George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
Thanks could you post a link?
@GTMufo I don't doubt that there will be costs in commissioning the plant, moving the tailings and ramping up production ... the REAL question you have not asked is "what has been allowed for in the JV budget, what has been spent to date, what contingency was allowed for and what budget remains versus work to be done".
My expectation is that the JV budget includes commissioning plus some contingency to fix early failures/issues and unexpected items as it is reasonable to expect some unplanned for costs. Anything after that would be extra as it would be cost of JV production or OPEX will include labour, generator fuel and so forth. The cost of digging out and moving the tailings will be GWMOs and not part the JV.
Any further expansion of the JV plant to stage 2 will require additional CAPEX funding from both JV partners which I would expect to be funded from JV profits or more likely standard business debt funding based on a business plan once the JV plant is up and running profitably.
Not everything will require equity funding via dilution which is why a profitable JV processing plant is vital to a small explorer transitioning to a small producer.
ATB APR
@GTMufo Quit with the rusty equipment line is is getting VERY VERY tired.
Unless you have not noticed this equipment is DESIGNED to be outdoors so some rusting is NORMAL and very unlikely to adversely affect its operation.
Muletown has run ore processing before as it is their site and their equipment do you really think that they would donate equipment which they know better than anyone to a 50/50 joint venture if it does not work??
Your constant mewling on (1) its rusty (2) they don't know what they are doing (3) they have no money (4) you know better than anyone else, is beyond tiring and repetitive no matter what anyone says you just keep repeating the same old drivel, provide no evidence or original thought.
No wonder other posters are rude to you!
WOW ... those are some big trades
ATB APR
Bottom line is we have had a 70% SP rise within last 2 weeks from 0.0362p intraweek low despite any background selling pressure. We have now had a slight pullback from historic downtrend line following 6 months of basing consolidation between 0.037 and 0.05 based on weekly closes.
ATB APR
Nice to see steady rise in SP on increased volumes rather than lowering SP on low volumes as we have been seeing for an extended period. If someone is selling down their stock than I'd rather they be doing it now than after licence news drops.
IMHO it seems that investors are starting to buy back in as we are much closer to a positive licence decision that would be very positive for the SP especially given the very low MCap. Bottom line we are much more likely to have a strongly growing SP than we are to get further modest SP drops
ATB APR
@JerseyCrew Your posts are appreciated, unfortunately as GCAT are in suspension with little substantive news bar a few tweets with pictures of mining equipment it is difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions
ATB APR
@GTMufo Typical answer from you when anyone calls out your poor or misleading posts, rather than acknowledge this you just move on with another meaningless post, wild assertion or half-truth.
When anyone tries to have anything resembling a discussion you just shut it down ... appalling!
@HH All the new/existing main copper mines in Zambia seem to be of the 0.4% to 0.48% but these are open pit at a HUGE scale so come with massive CAPEX.
The point I was trying to make was GWMO copper deposit is fairly typical for the area and "relatively" high by comparison. The current JORC implies 19,260t contained copper which is currently trading at $8,300/t. If you look at presentation page 7 you can see my point about a central undrilled area allowing resources (shown in RED) to be joined up and JORC considerably scaled up which may make it economic
ATB APR
@GTMufo I point out that our M2 grades are actually relatively high and point you to the evidence of this and then you say that they are "our grades are not that great" ... not great based on what exactly??? What does "would would need a partner to dig it out to confirm it" mean???? You confirm grades by drilling and modelling to give you a JORC resource. more drilling gives higher confidece results !!
Read the geology reports for M2 with the JORC results and how they calculated it. They are intending to use acid leaching which is ideal for these grades with relatively low calcium carbonate content and still achieved 90% recoveries.
Have you actually realised that the Muletown site is HUGE and setting up acid leach pads is relatively cheap CAPEX and the crushing mill could also then process copper ore via acid leach pads????
ATB APR
@GTMufo Please check GWMO website and you will see key Black Mountain group facts about deposit at M2 and surrounding area:
>Approximately 5,000 metres of drilling to date
>Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resource (JORC) of 4.3 million tonnes at 0.45% copper
>Additional Exploration Targets (JORC) of 10 to 17 million tonnes at 0.4% to 0.6% copper
>Total target deposit in the range of 15 million tonnes to 200 million tonnes
>Development partner sought
As I keep stating this is perfectly acceptable grade it is just they do not have enough mineralisation identified via drilling to be confident that there is more hence need for a copper project partner to fund drilling.
