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I found this comment interesting in yesterday's rns:

"The close association of pyrrhotite with the chalcopyrite copper mineralisation, suggest the Racecourse Mineral Resource is a reduced copper-gold porphyry deposit, in contrast to the oxidised porphyry copper-gold deposits, which are more common throughout the Lachlan Fold Belt in New South Wales. Reduced copper-gold porphyry deposits are known to have a higher proportion of gold in comparison to copper."

A bit of Googling of reduced copper-gold porphyries brings up an academic paper with the following title "Reduced porphyry copper-gold deposits: A new variation on an old theme" and the following abstract:

"It is a widely accepted fact that porphyry Cu-Au deposits form from highly oxidized ore fluids. Despite this assertion, several otherwise typical porphyry Cu-Au deposits exhibit clear evidence of having formed from relatively reduced ore fluids. These “reduced” porphyry Cu-Au deposits lack primary hematite, magnetite, and sulfate minerals (i.e., anhydrite), but contain abundant hypogene pyrrhotite, commonly have carbonic-rich ore fluids with substantial CH4, and are associated with ilmenite-bearing, reduced I-type granitoids. Based on a synthesis of theoretical, experimental, and
field data, a variation on the classic porphyry Cu model is proposed to explain the formation of reduced porphyry Cu-Au deposits and their relatively Cu-poor but Au-rich nature. The proposed reduced porphyry Cu-Au model does not contradict the current understanding of porphyry Cu-Au formation. Rather, it adds yet another variation on the theme of porphyry Cu-Au genesis."

Note this comment: "reduced porphyry Cu-Au deposits and their relatively Cu-poor but Au-rich nature". Sounds like gold may be relatively more important than copper in this porphyry and we shouldn't get too hung up on copper grades. It also sounds like our gold grades might be better than Cadia and Boda. Assays will be interesting.

@theiceberg it will take a bit of time for bigger players to come in as the story unfolds and word gets out. Based on the video posted yesterday, we are almost certain that the Commodity Discovery Fund is accumulating and has already bought at least $300k of shares, so it is starting to happen.

Interesting analysis CE. Grade is presumably very important for the economics of mining the deposit. E.g. you get twice as much metal from mining and processing a tonne of 0.8% versus 0.4%. The high grade core of these porphyries seems to be what people get most excited about.

@russell70. There is an overhang from the placing at 4.5p. It will take a little while for this overhang to clear and for the share price to reflect the value of the assets. Patience and conviction needed.

@captainbob. We weren't saying those were xtr's drill results. We were saying that Boda's grades were impressive at depth which bodes well for xtr given it is similar geologically and also deep mineralisation.

@montyboz. Agreed. All prior drilling of Racecourse went across the higher sections. Colin's brilliant move was to drill straight down the middle of the porphyry to see how deep it goes, and he hit the jackpot. The depth of the mineralisation at Racecourse plus the higher grades at depth at Boda make this very exciting. Bring on those assays.

CE. They are overlapping. See page 5 of ASX announcement. What they are presumably saying is that we have 65m of high grade, of which 25m is even better.

https://investors.alkane.com.au/site/PDF/fd1b2fbc-32f0-4fdb-8002-ff48b9316464/HighGradeZonesatBodaShownbyRevisedDrillOrientation

That Kincora presentation is fascinating on Boda. It's worth noting that since that presentation in July last year, Alkane have announced some more impressive drill results in December. It really highlights how the grades strengthening at depth. E.g.
65m grading 1.98g/t Au, 1.13% Cu from 799m
25m grading 4.43g/t Au, 2.59% Cu from 838m

https://www.alkane.com.au/high-grade-zones-intersected-at-boda-by-revised-drilling-orientation/

Fingers crossed same is true of Racecourse. Colin was certainly suggesting as much in his various interviews.

