Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Personally TC I am also negative on the FTSE. So may of the companies are still valued the same as they were in Sept / Oct and so much has changed since then. On EPS they look expensive, on book value they look expensive, on dividend yields they look expensive and ROCE will be an interesting one to look back on in 12 months time.
That said, I am generally a value investor and will buy cheap to hold for a number of years so have bought a number of companies since the lows and will continue to do so. But finding the ones that have good liquidity and strong balance sheets today that will also be strong in 3-6 months time is difficult. Whilst my horizon is years the next 6 months will see serious erosion of so many balance sheets and that makes buying at a discount to future book value very important. Earnings will be down, demand will be down and debt will be high - not the best combination for a market - probably the reason why Warren Buffet and Charlie Munger are sitting on the sidelines.
MM - as you can see from my post below about JLP that GLR obtaining warrant money is a possibility but of course not a given and until we have notification otherwise it remains not a given. Personally i hope that it does happen and that is for the GLR BB.
My post was more to do with a comment below about JLP treading water until GLR news arrives which is pretty much irrelevant to JLP. JLP will develop the Zinc circuit to meet their timescales and IMO those timescales will be delayed. Even if they were not delayed then there will be the proving of the circuit and a ramp up - I am not expecting much Zinc Conc to come out before the end of the year and if prices don't improve then it will be a very slow ramp up indeed. We do not yet know what margin JLP are making from Copper and Cobalt but we can summise that the front end processes are shared with all metal groups so JLP will prioritise the higher margin metals - I cannot see that being Zinc at anything below $2250 per tonne.
Just my view.
Yes we do seem to be treading water somewhat, which is OK in the current market. The last update still showed good progress - I wish they would start adding copper and cobalt into the numbers since we must be generating cash from that now, if not then we are stockpiling a good asset. I have held back predicting this years financials until the market stabilizes but it is certainly better than last years on a like for like basis - too difficult to take a view on the exceptions yet but my gut feeling is EPS will still be way ahead of last year.
In terms of GLR (I hold both), I don't think it will make much difference to JLP at the moment. the Znc circuit is not ready yet and with current Zn Conc prices I struggle to see much value in pushing it too hard - personally I think the circuit will be delayed not just due to Covid 19 but due to market prices. Not too much short term affect on JLP but I do worry that a CB GLR special is coming i.e. a placing. If the Zn circuit is delayed then that means no cash for GLR unless the warrants are taken up which I think will only happen at the moment if they are presold into the market which would cause a drag on the SP but would give GLR vital cash that they need. In that instance it is good for JLP since GLR becomes more stable.
Time will tell of course !
Let me know your thoughts when you have digested it Gavster - I have only skimmed it.
I presume it will be used to firm up some of the resource to assists in getting JV money in or a sale. Underground drilling at or close to the seam is the most highly valued & useful for resource estimates. Most of GAL's resources are in the inferred category so moving some to the measured and indicated will enhance the value of the company.
It also of course defines the parameters of the mine allowing mining to be more efficient with less waste.
Hi Gavster,
It's on Gal's website - link below.
https://www.galantas.com/assets/cfb652cff9/FINAL-REPORT-ON-MINERALISATION-APRIL-28TH-v3.pdf
Well it does show that the company did not have the necessary protocols in place to begin with, which is far from what we thought. However, no point looking back only forward and this is the first piece of positive news for a long time. Whether we go it alone, have a JV or sell outright the blasting was the critical point.
I am not sure there is a need for a fire sale, with gold at a good price, Roland holding a large chunk of shares and very little liquidity required to get this going then in theory a fire sale is not required. The downside of course is the market cap but it would be difficult to accumulate sufficient shares to take a controlling stake at the disadvantage of existing shareholders. Sure they could buy out Ross Beaty but that does not affect us and would mean the company doing it would need to invest in Galantas to sure it up.
For the first time in a while there is a glimmer of hope and I remain cautiously optimistic.
Just checked Kalan - you are correct, my mistake. Perhaps CB was not economical with the truth afterall !!
Hi Kalan. Your previous post on the license was my understanding and somewhat different to the general consensus. There is already a large scale mining license in place granted to EPL a subsidiary of BMR. From a Govt perspective, changing to that to a small scale license should be a formality and should already have the "agreement" of the locals. The complications are more likely the BMR/JLP/GLR process but with CB sat on the board of all and BMR needing JLP in order to have a financial gain I am sure they will get resolved - most likely at the last minute with all parties trying to gain as much as possible. TBTT & BMReward have a far better grasp than I on the complicated nature of this 3 way arrangement (excluding subsidiaries and the Govt).
I think it has to be getting very close, possibly some final negotiations taking place due to the price of Zinc. The cynic in me would say the intraday 38% gain in GLR to 0.58 recently was a bit of a test of the volume before the real story unfolds. Without news I don't expect it to get above 0.60 that is a warrant point which may be future sold into the market if volume exists for the MM's to clear them - but perhaps i am too cynical !! I have quite a few GLR now and my number is much higher than 0.6.
0.55 to buy on H-L. Looking good for something happening.
I think you have answered my question then LK - not invested and part of the anti-mining brigade.
Nothing else needs to be added !
LK - well I did post quite a long reply to you but LSE went down before it appeared - so here is the abbreviated version ! Your analogy of the Titanic is interesting but unlike the Titanic Galantas has merely scrapped the iceburg. Sure it faces challenges ahead but and it's course is now longer and different but ultimately it will reach its destination. Where there is value and profit, it will materialise and the issues with PSNI will be nothing more than another hurdle in the path.
I wish we could post pictures on here since then I could send a photo of most likely the vein that you have looked at. Of course it is grey/black in nature - at 4g/T gold most of the material is rock but the quartz structure of the vein is visible. The mine manager is very competent so I am not sure what your point is - unless you believe that the gold does not exist, the reports are falsified and it is all fantasy?
