass without taking their exams because of a chronic shortage of teachers to teach them.

Only about 70% of the working-age population is actually working. And of the other 30%, only 2.9% are actively seeking a job.

It’s tempting to say that the war for talent is actually over already – talent has won the battle. But in fact, there are a number of strategies that digital leaders can employ to fight back.

Copyright © 2011 IDG Communications, Inc.

In today's article, I'd like to provide a long overdue update on Gold Resource Corp (NYSE:GORO). In particular, I'd like to review the operating performance and valuation metrics from the past few years, then discuss the company's existing project and finally close with an examination of what is perceived to be the company's biggest risk, viz. its reserves.

Stock Price

Let's begin with the stock price performance. It's a little complicated, because at the end of 2020 GORO spun off its Nevada assets under a new listed company, Fortitude Gold (OTCQB:FTCO), with GORO owners receiving one share of FTCO for every 3.5 shares of GORO that they held. But generally, if you divide the FTCO price by 3.5 and add it back to the GORO price, the full company value has held up quite well.

Dilution and Valuation Metrics

One of the most telling statistics for junior miners is the rate at which they're willing to dilute existing shareholders. Believe or not, the chart below is actually better than typical for a junior miner, particularly since the company bought a new asset in Michigan (which I discuss below). But dilution is the first major risk to consider when evaluating an investment in GORO.

On the other hand, GORO has always sported relatively good valuation metrics, and that continues to be the case. See for instance the chart below showing historical P/E, P/B, and dividend yields.

Additionally, Seeking Alpha has a very positive quant rating on the company as well as generally good factor grades.

New Project - Back Forty (Michigan)

In 2021 GORO announced its plan (and rationale) to buy Aquila Resources whose sole asset is a prospective gold/zinc/copper/lead mining property located in northern Michigan.

Here are some highlights from the NI 43-101 report detailing the property, with my emphasis. (For those new to precious metals investing, the Ni 43-101 report was spawned as an answer to the industry problems highlighted by the massive Bre-X fraud in the late 1990s. As such, when they are available, investors should always refer to these NI 43-101 reports rather than just practicing press releases.)

Resource and Mining Method

Aquila’s Back Forty Deposit (“the Deposit”) is a volcanogenic massive sulphide (“VMS”) deposit located along the mineral‐rich Penokean Volcanic Belt (“PVB”) in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Project contains approximately 1.1 million ounces of gold and 1.2 billion pounds of zinc in the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resource classifications, with additional upside potential.

[...]

A Feasibility Study on the Project was issued in September 2018 that studied open pit mining and on-site processing plants for treating oxide material to produce gold doré and sulphide material to produce zinc, copper, lead concentrates. The value proposition of the Project was based on mining the highest value material as soon as possible and treating this material through the process plants to maximize cash flow.

[...]

The subject of this Technical Report and Preliminary Economic Assessment relates to an expansion of the open pit mining case (Phase 1) by proposing the development of an underground mine (Phase 2) associated with the Project after the open pit phase is complete. Before the open pit has been mined out, the development of an underground mine will commence to extend the life of mine of the Project.

Note that part of what drove GORO to purchase the Back Forty property is that it envisions mining a smaller portion of the deposit at higher IRRs and lower initial costs. We'll have to wait for new feasibility studies to get all of the details, but most likely GORO will be targeting less than the entire resource mentioned above.

Permitting and Development

The big risk with the Back Forty project is permitting. GORO management says it closely studied the situation and believes it can get through the permitting process by reducing the overall scope and impact of the project. This dovetails with the idea of only going after the highest IRR ore in the orebody. However, confidence is one thing, execution is another. We'll just have to follow along to see how the permitting process unfolds.

Personally, I'd like the company to slow play this development, while it builds reserves at the Mexican properties. Interestingly, during the latest conference call, the company had this to say regarding development generally, which kind of gibes with my slow play hope:

The economic climate has changed dramatically in the past few months. While we are comfortable with the guidance for the year, it is making new projects challenging. Across the industry, we are seeing projects suffer from cost escalation, as well as increased cost of capital at a time when commodity prices are declining. It is unfortunately a perfect storm. The duration of which is unknown.

El Alguila / Don David Gold Mine

The company's flagship property is the El Alguila Project, which hosts the Don David Gold mine (previously referred to as the Arista and Switchback mines).

The mine is an underground vein type deposit. It has been in production since 2011. Over the past few years, the company has milled a little over 500K tonnes per year.

