Tonights Summary:
Intro by Dave Woodall
He basically summarized last week's announcement and reasoning behind the slowing of the BFS.
While they understand some concerning factors have been present in world economies the better part of this year, only recently (Last few 5-6 months) has the economic conditions really deteriorated to a point where they didn't see it being viable to raise enough capital as a non-revenue generating company. Banks/investors sitting on sidelines waiting to see some stability before putting up any money. Recent capital cost estimates delivered to them were just too implausible. Talking more than 300% increase in the last 12 months. Most of the escalation occurred in the last 3 months. Numbers delivered just simply could not be ignored.
Bryan came on next to speak and answer questions:
Their confidence has not changed in that HIO is still a world class project and the demand is still multiples of 20mtpa.
Last 12-20 months a lot has been achieved which will not be lost moving forward.
Strategic review is underway – consolidate the valuable data captured to date - meeting next week and hope to reveal something within a matter of weeks NOT MONTHS about the pathway forward. They will Examine all options including using existing rail port to minimize upfront capital cost
Consider multistage mining operation, scaling up to 20mtpa over time
Endorsed by variety of stakeholders right now.
He answered questions around LOI & Offtakes
He said there are many parties all around the world including Major companies, Small companies & Steel Mills.
They put in place Signed Letters of Intents to demonstrate the demand now for once its established but they wont put up money at this stage of the project.
They plan to share with the market in coming weeks the detail around the parts of the world this demand is coming from
They are still talking to people and demand has not changed. In fact it far exceeds supply at our top production target of 20mtpa. He said on multiple occasions and even clarified a question to say YES, WE HAVE SIGNED LOI's at MULTIPLE x 20MTPA.
There are many strategic investors showing strong interest and thats why they brought CITI on board so they could find the right strategic investor at the right time in the project. They dont feel that now is the right time given the stage of the project however they are Open minded if offers do come now.
PILOT PLANT
He addressed that this has been done. They have tested through a variety of different locations. Simulated product processing. No doubts about the quality. Product can achieve 70%. Final processing plant will be once they have more capital to spend.
GOVERNMENT
Government funding – opportunities are there mainly focused on renewables and strategic minerals. Iron Ore not strategic mineral focus is on EV/Batteries/Rare Earths. They are interested in our program at the back end of the BFS not now
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Personally I felt a bit cheated as I'm sure most shareholders did last Monday given the rhetoric from the management right up to the Friday before the announcement ultimately meant we were blindsided.
I sold a fair chunk of my holdings off that announcement but after some time to reflect I started to accumulate again. I was back in again under 10 cents and will look to accumulate wherever possible down in this range.
Once the strategic review is complete in WEEKS NOT MONTHS, we will know what Capital needs to be raised for what options we have up our sleeve, 5-7mtpa is what my money is on to start & 6 months from now things around the world would have settled IMO. We would then have banks & institutions ready to start investing again and the economics will still be compelling given our premium product which should still be profitable at this point of the IO Cycle now. Production shouldn't take that long from that point given its a smaller scale operation requiring less capital and the existing infrastructure is there to be used in Broken Hill.
All in my opinion. Not financial advice.
