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Hope you are right, just offering an alternative but objective view as someone yet to fully commit. Don’t like to put two and two together usually.

Let’s not forget the strong business case for a new mine, that is what will ultimately drive this investment foreword. The market cap is already of residual value, can’t get any worse, if it does, then more opportunity knocks. But development funding will get resolved and the mine built.

Didn’t mean to state the obvious, but many investors often don’t try to fully understand what they are buying into.

Best,

Guy

His appointment was not driven by NUI, the resolutions they were seeking were specifically,

1 appointment of NUI representative to the board

2 an independent investigation

3 the board provide explanation of why the payments that were made were permitted.

4 how bond proceeds were spent and current cash position etc.

Was in Phoenix best interests to have him on the board as someone with the practical experience to see Empire commercialised.

Yes, they have been in discussion

From previous RNS requisition notice recieved.

“The board of directors is in discussions with NIU regarding the Requisition and the resolutions, and if deemed necessary, will release a circular pertaining to the Requisition in due course”

So have NUI restored their trust in the new board who have, since the request provided all the resolutions requested? Cannot happen outside of an EGM. One of those resolutions was to appoint an NUI representative to the board.

Not giving away anymore than they need to at this stage. But I’m sure NUI are not happy to just brush it all under the carpet.

Hi RMC that really depends more on you own investment timing.

CB’s strategy since 2017 was to position in copper projects to advance them toward feasibility. If it were ever unclear as what the various cb companies were trying to achieve, a quick look on the front page of any of the websites would explain clear enough. If he didn’t follow his own strategy, then we would have something to complain about. These projects all have to follow traditional lines of resource development through early stage groundwork, sampling, mapping, geophysics, drilling, metallurgy, desk top studies etc which all costs money. How do you think that works?

True shareholder value will come when we ride the second wave on the Lasonde curve from development stage into revenue generation.

Guy

Not his only success, he also founded jubilee metals, also took it to its public listing and then steered the company’s strategic direction in platinum, which led to the growth that expanded the company to about £250m valuation by time he stepped down from his executive role to being a consultant.

The reason he gave for stepping down was that he felt his skill set was more suited to growing companies that were at an earlier stage in their evolution.

Two very significant successes in my opinion.

“Colin Bird may understand mining, but he hasn't got a clue about finance.”

He was a founder and became the finance director at Kiwara, he was instrumental in floating the company around ‘08 and getting backing. We all know what happened next 😉

If and when a resource at Red Setter being identified with the potential it can be commercialised. Once wishbone have taken the project as far as they can themselves up the value curve. One of two things could be a possibility.

An outside mining and exploration company with the funds could join forces in a JV with WSBN to take the project further toward feasibility. Or, with GGP scaling up their operations at Telfer and beginning to establish themselves as a strong mid tier operator looking to develop the hub and spoke model and beginning to act more like a major, they could buy Red Setter outright.

Mid tiers and majors will typically buy projects with good potential for mineral reserves, just to show them as inventory on their books to be the next ore feed. They are an investment after all, with sustainably higher forecast gold and copper prices to be the new normal, in ground value increases to lower the future projects economic cut off grades, reducing the break even price and increasing the NPV toward economic viability by just sitting on it as inventory.

There must be something at least going down on the other projects. The small mines are obvious priority through this year, I would say secondary is SK karge scale exploration , but as for the others, generally you pay a rent on the ground with a requirement to put an increase of expenditure on them each year so they still have to carry out the minimum requirement from their obligations under each of the licences, which doesn’t necessarily mean drilling. So nothing gets parked up completely.

It’s not what could go wrong, it’s whether we would be graced with an RNS stating production has started. Consider that when fairbride started all we got was a bit at the bottom of an alluvial gold update.

“As at today's date, Fair Bride production has started with the introduction of low-grade ore to commission all parts of the processing circuit. We expect that by the end of Q3 Fair Bride should be up to full commercial production”

I certainly would hope for a separate announcement, but would not be surprised if they waited to announce first concentrate has been sold so any start up issues would have been overcome by then.

Or it could go wrong……

You can’t not be excited about the project now, it’s all falling into place and down to the management team now. But the most important milestone so far is the MRE upgrade, providing the mines technical de risking, also to bring foreword by 5 years the scale up to phase 2.

With a total defined JORC ‘resources’ of 15Mt for H&G with 3mt of that for the Hope open pit, of measured, indicated and inferred.

H&G contains an additional 3.6Mt so far of additional mineralisation that is in the resource model, but didn’t make it into the JORC that can be upgraded through infill drilling to add to the Mineral Resource.

