Member Info for Jonah58

(computer glitch. sorry)...while Escondida does... as for Draslovka, they give us the opportunity to improve recovery rates from tailings at lower environmental cost, so it is a good fit for our modus operandi. JLP are not going to give...

A couple of points, Gray. First the cathode we produce is top quality and sells at a premium. The concentrate needs further refining and sell at about 80% of the price. Although we can smelt the sulphides in this concentrate at Sable (it used to produce sulphuric acid as a byproduct) it is presumably more economical to sell the concentrate directly to the market.

Both Seis and Gotreal have addressed your concerns about grades. Check out one of the world's largest copper mines at Escondida. In 2007 the grade for the mined ore was about 1.7%, their reserves are now down to 0.5% and yet they are still operating. Compare that to our waste rock grades Ca 1.5% and our tailings 0.3% to 0.7% (in Mufulira). Not too different? The only thing is that we don't have to dig our stuff up, while Escondida does. JLP are not going to give us the low down on the economics of this hitch-up any time soon, so patience is needed to see how it all works out. The fact that we have already embarked on a large scale pilot programme on site is exciting though. They would not be doing that unless good progress has been made.

Seis: Thanks, I stand corrected. The 3,000 tonne figure came from an earlier communication referring to higher grade feed. However, my figure could still be conservative given Leon predicts unit costs below $5000 with economies of scale and most forecasts put Cu greater than $9000 by the end of 2024.

Gray: You are right. The only thing I know of which is 0.3% is the cobalt in the Mufulira tailings. The waste rock has a much higher grade.

BT: I acknowledged you point in my post.

At average feed grades a 20 kt/m module will produce enough concentrate for Sable to purify 3,000 tonnes of copper per year. All in costs are in the region of $5,200 per tonne. Current LME copper price is $8380. I am presuming a 50 kt/month unit will produce 2.5 time the amount of copper, that is 7500 tonnes per year. This amounts to a revenue in the region of $30 M per year for an investment of about $10 M, plus, of course, the money spent on Sable already (this is 'ball park' figures and taking a pessimistic view). Now you either believe this is possible or you don't.

Todays posts have a ring of familiarity. They could have been cut and pasted with minor revisions from the discussion when the Sp dropped to 1.95p in 2020 when some of the people still posting on this board filled their boots. Plus ca change!

Hi Nelson. We must have some sort of concentrator at Sable because we have been producing copper there for quite a while. I assumed that we are shipping project M ore to Sable and using this facility until such time as the module is built onsite. The good news is that Leon says that even doing it this way is profitable.

No doubt someone will correct me if I am mistaken!

I always take my Sunday roast with a huge pinch of salt but, for what it’s worth, at the end Leon suggested the interviewers visit a module to see it in operation at end of March/ April. That’s pretty soon for project M and minimal delay for Roan given the holdup at SA ports.

Well, he couldn't give away any new price sensitive information, but there was new information Butter. Maybe you should have another listen.

It is all very promising, but I am not getting carried away yet! The GlyLeach technology has to work at scale and the economics must work out too. We simply don’t know if this is going to be successful, though I agree that the potential is staggering.

Thanks Mickie. I was wondering if they are producing anything at Roan at the moment. I’ll track down the recording as soon as it comes on line. Your input is much appreciated. I am interested in the reference to DRC.

Mickie/Chester did you get a handle on the current situation at Roan?

I have submitted a question about plans for a northern refinery but don’t expect a specific response. I’ll be on the M1 driving to in-laws. I’d appreciate some public spirited soul posting any nuggets. Thanks.

By manipulating the spread, MMs can make buys seem like sells and vice versa, because the algorithm just takes the mid point as the discriminator. Having said this, all trades are both buys and sells so I simply take these prices as an indication of the rough price shares are changing hands for. Recent fluctuations have been on low volumes and we should'nt read too much into them.

My guess, Chaster, is that Luansobe would benefit most from a module! JLP would buy the ROM and then sell the concentrate or process it to cathode depending on capacity at Sable and/or the eventual Northern strategy refinery.

I'm interested in your comments about DCM, Charles. I agree that a recent judgment went aagainst the Limpopo authority in favour of Cheetah and that they should retain the rights to the waste dump (which we have concentrated). I am also aware that this judgment is being contested and read somewhere that some material from Dilokong is still finding its way to Inyoni (sorry, I cannot give you chapter and verse of this right now). In any event, I do not think the situation is as clear cut as you make out.

Happy, copper production was only just short of guidance, and then we had to close down the front end of Roan for the upgrade, so I don't understand what is worrying you. I will get worried though if we fail to ramp up production from Roan or commissioning is delyed beyond the end of December. We should be getting some news about the timescale of project M soon, and Kabuswe seems to be dragging his feet about the sale of Mopani.

BT, you suggest Sable should be processing Kabwe material while it is not getting feed from Roan during the upgrade. That would involve processing zinc instead of copper. My understanding is that this would be a relatively easy switch, but would presumably take some time and we are expecting an increase in copper feed imminently. Also I don't know if the price of zinc would support the economics. I do have a concern, however, about transport costs frpm Roan to Sable, especially in the rainy season.

Good point HG. It’s alluded to in the link. Also good post Gotr. Your point about algos locking in prices is also mentioned. Recycling is not expected to pick up in the near future because cash strapped customers are holding on to old cars and scrap yards are holding on to their platinum in the hope of getting a better price in the future.

Https://platinuminvestment.com/files/419953/WPIC_Platinum_Quarterly_Q2_2023.pdf

Given that our core business is PGMs, I’ve also been trying to get a handle on what is happening to platinum. It seems that the automotive industry continued to take contracted delivery of platinum during the period when they were not making cars due to the semiconductor shortage. This stockpile is now depleted and platinum demand is expected to increase. The platinum investment council is predicting a deficit this year and next, and this was before China announced its recent economic support measures.

Of course it’s the Investment Council’s job to encourage investment, but this analysis combined with the fact that our PGM operation is profitable even at these depressed prices is a source of optimism for me.

Good reads Gotreal. We’ve heard the copper boom story for a while now, so it’s good to see that a broad opinion predicts $9000 a tonne in 2024. Perhaps there’s a silver lining to the Roan delay. Our upturn in Cu production coinciding with the upturn in price.

That's the point Grey. Project M is a 6 year life of mine as far as I remember. Quite a few of these opportunities are small outfits. One of the reasons Grimbeek was appointed IMO - he's interersted in artisan mining. There's a need to match the module to the rate of feed, the total amount of feed and the duration of the operation.