For example GWMO grade is HIGHER than nearby copper deposits as shown on image 2 of photos ...
1) Macarthur = 243Mt @0.23%
2) Ann Mason = 1.4GT @0.32%
3) Pumpkin Hollow = 500Mt @0.45%
4) Yerrington = 154Mt @0.23%
Also I keep saying that if you check the map at M2 deposit you will see 2 areas highlighted with a gap that was not sufficiently drilled ... it is this "gap" that will "join up" the copper deposit so allow the JORC to be increased with a modest drilling campaign. If you now layer on recent seasons soil sampling and geophysical surveys GWMO now realise that there is a good probability of mineralisation over a much wider area hence their 200Mt exploration target.
So (again) please check your facts before making inaccurate and misleading statements
ATB APR
@loads I would much prefer copper JV being done at "project" level where any JV is held in a GWMO subsidiary so a 3rd party can do a farm-into project and GWMO get paid and/or 3rd party pays for a certain amount of drill spend over a set period ... think GGP / OMI / ARC type multi-year agreement where GWMO ends up with circa 30% of drilled up asset at no cost to GWMO. All these farm-ins included annual payments so helping with running costs of parent company!
Any buy-out would massively undervalue GWMO so for me is definitely not preferred
ATB APR
@Goldgirl, yes my understanding is we have had permit to build plant, water permits, permits to extract tailings so just waiting on permit to operate process plant so it can be brought online, commissioned and start processing operations.
I also understand that the Muletown site was previously used for gold/silver ore processing so licencing should be more straightforward; tis is why Muletown have all the equipment and are providing it as part of their JV contribution.
ATB APR
@GTMufo Inspiring and insightful stuff you post "So why are they selling their holdings ? To reduce it."
Amazing, I'm so glad you are here to point out the obvious
ATB APR
@GTMufo Please get lost ... your relentless negativity and mind-numbing repetiveness is seriously depressing. It's bad enough sitting on a heavy loss without you popping up twice a day to criticise something without anything to back it up.
"It's rusty" ... yes it is second hand equipment from Muletown and sits outside in the rain & snow so it will get rusty
"Placing soon" ... Yes GWMO are explorers so by definition will need to raise capital to pay for stuff & the whole point of getting into production is to reduce need for placements by generating revenue & hopefully a profit
"stuff will go wrong and not work first time" ... no s**t Sherlock, it's called life in mining & exploration as its difficult stuff
ATB APR
Hi Kewben, I used their RNS OMCO JORC figures & assumed POG @$2,000
JORC data from RNS is OMCO tailings JORC "Inferred Resource Estimate of 31,000 tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold and 3.0 g/t silver in tailings associated with the OMCO Mine at the Olympic Gold Project."
Contained gold = 31,000 *1.6g/t / 31.1 = 1,594 oz
ATB APR
@Edgar Thanks for posting very interesting copper presentation focused around M2, M4 and Huntoon prospects particularly reference to getting investment in a project level to avoid diluting GWMO as a whole
ATB APR
@Whitebuffalo Thanks for pointing out my mistake ... calculations now rejigged & simplified using latest RNS below
Summary RNS 6-Jun-23
> Phase 1 JV Gravity Separation is anticipating a 50% recovery whilst Phase 2 chemical leaching expecting 90% recovery for an aggregate recovery of 80% via both stages when complete ie Phase2 recovers a further 30% of original materials metal content
> " Initially the mill will process approximately 35 tonnes per day and has the capacity to be expanded at minimal cost to 200 tonnes/day, once operating parameters have been established."
> "JV's aim will be to operate the mill for 70 or more hours per week for plus or minus 48 weeks per year to allow for maintenance and possible weather downtime. "
> "Plant capacity can subsequently be increased in excess of 5 tonnes per hour when needed with only minor investment and without a commensurate increase in operating expense."
>OMCO tailings JORC "Inferred Resource Estimate of 31,000 tonnes grading 1.6 g/t gold and 3.0 g/t silver in tailings associated with the OMCO Mine at the Olympic Gold Project."
>"Each partner has its own raw material available for processing which will be batch-processed and not commingled, except where the JV itself decides to buy in third party material and process it jointly. The JV will be a profit centre and earn a throughput fee from whoever owns the material being processed."