Plus there is material in the resource model that falls below the economic cut off grade for the resource, so was not included in the JORC. But as it falls inside the open pit shell it is going to be mined anyway incurring mining costs, but once it goes through the sorter this material will be upgraded to become economic ore feed and will add a further 1.3mt toward annual production bringing the strip ratio down.

Pre concentration working to not only reduce mass for haulage, but converting once previous uneconomic mineralisation to being economic. I particularly like that. This year, next year, it’s a much better investment case altogether now.

Just for info.

Looking back, incentivised options for directors and employees were previously granted way back in ‘2021.

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/PXC/grant-of-options-jxpqc7kom5hw0n6.html

“The Options have an exercise price of £0.50, vest 50% on signing of construction financing to build either the Empire Open Pit or the Red Star Silver Deposit, and 50% on the commencement of commercial production from the Empire Open Pit or Red Star, whichever comes first. The Options will expire three years from the date of grant. “

Issued in 2021 so have long expired so do expect a new granting of options will follow at some point to replace the expired scheme to incentivise and remunerate new BOD, employees etc

Shouldn’t change the investment case unless considerably more options are granted next time.

From a salaried senior mine managerial position to a non exec director which would be an unpaid position on the board I would hazard a guess. Doesn’t state he has retired from his role as mine manager.

But if so, shows there is some real confidence they can get Empire commercialised. His remuneration or reward, as with other board members paid or unpaid would potentially be through a share incentive scheme.

It states he currently holds no ordinary shares in the company but I’m sure that will change.

He certainly has a wealth of experience which is so important.

Thank you for the reply BP, when you say “to include the working capital gap,” are you referring to company ongoing operating costs. Eg wages, offices, associated market listing costs and fees etc?

Or working capital and associated costs relating to project development for eg up to revenue generation.

Would general ongoing company op cost support be more in the form of a seperate short term loan or likely through allocation of new shares?

Just so am clear.

I dont profess to understand the intricacies of corporate and financing. But one would expect a development funding partner to be satisfied first , that the company they are getting into bed with, have the necessary working capital (via fund raising) to fulfill their short term financial obligations before agreeing terms.

Or could terms be agreed prior to raising capital, final decision pending the successful subscription?

Just considering from a PR perspective to rally the market prior to any capital raise

Sorry Dafthat, didn’t mean to upset you on a school night. We all have access to the same information that has been released so rather than ask total strangers on a forum I would suggest emailing the company.

Where is that extra 1000m drilling going??

I heard through the grapevine that DL had looked up at the moon one evening with his binoculars and wondered why there was, what look like lots of disused open pit mines on the surface and thought that moon dust must be worth mining. After speaking to RP who told him that someone had told him that moon dust is an aphrodisiac and worth more than saffron on the Chinese market and can give men erections harder than Sheffield steel.

Working with NASA, part of Artemis 11 lunar mission was to confirm infrastructure was still in place complete with access road so when Artemis 111 goes back they can drop off the drilling crew to finish the outstanding contracted metres.

Could offering current stakeholders staged warrant options, attached to initial fundraise for working capital at or near as, current share price as a way of incentivising take up instead of having to incentivise with an initial heavy discount?

This one for directors and bigger stakeholders to dig deep and show intent.

What appetite do you have and at what price to subscribe to?

Might open a nominated broker acc and see what’s on offer. Currently still waiting on the sideline this might be an opportunity

Once a designated ‘access’ route is permitted, the actual roadway will be an unsurfaced track. Normal for remote Australian roads or haul roads. Gov grants are sometimes available in certain circumstances.

The RC drilling is to get through the overburden down to top of target depth for DD to follow on 2-3 weeks after.

RC drilling samples are not likely to be sent away for analytical content but samples are ‘still’ usually collected at 1 metre intervals but can sometimes vary to 2 metres. These are split using a riffle or cone splitter attached to the drill rig cyclone, producing a 2 to 5 kg primary sample. The bulk reject from splitting is retained in numbered bags for temporary storage and logging.

It will be the analysis of the DD cores that would be of more interest.

‘26 campaign is likely fully funded, as funds need to generally be in place to cover all the contractual obligations for the drill crews, on site geologists and assay labs etc.

Everyone seems to only think that a successful outcome is finding a tier one discovery. That is not the case, a smaller more compact open pitable resource they will still be considered a positive outcome. Grades are not critical on their own. They don’t need to find bonanza grades, it is more grade continuity and how close it reports to surface being the important geological factors. Add to that the very likely sustainably higher Gold price that reduces the resource economic cut off grade being the significant economic factor.

So it’s not about bonanza grades, it’s about what can be shown that can be economically extracted, finding gold in the right concentrations and setting that makes a project viable.

Big is best but it is not project defining.