They're just being polite...Today 13:15
They're just being polite...what the company are really saying is that it's time to put up the money:
'The Company believes these positive results provide much greater confidence in the Project's economic feasibility in today's market and cost environment, and with this, provides a key catalyst for potential strategic investors to consider funding of the next logical Project phase, being the front end engineering and design (FEED) program ..'
1. The FEED program has been defined as part of the CapEx for the staged development. Therefore if the FEED is underway the staged development is underway. For that the project has to be owned and hence invested in. No investment, no FEED.
p.31, ZIOC presentation Nov 2019; https://www.zanagairon.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ZIOC-IP-28.03.19.pdf
2. The updated Net Present Value (NPV) has been calculated using a pretty harsh Discount Rate of 10% - (at the limit of typical 4-10% for all mining projects). That's the biggest discount Strategics are likely to get on any mining project anywhere. The Discount Rate is designed to specifically account for all the risks of a project, i.e. 'Congo'. The FEED stage of a mine development is tasked with mitigating some of these risks. A successful FEED program reduces risks, and hence the Discount Rate would be lowered, and hence the NPV rises. The Strategics would be expected to fund the FEED stage. If not then the NPV would be recalculated *AFTER* the FEED program when the Discount Rate would be lower and the NPV higher.
The company say as much in the RNS, '...the front end engineering and design (FEED) program to further define the Project's physical elements and risk abatement strategies.'
3. Thirdly, the Strategics are subject to NDAs, under which they received the full FS update not made available to us lot. If they want to continue to receive privilege information on which to base their investment decisions (info that we don't get to see) then they now need to start paying for it. After all the FEED is progressing the Staged Development via CapEx spend and risk reduction. If a Strategic doesn't want to do this then that's their choice, but then they are outside the tent and at a severe disadvantage.
Thus the company's '...to consider funding..of FEED' is just being polite in public.
Now the Strategics have to show their hands, and open their wallets.