As of December 31, 2021 the company estimates that it has about 1,485,000 tonnes of proven and probable reserves and 1,560,000 tonnes of measured and indicated resources at the Arista mine.

Based on this, the company has three years of production ahead of it, and if the M&I resources are converted to proven and probable reserves, then it's more like six years of production.

In order to appreciate how a deep orebody is exploited, in particular how reserves aren't known initially but are discovered as new underground drill sites become available, I've tracked the company's historical reserves over time. Note that on a yearly basis the comparison isn't exactly apples-to-apples because reserves depend on the trailing three-year metal price averages and a net smelter return which depends on input prices. Nevertheless, one can see that despite mining about 500,000 tonnes per year, the company always has had 3-5 years of production ahead of it. Thus, worries about a very limited mine life to me are overblown.

The bigger issue for me is that in the latest period, the reserve grades are lower than the historical data, suggesting that the company has preferentially mined high grade ore (which is totally logical) but hasn't been able to find equivalent grade ore in its exact drilling programs. This is a concern as it could greatly affect profitability going forward.

Note that in its most exact presentation, the company suggests that new drill results imply potentially higher grade veins and more precious metals at depth than previously expected, but until these results are incorporated into the orebody model, we have to conservatively use the grades listed above.

Conclusion

Given its low valuation (P/E, P/B, etc.), the Seeking Alpha quant rating and today's inflationary environment, I continue to hold my GORO shares and rate the stock a buy. I'm not giving it a strong buy however because I see two risks: grade degradation at the Arista mine and a possible long (and costly) development cycle at the Back Forty project.

If new -- positive -- drill results emerge from Arista, and/or permitting at Back Forty goes more smoothly than typical, then I will revisit my rating and issue a new update here at Seeking Alpha.

Noel Miller is a comedian at heart. So much so that when he recalls one of his earliest childhood memories over Zoom – the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles, which forced his family to move back to his hometown of Toronto when he was just four – Miller can’t help but close it with a punchline of sorts. 

“My parents thought I was dead. They were calling out to me and I wasn’t responding. Everything that was in a cabinet or a shelf had fallen over. They couldn’t get to my room right away. So as they were calling out to me, eventually I woke up and I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I had no clue what was going on,” he says with a smirk. “I slept through the whole thing.”

More from Billboard

Finding humor in even the most unfortunate life experiences is what Miller’s known for. From practicing off-base fan DMs to reacting to out-of-pocket TikToks to questioning the bullying tactics of Sugar Ray’s Mark McGrath with his Tiny Meat Gang co-host and collaborator Cody Ko, Miller is swift when it comes to his comedic timing. He’s such a natural, it’s hard to imagine that he’s ever considered another career path. 

And yet, Noel Miller is rapping. Seriously rapping. 

Since March, Miller has uploaded two music videos to his YouTube channel – which is usually composed of reaction videos and other hijinks – under the moniker NOEL. His following of 2.6 million subscribers are now also subscribing to the maker of “Rat Race” and “Pacemaker,” tracks where he spits over gritty production, detailing his approach to fame and other career moves with a straight face. 

As Miller explains, many of his creative ideas are in “stark contrast” to the comedy he’s best known for. On “Rat Race,” Miller flexes his business-savvy nature, tossing in some clever bars (“Treat this rap s–t like twins/ What I mean by that is I just had to”). And on “Pacemaker,” he runs through the sacrifices he had to make to get there, like sleeping on floors in 2010, and the responsibilities that come with financial comfort. 

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While Miller still sprinkles punchlines throughout his work, rapping in a non-satirical sense is a concept that fans of the funnyman are still wrapping their heads around But this isn’t a career pivot: Miller has been a rapper, far before his stand-up career beginnings or his first Vine account took off years before. 

Miller found meaning in hip-hop when he found meaning in comedy, he explains. With his father being a classically trained musician skilled at piano and violin, Miller was encouraged at a young age to try out some instruments of his own – none of which stuck with him. What did stick with him in his adolescence was music discovery on Napster and the call-and-request music video channel The Box, where he was first introduced to the lore of Cash Money Records–the New Orleans Universal imprint, home to game-changing rappers Lil Wayne and Juvenile. 

“I can’t remember how young I was, but I remember when I realized that Juvenile had gone to jail,” Miller reflects to Billboard from his Los Angeles home. “And I was sad. I remember watching his first big single back, they shot a music video for it. And I remember being genuinely happy, like, ‘Juvenile is out of jail!’”