@cyberiachas
You've misunderstood the parameters. 2 million tonnes is contained metal (i.e. 400 million tonnes of ore at 0.5% grade). You do not need to apply a mineralisation % to that. The 3% you are using is the valuation the market places on value of the metal in these sort of deals - i.e. the market values the metal in the ground at 3% of sales value. This takes into account the cost of getting the metal out of the ground. Clearly the 3% is an assumption, as is the copper price, but it's in the right ballpark in my opinion.

@portal
You have not factored in the Anglo America buyback option. The way I think this plays out is xtr will drill out this prospect and quite probably also Footroot prospect which is on the same tenement. Once the have proved up 2m tonnes Cu eq of contained metal to JORC standard, they trigger the Anglo option where Anglo can buy back 80% of this tenement at market value. This will leave xtr with a couple of hundred million dollars (probably!) and 20% of a highly attractive deposit. Not bad for £40m market cap. The key question is how can they maximise the resource whilst minimising the dilution before they trigger the Anglo option.

CB discovered Sentinel deposit in Zambia in 2008/09 which he sold to First Quantum for $260m. Search Kiwara plc. Now a massive mine.

On the basis Solgold's market cap increased by hundreds of millions following Porvenir discovery in September / October last year (porphory, similar length of mineralised intercept) and Xtract are still only valued at £20m, I think we have a way to go yet.

Yes, look at page 10 of company presentation. They've gone from $26.4m debt-like items to $12.1m, plus they've done deals to term out a material part of the remaining balance.

I see from the company presentation in October that they were talking about post restructuring creditors of $12.1m so there may be an additional $1.25m of creditors compared to my post below.

With regard to creditors, from the circular it looks like they paid off $3.8m from the recent equity raise, agreed haircut of $1m, termed out $7m on long-term repayment plan, and need to do a deal on another $3.85m (see section from circular below). That would leave total outstanding payables of $10.85m. Not sure if there's any other creditors missing from that. In summary, the creditor balance is reduced and termed out.

14. Unsecured creditor plan of arrangement
Rambler has reached agreement with a number of its creditors to repayment plans which include
agreements to defer the repayment of approximately US$7 million over a period of up to four years.
Certain creditors have also agreed to a reduction in the amount of debt due to them in the aggregate
amount of approximately US$1 million.
Due to the effects of the Covid 19 pandemic, it has not been possible to reach agreement with one of
the Company’s preferred creditors, in the amount of approximately US$3.85 million. The Company
intends to work towards the agreement of a payment plan with this creditor and, should it not be
possible to reach a satisfactory agreement, the Company would seek an alternative source of financing
for this liability or proceed with a sale of non-core assets or a combination of asset sales and
alternative source of financing.

The reduction in capital is a legal procedure to remove retained losses from the balance sheet. The company cannot pay dividends if it has retained losses. This procedure has no impact on the business or cash flow. When the company announces the capital reduction process, it doesn't necessarily have to announce the dividend, so we may be waiting a bit longer for confirmation of dividend.

Ortus, I share your view because I think this makes a bidding war at the end more likely. From the July investor call it is clear Nick and Remy are focused on this part of the strategy which is great.

Ha. The favourite subject on this board - speculation over deal structure with majors. As long as it is a small stake in exchange for funds and technical help for next drilling season, and it still leaves open the possibility of a Voisey's Bay type auction process, I'm not fussed!

Another interesting one is Midnight Sun Mining who have licences in the Zambian Domes region also. They announced a JV with Rio Tinto in April this year where Rio can earn in up to 75% in exchange for spending $51m on exploration. To be honest Arc should get a much better deal because they are more advanced in their exploration and because that deal was struck at the height of Covid. Nonetheless it shows the interest of majors in the region.

Agreed, Sentinel is the best comp in terms of development stage. I think Lumwana and Sentinel are similar geology though (Domes region).

With all the talk of Voisey Bay, GGP and SOLG from Nick and Remy, I'm hopeful that ARCM will run a better deal process with more competitive tension to get an even better price for the assets than Kiwara did for Sentinel.