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Churchill 27 - Quarterly update still due by middle of October as per Accipiter's post.
Dradrianc1 - The shareholders who read the RNS's and visit the MTL website don't think that there is a problem as they are seeing results that match what has already been forecast by the BOD. They can see how the situation has improved dramatically since the new CEO was appointed.
The posters on here that think that there is a problem are probably not shareholders. If they are shareholders then they should explain why they are because they clearly bought shares in a company that was is a worse situation than it is now (increasing debt with lower production and lower revenues) and weirdly have a problem with being in a better and improving position.
The debt will be paid down even quicker when MTL can start mining the higher grade stages in a couple of quarters and the AISC are also significantly reduced by the reduction in the mining fleet.
How is adding the additional costs of further exploration drilling at a point when low grade ore is being mined and therefore increasing the AISC even further beneficial?
Reefles - I'll repeat my answer to Lee from last week.
You seem to be getting logic and logistics mixed up. Logically yes, mine the higher grade ore. Logistically stages 1 & 2 have to be mined first while stage 3 is getting prepped for mining now access is possible. The spoil from stage 3 is used to fill the pit created from mining stages 1 & 2. Yes stages 3 & 4 should have started mining by now but the plan has been changed due to the illegal miners and Covid-19 and the plan is to now start mining stage 3 in Q4 at the earliest. The illegal miners must be gone from stage 3 now because that stage is now being prepared for mining. That still takes time.
It would seem that they are not yet gone from stage 3 so no blasting of the area can take place to allow the ore to start to be mined.
Q2 2021 refers to stage 1 area now being back filled with waste from stage 2. So stage 2 has to be mined so that the waste from stage 3 can be back filled into the void created in stage 2.
The following is from the MTL website - Runruno is a conventional drill and blast open pit mining operation. The space available for waste dumps in the mine is constrained by the short strike length of the orebody and steep terrain. Consequently, the waste material from the pit is currently placed in ex-pit dumps, with the pit being developed to accommodate in-pit dumping to progressively fill the mining void.
Also - Mining improvements
The new management redesigned the pit to put in a cutback, to satisfy the required factor of safety for the pit walls. This increased waste movements and stripping ratios from the original designs, however this will ensure safe and stable operation of the pit till 2026.
In addition, the original mine design had major issues with the design of the mine access. As previously mentioned all the mined waste gets placed back in the Runruno pit and thus pit design is staged, where material from a following stage is place back into the pit void created from the previous stages. Previous design didn’t properly plan access ramps from one stage to another and without the redesign and proper sequencing the mine would have ended up being waste bound in 2021 and thus the production would get shut down. This has now been corrected with the redesign of the mine wide ramp system and the mine will become very efficient by Q4 2021 with the waste mined to be backfilled in the stage 1 pit void, thus decreasing the amount of trucks required in the pit, lowering the overall cost base.
Finally, there was a distinct lack of definition drilling and thus the understanding of the mine reserves going forward. This is being corrected with significant money spent on reserve drilling in 2020, with more to be expected in 2021. This will increase the confidence in the mine reserves in the stages 2 & 3, with further work required in stages 4 & 5, thus allowing for better forecasting and short and medium term mine planning.
Gaddes - No it isn't what you said. MTL are not paying off any 15% debt they are only paying off the 7% Senior debt. Only then will payments be made to the Mezzanine debt which will then be 7%. At no point are MTL paying off 15% debt.
$28.6m of debt repaid in 3 quarters. How is that slow?
Reefles - MTL are going to be mining a lower grade area for the next 2 quarters so production will be lower and ASIC will be higher than previous quarters. Having paid $20.6m in debt repayments in the first two quarters the company expects to pay $9.6m in debt repayment in the next two quarters. 2022 should see the higher grade areas being mined providing an increase in production to circa 20k oz/quarter and a reduction in ASIC therefore increasing debt repayments. This puts MTL on course to repay Senior debt facility during Q3 2022 with approx $83m of Mezzanine debt to repay.
Davidsmith49a - MTL has paid $28.6m in Senior debt repayments in 3 quarters since the debt was renegotiated.
Gaddes - You appear to be a little confused. The Mezzanine debt facility will drop from 15% interest to 7% interest when the Senior debt facility has been repaid. Senior debt facility payments of $8.3m were made during Q2 2021 bringing the Senior debt facility outstanding amount down to approx $43.5m
Spaghettihoops - 500,000 oz of gold still to be mined over the next 6 years and you're whining because a quarterly report hasn't been published yet.
MTL are mining and producing gold and therefore paying off the debt, which is all that matters.
It's not really important if it was 15, 16 or 17 thousand oz mined or whether it was $9m, $10m or $11m paid off the debt. It's just important that it is happening.