May I ask your position here? You have some valid points and are clearly a knowledgeable person and yet in earlier posts you referred to investors as fools who wish to lose their money. Are you invested here? If not then posting on boards where you have no investment usually means that you have an agenda that differs from the interests of shareholders.
You are entitled to your views of course.
At the end of the day all investors are not happy with Galantas. Yes the Mgt could have been better and the communication / PR has been shocking. I think the issue with PSNI came as a bit of a surprise although again maybe better Mgt could have foretold issues. However, we are where we are and whether this takes 6 months to get resolved or 3 years in my view it will get resolved. Hopefully costs remain low so dilution remains minimal and then we can all make a return on our investment.
Well Gavster some good questions and for LK505 - yes to all. I have emailed RP, I have spoken to him and I have visited all levels within the mine, seen the gold in the faces and seen the mill in operation. I have also contacted PSNI - not much response there but alas for them they have to respond adequately.
I put the chances at 95/5 within GAL's favour, the only real questions are how long will it take to get PSNI approval and what do you do in the meantime - mothball the site, continue with a reduced workforce (there is still underground drilling to be done to expand the resource), partner / sell to others with deeper pockets / more political influence.
But Gavster, I certainly agree with you that the PR has been shocking.
If I was Leon I would not be buying shares and would have bought zero up until now. Why would I - I have options available that I don't need to take up until 1 day before expiry and sure as eggs are eggs I will have further options come onto the table against future performance. The options are in the bank for Leon no need to take them until he has too - use the cash elsewhere.
He is doing a good job delivering projects and delivering profit increases year on year - the fact that the SP has dipped in the short term will be of no concern to him whatsoever - it is only a concern for those interested in selling in the short term. For those looking at the long term and buying then it is an opportunity.
Hi LB, Melquart are on companies house. They are a private investment company comprising of two family individuals with circa £38m in investments. It is interesting that they will now have a controlling stake, for a long time there have been others that have had a larger shareholding than Roland but never a controlling stake. I must admit every time I see an RNS from Roland I now cringe - I am not sure if he sits there and says to himself " I have something to say, how can I make it sound really boring and negative" and we then have to suffer the effects on the SP. With Melquart having a controlling interest they will now be in a position to do something about it and since they have a good sum invested they have a vested interest in doing so.
I have been buying from 4.10 down and will continue to do so - almost back to my previous full strength. Managed to buy some today at 4.01 & 4.0. Anything circa 4p is a good buying opportunity IMO and below that - how many can I get !!
News is probably quiet until Mid January so not expecting any fireworks soon.
Hi Kalan - just for clarity I posted that it may drop to 3.7p and 3.5p but I would be surprised it it went that low. Perhaps like you I am a believer that a placing price usually gets challenged at some time within the first 6 months but it very much depends upon news flow. My view is that JLP stepped up the news flow before the year end and it will settle down a little now at which point the SP will drift about a bit and hit sub 4p. Of course, tomorrow a big RNS could drop and catapault the SP forward - that is always the risk so the safe bet is just to sit and wait. However, I am not expecting fireworks this side of the New Year.
Longer term all looks good - the first 6 months of next year should be a very interesting time to be in JLP.
We just need to let this one play out. The spread is at 40% which says to me the MM's are pretty much closed for business. Once Galantas resume then the spread will go back to it's normal range and the SP will move up solely because of that - of course a long way shy of where we need it to be but I think either a sale or JV funding is on the cards rather than a dilution at these prices. In terms of taking the company private Roland only owns 15% of the shares so he does not have the weight to do it on his own - I personally don't believe that is on the agenda.
Thanks Oddbod,
For what it's worth these are CB's numbers from GLR on costings - this excludes dig and transport as well as variable overheads - I suggest that these came from BMR originally. These are for Zinc Conc by the way. I would suggest that Copper costs will be higher due to Copper Cathode but and also due to the lower copper grades, we will as well of course only be doing 3rd party Ore as well with copper.
· Milling - 11 $/t ore
· Leaching - 125 $/t ore
· Precipitation - 640 $/t zinc produced
· Process recovery - 91 %
· Zn precipitate - 60%
If you put that into a spreadsheet on 8500T per year I make it a cost per T of Zn Conc of $1,611. A reasonable margin but maybe less than we expect since we know that the Zn needs to enriched with 3rd party Ore.
I do agree with Edzi that there are far too many unknowns to do anything meaningful but we have to start somewhere so a few conservative numbers into the P&L forecast is better than nothing.
Thanks Jammer - great knowledge and insight by the way.
I won't be attending the AGM, 6th Dec is a surprise night away at a Spa from my GF - not so much a surprise now since I said I was booking train tickets to London on the 6th and she had to tell me !! So somebody else will have to ask the questions, pity I was quite looking forward to going!
That said I found this from the RNS on March 28th when JLP announced the full Kabwe deal:
"Jubilee has already secured Zambian ministerial approval for the transaction. The Minister also waived previous conditions placed on the Kabwe mining licences. "
Whether that means waived the license completely or just waived some specific conditions, potentially the renewal dates I do not know. LC is a clever chap and CB is a wily chap so I would be surprised if they left something so important on the table......
Hi Jammer - can you expand on the point? I am not to familiar with the BMR/Kabwe history and apart from remembering somewhere that the Zambian ministers waived some mining rights I do not understand the situation.
I had presumed that with it being tailings and effectively a clean up then it was not a mining operation and as such did not require any licence. I am familiar with GLR Star Zinc and their application for a small scale mining licence but nothing yet as far as Ka****u is concerned - Ka****u realistically looking like it is 4-6 years in the future for GLR.
Thanks.