> JV will be selling gold/silver concentrate so expect to receive ~90% of metal price (assume gold=$2,000 & silver =$24)
Stage 1 Gravity Separation Throughput: assume 7 days/week & 10 hours/day operation
1) Initial @35t/day throughput = 35/10 * 70 hours/week *48 weeks =11.8kt/year or 1kt/month
2) Upgraded @200t/day throughput = 200/10 * 70 hours/week *48 weeks =67.2 kt/year or 5.6kt/month
Expected GWMO metal recovery (OMCO tailings):
> Stage 1 = 50% recovery implies 800oz gold & 1,500oz silver metal
> Stage 2 = 30% recovery implies 480oz gold & 900oz silver metal
Expected GWMO Stage 1 revenues (OMCO tailings):
> Gold = 800oz *$2,000 *90% = $1,440k or £1,137k
> Silver = 1,500oz*$24 *90% = $32k or £25.6k
Expected GWMO Stage 2 revenues (OMCO tailings):
> Gold = 480oz *$2,000 *90% = $864k or £682k
> Silver = 900oz*$24 *90% = $19.5k or £15.4k
Commentary:
1) GWMO have £1,162,000 of possible Stage 1 revenues minus extraction, transport & JV toll processing costs
2) GWMO have £697,000 of possible Stage 2 revenues minus extraction, transport & JV toll processing costs
3) Stage 1 processing of 31kt of OMCO tailings would take 31 months versus 5.5 months once plant upgraded to higher 200t/day throughput
IMHO the initial 35t/day throughput is impractically slow & uneconomic, but likely indicative of mill commissioning stage. The photos show lots of spare space between spirals to add more in parallel to increase throughput in stages & allow for maintenance by switching stations out not stopping whole plant.
ATB APR
Reprinted extract from my 13-Sept-23 post with all RNS data, %recovery, throughput & income calcs:
Summary RNS 6-Jun-23
> Phase 1 JV Gravity Separation is anticipating a 50% recovery whilst Phase 2 chemical leaching expecting 90% recovery for an aggregate recovery of 80% via both stages when complete ie Phase2 recovers a further 30% of original materials metal content
> "Plant throughput: "upto 5 tonnes/hour of feedstock but there is likely to be an initial period of lower volumes before the plant is running consistently"
> "JV's aim will be to operate the mill for 70 or more hours per week for plus or minus 48 weeks per year to allow for maintenance and possible weather downtime. "
> "Plant capacity can subsequently be increased in excess of 5 tonnes per hour when needed with only minor investment and without a commensurate increase in operating expense. "
So initial nameplate gravity separation throughput = 5t/hour * 70 hours/week *48 weeks = 27.4 kt/year. We know OMCO surface tailing alone is 31kt with Inferred MRE OMCO tailings = 1,600oz gold & 3,000oz Silver metal.
Assuming just OMCO tailing processed via gravity at 50% recovery implies 800oz gold & 1,500oz silver recovery at 90% value to base metal as GWMO will be providing a concentrate not refined metal.
Throughput @27.4kt/year = 2,280kt/month
Gold recovery via gravity separation = 50% *2,280kt/31,000kt *1,600oz = 59oz/month
Silver recovery via gravity separation = 50% *2,280kt/31,000kt *3,000oz = 110oz/month or ~1.5 AU Eqoz
Revenue = 90% *60.5oz *$1,900 = $103.5k or $8.6k/month
Note 1: Update to Jan-2024 as POG is circa $2k/oz >>> Revenue = 90% *60.5oz *$2,000 = $109k or £7.1k/month
Note 2: Residual ore can be set aside for reprocessing when Stage 2 plant is up and running to recover a further 30% of original metal content as Stage 1 only = 50%, Stage 2 only=90% so Stage 1+2=80% overall recovery
Note 3: Plant throughput "currently" 5 tons/hour which can be upgraded with no change in running costs but capital cost not stated
Note 4: GWMO also gets 50% of any future JV revenue from toll milling fees
Note 5: calcs above only use OMCO tailings as other tailings heaps have no JORC (yet)
Note 6: OMCO has JORC for 31kt of tailings, processed at 2,280kt/month =13.6 months of feedstock assuming mill throughput has not been upgraded
ATB APR
Stunningly good news with confirmation of:
A) Processing JV mill & plant build complete
B) Permit to extract tailings confirmed
Next Steps in order of importance:
1) Grant of licence to begin gravity processing ore for GWMO and other local third parties
2) GWMO contractors to start extracting tailings form wholly owned historic dumps ready for processing
3) Start gravity processing tailings (50% recovery expected)
4) Confirmation of first revenues to JV & income from gold/silver tailings recovery
5) Apply for stage-2 leaching process permit
6) Start Stage 2 leach plant build (50% > minimum 80% recovery expected)
ATB APR