Around that same time, the Toronto-born, L.A.-bred Miller stumbled on BET and Comedy Central, as he became familiar with stand-up comedy through the specials he watched on television. Before he even considered chasing influencer status, he spent nights trying to influence his friends that he was a worthy keystyling opponent – essentially battle-rapping them over instant messenger – and practicing rhymes over pre-made beats from his middle school peers. 

Miller says he only got serious about his education – which didn’t necessarily include asking his friends to send over beats – later in high school, and that he eventually attended the “only college that would have taken me” to study business. On the side, he interned at a music studio, worked for an artist management company, and was employed at Best Buy to make ends meet, his work schedule leading to many sleepless nights. Miller says that it all took place at a time when the internet didn’t offer much guidance to young creatives like him. 

“I ended up dropping out in my second-to-last semester. And I dropped out for a while,” Miller explains. “And at that time, I went pretty hard with trying to be creative again. But in that process, I went very broke. And I went into a lot of debt and I needed money and I needed a lot of it fast.”

With his first big pivot, Miller turned to web development and engineering. While prioritizing making a site for him and his friends’ production crew, he found jobs to get by with his self-taught skills. “Engineering teaches us sort of functional ways to work, like how to isolate certain aspects of a project and then to bring it into a full vision,” he says. “I think all that stuff helps with the peripherals to music, as far as executing it…  But you got to be right with yourself to make music before we get to any of that.”

In 2014 and 2015, Miller began to put together the pieces for what would eventually become a following of millions after everything else took a backseat with the death of a close friend. “I don’t want to name drop, but he just came from a very talented family. He passed and then I think weirdly, that put me off from making music,” Miller says. “I took a step back from being creative [for a while]. [But with] all these bulls–t jobs I was working, I wanted to be doing creative stuff.”

That’s when Miller says he decided to pivot to comedy. “I would try to shoot a lot of sketches with my friends and try to get something going there,” he says. “And then I naturally landed on stand up.”

Miller saw his star grow through Vine, where he eventually perfected the art of making 6-second videos, thanks to his breakout “skinny penis” clip. He found a formula on the social media app, and stand-up shows then became more of a possibility, with promoters flaunting his growing following of thousands.

“I realized that people on Vine were getting a lot of success just from getting eyeballs on them,” he says. “So eight years ago, I had it in my head, like, ‘Oh, if I create entertainment online, then that would enable me to sell tickets.’ That was an idea that was sort of laughed at back then.”

Thanks to Vine, Miller ended up being the one laughing – and he, along with his comedy ride-or-die Cody Ko, have millions laughing with them. As the two transitioned from short clips to tackling the YouTube reaction format with ease, they launched their fan-loved podcast Tiny Meat Gang in 2017, along with a satirical musical duo of the same name, which signed to Arista Records in October of 2019. 

It’s likely you’ve seen some of their biggest YouTube videos too, like the “That’s Cringe” series or their deep dive into the “Kombucha King,” some of which have earned over 30 million views. And you may have heard their music, which still earns them an impressive million monthly Spotify listeners, despite them having not released new material in over a year. “Broke Bitch” and “short kings anthem” clearly have some lasting power, with 47 and 60 million streams on Spotify respectively. But for Miller, while TMG is a fun detour, making comedy-tinted music was a lot more difficult than rapping with honesty and intention. 

“It’s always, in my opinion, a little bit low-risk. With comedy, it’s easy to sort of self-deprecate, or kind of cop out and say, if the jokes are bad, ‘I’m an idiot.’ It doesn’t scare me or make me nervous, per se,” Miller shares candidly. “But music – I think music, I definitely get a lot more in my head, because I’m still at a point where I’m still learning how to open up and be direct.”

That mentality helped Miller to come into his own as NOEL in 2020. Dropping his last name and independently releasing his first single “Motor Yola” and his EP Push later in the year, NOEL put the funny business aside momentarily and entered the world of hip-hop for real this time. He looks back at his earlier efforts as a bit less confident than how he sounds today in “Rat Race” and “Pacemaker” – both of which are produced by friends AMON and Spock, who he met online in 2017 and built a creative relationship off the bat with. 

“Noel is someone who always puts his best foot forward and goes over the top to push the envelope,” Spock explains. “Whether or not you enjoy the music, I believe you have to respect the boldness of the vision and direction… It used to feel like we were forcing anything out just to get something done, but now I think he’s let go of some inhibitions and is finally confident saying what he wants.”

