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eee's plan for an mre is very much flawed, and would be interesting to see what the jorc committee's view is.
as the rns states: a mineral resource estimate ("mre") is a measure of a body of mineralisation that in such form, grade (or quality), and quantity that there are reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction.
can anyone tell me how eee can demonstrate "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" if they haven't completed the processing test work? some people forget that a jorc mre is not just an inventory of the amount of titanium in the ground, in conunctuion the competent person signing off on it needs to be able to demonstrate that the "reasonable prospects of economic extraction". particularly tough when there are no credible titanite operations of any scale in the world to point to as examples. (oh - i forgot - there are some russian examples - reminds me of a joke: "what's big as a house, burns 20 liters of fuel every hour, puts out a ****load of smoke and noise and cuts an apple into three pieces? a russian machine made to cut apples into four pieces").
that will be one brave cp if they try too rush through the mre to help stop the sp from tanking, while the proof of extractability hasn't been demonstrated.
An education it will be…an expensive one. But look at the bright side - at least Sir Kneeler won’t sting you with 20pc VAT on a capital loss.
Wake up and smell the roses - and at the same time earn your pHD in “Titanite”. If you all cant see that this forum is crowded by a bunch of rabid EEE rampers…best of luck. Just go back at look at Manlord and Bankrupty posts over the months…
I hear that you get a free labotomy and a free “Titanite is Kryptonite” tatoo if you buy 150k EEE shares or more.
GTLA
I am making perfect sense.
Let's take another example.
Fortescue produce around 220mt per annum of iron ore from the Pilbarra.
That is the largest "economies" of scale type of mining operation possible.
It is highly unlikely that EEE could ever have lower unit mining costs than Fortescue.
Also, note that for Pilbarra iron ore mines there is no processing requirement.
Fortescue indicate that their "C1 CASH COST" for FY23 are USD17.54/t (note - that is not the AISC, albeit it likely includes some transport costs).
So there is no way PityDaFool is going to have a "mining cost" of $5/t based on any notion of "economies of scale".
And you guys need to start wondering how "soft" is the PityDaFool sandstone really?
Sandstones can be so hard that buildings are made from them.
The material will still require drilling, blasting, crushing and possibly grinding.
And that is before it goes into any type of gravity separation process.
Show me some alternative references or benchmarks before you tell me I dont know what I am talking about.
And for Oldslow - not, I have not changed my mind based on EEE's latest metallurgy disclosure.
In fact, it is even worse.
Think about it.
SB raised the GBP3m from the Saudi's after weeks earlier having said during an interview that EEE didnt need to raise more cash.
I suspect that the EEE board knew they were dealing with Titanite long before they told the market.
And therefore, as I prediucted, they did a "cheeky raise" in order to pay for metallurgical R&D from a mineral that has never been commercialised.
And some on here are saying "titanite has never been commercialised before because no one has ever found a deposit as unique as PityDaFool". What CodsWollop! No one has ever explored for titanite because it is deemed by the industry as of "no commercial interest".
And for all of you who are convinced that the acid leach of titanite is so simple...just look up a couple of nickel laterite developments - like Ambatovy Nickel. It is a different leach process, but the technical risks of trying to commercialise processing of a new mineral are far greater than you punters understand.
I sincerely hope that Greg Kuenzel & co have been dumping the shares that are held "out wide" on the market to take some money off the table while they still can. He was CFO of BlueJay by the way. Oh wait a second - I think I have seen this movie before!!!
DYOR
Andii
Wake up! You say: "Mining costs I estimate $5/t due to very favourable soft rock and from surface deposit ".
Can you back this up with a reference?
As "soft" as EEE say PityDaFool ore is, it is still a sandstone that will require drilling and blasting before it can be dug. Then it requires crushing and grinding. If it costs Rio Tinto around$20/t to mine iron ore in Western Australia...why would it cost PityDaFool only 25% of this amount?
What is your justification or qualifaction for coming up with such numbers - how do you drive them?
Shall we assume the rest of your figures are similarly derived?
Page 15
Funny, it reminds me of when Sirius minerals claimed polyhalite was the answer to the fertiliser industry. I see Anglo American wrote down that investment a further $1.7bn. Like Sirius, many will farewell their hard-earned to “money heaven” on this one.
Also interesting that broker Liberum seem now to be writing on EEE - and they were one of Sirius’ loudest cheerleaders.
Thanks.
https://shorturl.at/klu58
https://www.deutsche-rohstof***entur.de/de/gemeinsames/produkte/downloads/dera_rohstoffinformationen/rohstoffinformationen-47-en.pdf?__blob=publicationfile&v=2
try this link:
https://www.deutsche-rohstof***entur.de/de/gemeinsames/produkte/downloads/dera_rohstoffinformationen/rohstoffinformationen-47-en.pdf?__blob=publicationfile&v=2
As I have previously stated on this forum, mineralogy would be the stumbling block.
