George Frangeskides, Chairman at ALBA, explains why the Pilbara Lithium option ‘was too good to miss’. Watch the video here.
Shearclass,
I doubt whether this has anything at all to do with the RedT deal (why should it?). In the same period that BMN is down 50%, LGO is down over 40%. Are they affected by the RedT deal as well? Recent trading has certainly suggested that there is a distressed seller or sellers. At a time when the whole market is depressed, this can have a disproportionate affect on the share price and for a miner in these circumstances that is not a great situation.
I would suggest riding this out now but these market conditions to tend to throw up generational opportunities so be prepared to move on these when things look at their worst.
What on earth is going on with trade reporting on LSE and HL? I can't get it at all on HL and here it is just garbage. I would like to be able to see the trades currently driving the price down but unfortunately I can't. Does anyone have reliable access to trades for a mobile device?
I agree. The likelihood is that they will be directing all of their financial resources towards developing the business. That said, I do think that paying out a couple of million would send out a statement of intent even though it would only be a yield of 1%.
Repression,
Fortunate timing! I suspect that your gold mining investments will pay off over time but don't be surprised if they take a hit in the short term. Whilst it is too early to say that this market correction is turning into a bear market (20%+) it is indeed possible and everything will go down with it until the market stabilises and investors can view things more sensibly. If this is the 'big one' (and the markets are stretched enough for that to be the case, particularly the US which I consider the most overvalued market I have seen in a long time) then I would expect a similar story to 2007/8 to unfold with the gold miners rising the strongest from the ashes.
The AISC is not a fictitious number but is not what many think that it is! I understand that when investors see 'All in' they think it means everything. That is far from the truth I'm afraid and the most significant word is 'sustaining'. It is the amount required to maintain production from existing assets. It does not including development of other assets so a lot of expense will not be included in the calculation. You will note here that they have included a significant number of exceptionals that have suppressed the headline profit. These will not be included in the AISC calculation either.
Barondaytrading has bought into Shanta so is unlikely to view it negatively. He actually carries some weight so will want to present a positive picture. That said, I tend to agree with him on the whole. The key thing to look at here (and, to be honest, any miner) is cash. Everything else is irrelevant. Miners are capitally intensive so depreciation will be an ongoing significant factor. The fact it that debt/cash position has improved markedly and is likely to continue to do so.
Moving the VAT to non-current was always likely given the length of time it has been going on for and the fact that the company is run by accountants! It doesn't mean that they have given up on it. Far from it. I am actually more interested in the nature of the tax charges that "reflects brought forward tax losses on key mining licenses no longer being available".
They really have used these accounts to recognise every write down that they can.
Regarding the hedge, I don't know how many times I have written this over the years. It was a requirement of the debt funding that they hedge. In addition, they were coming up to a period of debt maturity and the last thing that they wanted was to be in a position when a downturn in the gold price prevented them from being able to make payments. That would have necessitated a call on the market at a time when the share price was suppressed. The one thing they did that didn't make much sense at the time was significantly increase the size of the hedge. That was unnecessary to achieve their debt repayment aims and amounted to a bet on the gold price. One that has backfired somewhat.
Has anyone got a decent link for trade data? I tend to look at this site for a broad view of the data and HL when I want real time but both appear to be broken currently (I can see plenty of trades on Google but nothing appearing on either of the sites mentioned).
There is a lot of obfuscation but you also have to bear in mind that there is more than one market maker and one may be on the bid whilst another is on the ask. Sufficient buying or selling pressure will get them to adjust their prices.
The only updates they have to give on company performance are the interim and final results. Quarterlies, whilst an industry standard, are not a market requirement. As such, they may not report anything significant until late April/early May. Should that be the case, I think it would not be unreasonable for investors to believe that this confirms that the company do not care about the share price!
Whilst I think that EUA is heavily overpriced (but may well get more so given the momentum), it is based on the fact that Palladium has gone through the roof and that it has an asset up for sale that is being marketed by a couple of major financial organisations. For clarity, I don't hold.
Not enough is yet understood about the transmission of the coronavirus. However, the fear is that transmission could be like influenza but with a mortality rate of 2% (compared to a normal influenza mortality rate of <0.01%). For comparison, the Spanish flu outbreak in 1917/18 had a mortality of something under 5% as I recall.
There is some reason to suspect that the mortality rate is lower than currently being reported as the progress of the illness is more suggestive of a less virulent illness.