Now with a small team of agents at UTA and an attorney backing him, NOEL’s solo footprint is only growing. Top comments on NOEL’s videos make it clear what his fans think of his latest offerings: He’s been called a “jack of all trades,” and the “whole package” for being able to balance as many artforms as he does, as some even plead for more frequent solo music videos from the comedian, who is sitting around 100,000 monthly Spotify listeners. 

While passionate about his comedic work, Miller had oftentimes shied away from allowing his vision for music to materialize, not knowing how his fans would feel about his detour into hip-hop. 

“For so long, I’ve made a lot of content that is just content. It’s things that service a here-and-now,” he explains. “But I think I’m at a point where sitting on [music I want people to hear], it’s not worth it to me anymore. People can engage these ideas the same way I do… I want it to be entertaining, but I also want it to be meaningful.”

Miller now admits there were nerves involved in sharing his two most exact singles as visuals, and certainly some with the other material he’s been holding back, but introducing his talents to new audiences, and his own audience, make it worth it. Even if the critiques can be loud. 

“People sort of interpreted it as, ‘Oh, why is he trying to compensate because he did comedy music before? And now he’s trying to go extra tough with this,’” NOEL says of some of the pushback he’s dealt with. “It really doesn’t f–king matter. With the way art and media are in general, you can do a lot of things. And you’ll probably find an audience within each category. And sometimes you’ll find you’ll find people that don’t even care about the other stuff that you do.”

NOEL is grateful that he could very well be introducing fans of his humor to some of the sounds he grew up on. But he still comes off bashful and admits he doesn’t think he’s at the point where he should be anyone’s introduction to rap, since he’s still relatively new to self-releasing music. 

While he lists out some of his own favorite rappers in underground heroes Conway the Machine, Boldy James, and Tony Shhnow, he’s unsure if he and those within his personal rotation will ever collaborate – although he does bring up the fact that Conway’s Griselda Records co-star Benny the Butcher has collaborated with Barstool, as a joke – but he’s willing to prove himself to find out. 

“Where do I land on the spectrum?” NOEL asks rhetorically of where he, as a YouTuber, would blend into the rap world. “Because I don’t know. I think the onus is on me to just show that I’m serious about it and put out some material that makes people feel like, ‘This guy can make music.’ That’s what I have to deliver on.”

Those in Miller’s circle, like producer AMON, know Miller is a hip-hop head at heart, with enough “extremely specific” knowledge to do the dance himself. On a track like “Pacemaker,” he plays that up by opting for some boastful bars about making money and his hefty work schedule, while throwing some religious metaphors in there to show how serious he is about proving his skillset. “I’d say most of all he is very self-aware and self-critical,” Amon says. “He has a very interesting story to tell, and it’s about time he tells it.”

And NOEL’s timing couldn’t have been better, since one of the biggest breakout stars this summer has been another creator-turned-musician in alt-R&B star Joji — who got his start as George Miller, the YouTube mastermind behind the vulgar character Filthy Frank and is just celebrating his first top 10 hit on the Hot 100 in “Glimpse Of Us.” So who’s to say Miller isn’t capable of being taken seriously now as well? 

“I admire him, because I think I’ve always approached things, especially with comedy, very literally – it’s very who you are, and experiences you’ve been through. It’s not behind a character,” NOEL says of his YouTuber-turned-hitmaker predecessor. “But I think it’s cool that George has been able to be Filthy Frank and create lore around these things, and then eventually transition into what is actually a very honest and probably true version of himself.”

NOEL hopes to be among that class of content creators who can make a transition into music – but with fans running up his views to about 400,000 on each of his exact music videos, which is standard for some of his comedy videos, his most meaningful art is seeing love. And he plans to keep it up, while still prioritizing his punchlines. 

“I’ve really honed in on who I am as an actual person,” he says. “And I don’t always think that’s even relevant to listeners – to be honest, I don’t think most listeners supply a f–k. But I think it’s how I can make music for a long time, because I feel like I’m being true to myself.”

Click here to read the full article.

PCMag names TELUS the Fastest Internet Service Provider among all major ISPs across Canada

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Canadians rely more than ever on strong, reliable Internet for work, remote learning, virtual healthcare, entertainment and staying connected, TELUS has once again been named the fastest major Internet service provider (ISP) in Canada by New York-based PCMag¹ for the third consecutive time. The award is determined by a panel of industry experts, and TELUS’ win reinforces the superior performance of its world-leading network - a feat made possible by the TELUS PureFibre Network, the largest 100 per cent pure fibre-to-the-premise network in Western Canada. Among all major providers across Canada, the testers at PCMag experienced peak download speeds on the TELUS PureFibre network of up to 2500 Mbps, and upload speeds more than 30 per cent faster than other widely available plans in Canada.