Davidsmith49a - MTL are being charged 15% interest on the Mezzanine debt facility. We are only paying off the Senior debt facility on which MTL are being charged 7% interest. When the Senior debt facility has been cleared then the interest rate on the Mezzanine debt facility will drop to 7%.
Lee - You seem to be getting logic and logistics mixed up. Logically yes, mine the higher grade ore. Logistically stages 1 & 2 have to be mined first while stage 3 is getting prepped for mining now access is possible. The spoil from stage 3 is used to fill the pit created from mining stages 1 & 2. Yes stages 3 & 4 should have started mining by now but the plan has been changed due to the illegal miners and Covid-19 and the plan is to now start mining stage 3 in Q4 at the earliest. The illegal miners must be gone from stage 3 now because that stage is now being prepared for mining. That still takes time.
Gaddes - If you're not looking to sell your shares then why worry about the SP. Why would you want a steady 1% rise if you're not looking to sell?
Lee - Should see approx £26m revenue for Q2. Stage 2 is a low grade area and Darren Bowden isn't expecting to start mining stages 3 & 4 until Q4 at the earliest. If the illegal miners are removed tomorrow, stage 2 still has to be mined to provide the pit that will be back filled from stages 3 & 4.
Gaddes - If you own MTL shares and in two years time the company will be in a position to pay dividends amounting to £200m just from the current resource ares being mined (about 10p per share) then why would you want to sell those shares for anything less than that?
Reapwhatusow - Two things, first the company has just restructured the debt after the two main shareholders acquired the debt at a significant discount. The discount was not passed on to the company so why do you think they would allow the company to restructure, nine months later, on better terms?
Second, a rising share price only benefits them if they want to sell their shares. They are not going to be selling their shares any time soon. They are raking in millions of pounds each quarter in repayments and then will be receiving the lions share of dividend payments until all of the economically recoverable gold has been extracted from the vast unexplored land rights over the next 37 years that the FTAA covers.
If HSBC had acquired the shares there would have been an "x" in the box 2 next to "Acquisition or disposal of voting rights".
Shateholders name is Runruno Holdings Limited.
Just a bit of housekeeping going on.
Accipiter - The quarterly update has recently been landing a couple of weeks after the quarter ends. A debt repayment has to be made within 5 workings days of the quarter end and this payment has been reported in the previous 2 RNS's.
Accipiter - Definately stupid as posts regarding alleged holdings are contradictory.
Bunker - Probably isn't even a shareholder as fantasy holdings of 30,000, 50,000 and 60,000 shares have been posted for a total investment of £300. I've called out the discrepancies a few times and Spaghettihoops avoids answering them or posts more lies about shareholdings.
Spaghettihoops - MTL SP is up 300% the end of 2018. 300% up in 2 and a half years. Why are you saying that the share price is poor?
I repeat from my earlier post, "You have repeatedly stated that you have invested £300 and that you have 60,000 shares. Now you are stating that you bought high and are not in profit. Which statement is the truth and which statement is the lie? I doubt that you will answer that."
I was right that you wouldn't answer that. Will you answer it now?
Spaghettihoops - MTL SP is up 33% over last six months and gold price has fallen over the last 6 months. MTL are doing fine whatever the gold price does.
You have repeatedly stated that you have invested £300 and that you have 60,000 shares. Now you are stating that you bought high and are not in profit. Which statement is the truth and which statement is the lie? I doubt that you will answer that.
Spaghettihoops - You are utterly clueless. You say a poor show 6 months into the year and yet MTL SP is up 33% over last 6 months. You say you are more interested in gold price than AGM but MTL has no bearing whatsoever on gold price.
You have invested £300 here for your 60,000 shares so you are sitting on a 320% profit but posting on here moaning about things out of MTL's control. Why?
Davidsmith49a - It's only a loss if you sell.
Olderandwiser - From the Business Review of the latest RNS it states :- "A major undertaking actioned during the year was the peaceful removal of the majority of illegal miners from the Stages 3 and 4 mine plan areas. This programme was largely completed by the year-end however the responsibility for, and process of, removing the remaining small number of illegal miners now rests with the relevant government authorities.
Unfortunately, the Group's access to Stages 3 and 4 did not occur as early as planned due to delays in removing the illegal miners from these areas. As a result the Group was forced to alter its mine plan and develop a new access road into Stages 3 and 4. This new access road runs from the Company's waste area behind the east pit wall across into Stage 3. The Company completed this access road in early Q2 2021. These delays in having suitable access to Stage 3 has affected the 2021 mining schedule resulting in a reduction to the scheduled 2021 head grade, with higher grade material from Stage 3 being pushed into the 2022 mining schedule."
I hope that answers your question of who will move the illegal miners.
As for the role of the illegal miners, they have no role to play in the company.