For all of those getting excited by EEE's RNS today - "in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is a king!".
Please do find for us examples of active mines in the world where titanium is produced from "titanite" or "sphene" ores.
Sad to watch this one, and see participants in mutliple recent equity raises hosed. An Optiva special, and the Chairman…well…what can we say. Suppose the only bright side is that former CEO Christian Wilkinson-Taylor, who owns about 7pc of the shares, probably got hosed as well…he own 3/5th of F’all now in vakue terms. Too smart by half. Divine retribution. Incompetence has a new Champion. Feel sorry for the new CEO - Mr Simonet. He caught a hospital pass from the Optiva/ CWT / “dead” Wood. Lesson learned to avoid this terrible trio in the future.
It will be all but impossible for EEE to negotiate offtake deals or project JV's with a major mining company without clear answers on mineralogy and a viable metallurgical process route. EEE will need to share this information with the market. Once that information is shared with the market and if it demonstrates the possibility for robust commercial outcomes, only then would serious industry players bother with the time and expense of due diligence. That's why I said in yesterdays post I think it trades side-ways for the time being.
The Indaba Crux interview was good, and great to see SB now bringing specific titanium mineralogy/ metallurgy expertise onboard. This is exactly what is needed. I called it - said they’d do a cap raise before providing the market with answers on the mineralogy. I also thought it would be in shareholders best interests for EEE to do the mineralogy and process work properly before throwing all the balance sheet at a drilling out a JORC resource.
I suspect EEE will trade side-ways for a while now. Successful resolution of mineralogy and processing route is not a given. But at least now the new team members can work through it systematically. It will likely take longer than people expect to see answers, and titanium in highly altered sandstones wont be as clear cut as simply identifying ilmenite/ luecoxene or rutile. This is why titanium is generally NOT extracted from sandstones, even though there are some sandstone deposits in the world where it is known to exist. I’ll be watching with interest how this unfolds.
Bath University - UK
I wonder if they have a mineral economics department?
https://www.bath.ac.uk/announcements/optimistic-thinking-linked-with-lower-cognitive-abilities-new-research/#:~:text=Research%20from%20the%20University%20of%20Bath%20shows%20that,and%20pessimistic%20in%20their%20expectations%20about%20the%20future.
Https://www.zerohedge.com/political/optimistic-mindset-linked-poor-decision-making
I dont understand this comment: “ If you knew anything about process development, business strategy or even Shaun you’d realise that proving a £5k analysis of mineralogy would not be something a company who is looking to become the worlds largest titanium producer / provider / supplier isn’t exactly instilling confidence.”
Demonstrating the results of a simple GBP5k qemscan analysis or similar, and actually publishing the detailed results to market, would be EXACTLY what a company looking to dominate global titanium supply should be doing. Any more elaborate approach than that is simply nonsense. I think there is a good chance EEE wont publish the raw mineralogical results, but rather some abstraction or potted summary that doesnt reveal the bare-bone facts. What the market needs to know before Pitafield can even start to be considered potentially commercial is:
- what percentage of the TiO2 assays reported is a commercial product ie primarily ilmenite
- what is the quality of that ilmenite - is it unsaleable like BlueJay’s?
- what are the liberation parameters of the ilmenite ie particle size distribution/ how to liberate it from the sandstone?
- what impurities might exisit in the ilmenite by way of intergrowths and inclusions of other contaminant minerals?
- what percentage of the reported TiO2 assays are unsaleable silicate titanium compounds or anatase for example?
- what type of yield of a commercial titanium oxide mineral(s) can EEE expect from the 6pc reported TiO2 assays?
D for Dunce!
Is SB a geologist or a metallurgist?
Can you explain the mineralogy to this chat room since you have been convinced after speaking to the Company? You do realise that if the Company has laboratory results regarding mineralogy and they aren’t releasing them to the market immediately, then that could potentially be a serious problem. I reckon mineralogy results, negative or positive, might be what some people deem “price sensitive” information.
I am an investor. Not an AIM Gambler.
Ha ha. They could have tested the mineralogy and announced it to market for a £5000 test that takes a couple of weeks. Why any need to go to the CSIRO? You only go to the CSIRO if there are challenges with the mineralogy. CSIRO is the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) - the Australian Government agency responsible for scientific research. There was no research required here - just a stock standard mineralogical analysis using any one of a number of common and well accepted methods. They raised £3m before letting market know the results of some routine and inexpensive analysis work.