“More than ever, Canadians value a fast, reliable connection, and the consistent recognition from independent, third-party organizations, such as U.S.-based PCMag, reinforces the superiority of TELUS’ world-leading broadband networks,” said Darren Entwistle, President and CEO of TELUS. “TELUS’ wireline network has once again earned this top recognition from PCMag as our team, including our engineers and network innovators, have worked diligently to keep Canadians connected to the people and information that matter most. We are extremely proud of the many ways in which our wireline network is facilitating critical, transformational change in respect of health, education, teleworking, the environment and the economy. Perhaps most importantly, our world-leading networks are helping to bridge digital divides so that every member of our society has the opportunity to realize their full potential.”

As a global leader in sustainability, TELUS’ network infrastructure and investments are supporting the transition to a more sustainable future through the digitization of the economy, including optimizing energy consumption at home. TELUS’ world-leading wireless and wireline networks enable significant carbon avoidance by providing the connectivity required for millions of Canadians to work remotely and avoid commuting; access education, healthcare, and social connections virtually; and enable other businesses to take their workforce virtual leading to less energy consumption in office buildings and fewer commuters on the road.

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Since 2000, TELUS has invested nearly $220 billion in network infrastructure, spectrum, and operations to enhance the coverage, speed, and reliability of its world-class networks and connect customers from coast to coast. Recently, TELUS launched its award-winning Wi-Fi 6 access point with tri-band technology to deliver the fastest home Wi-Fi speeds in Western Canada, and new Wi-Fi Plus service to provide the most reliable home coverage. When combined, these two Wi-Fi solutions create the best work from home experience with enhanced network security and faster Internet speeds on more devices so everyone can simultaneously game, surf the web, make video calls, and stream in 4k.

This recognition from PCMag complements the many accolades TELUS has earned over the years for their world-leading wireless network. In 2021 alone, TELUS was recognized by other independent industry-leading experts, including Victoria-based Tutela and New York-based J.D. Power, building on an outstanding record of achievement with respect to network excellence. Notably, these awards are based on TELUS’ national networks, inclusive of both urban and rural coverage.

About TELUS
TELUS (TSX: T, NYSE: TU) is a dynamic, world-leading communications technology company with $17 billion in annual revenue and 17 million customer connections spanning wireless, data, IP, voice, television, entertainment, video, and security. Our social purpose is to leverage our global-leading technology and compassion to drive social change and enable remarkable human outcomes. Our longstanding commitment to putting our customers first fuels every aspect of our business, making us a distinct leader in customer service excellence and loyalty. The numerous, sustained accolades TELUS has earned over the years from independent, industry-leading network insight firms showcase the strength and speed of TELUS’ global-leading networks, reinforcing our commitment to provide Canadians with access to superior technology that connects us to the people, resources and information that make our lives better.

TELUS Health is Canada’s leader in digital health technology, improving access to health and wellness services and revolutionizing the flow of health information across the continuum of care. TELUS Agriculture provides innovative digital solutions throughout the agriculture value chain, supporting better food outcomes from improved agri-business data insights and processes. TELUS International (TSX and NYSE: TIXT) is a leading digital customer experience innovator that designs, builds, and delivers next-generation solutions, including AI and content moderation, for global and disruptive brands across high-growth industry verticals, including tech and games, communications and media and ecommerce and FinTech. TELUS and TELUS International operate in 28 countries around the world.

Driven by our determination and vision to connect all citizens for good, our deeply meaningful and enduring philosophy to supply where we live has inspired TELUS, our team members and retirees to contribute more than $900 million, in cash, in-kind contributions, time and programs, and 1.8 million days of service since 2000. This unprecedented generosity and unparalleled volunteerism have made TELUS the most giving company in the world. Together, let’s make the future friendly.

For more information about TELUS, please visit telus.com, follow us @TELUSNews on Twitter and @Darren_Entwistle on Instagram.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Chelsey Rajzer
TELUS Public Relations
chelsey.rajzer@telus.com

¹ Based on a national average of the PCMag Speed Index that compares major Canadian ISPs using 281,952 tests conducted between June 1, 2021 and June 7, 2022. Reproduced with permission. © 2022 Ziff Davis, LLC. All Rights Reserved.