Agreed. All these issues HIO will need to work through, so will any other junior miner trying to start from scratch. Even if all the challenges you list are successfully completed, the fact remains that the in ground ore quality is poor and in the big picture the quantity is not really there either. Check out the reported data and calculate the estimated ore body at say 15% DTR (still relatively low). The results are not impressive, also consider that HIO's tenement is at the ass end of the Braemar formation, a relatively small tenement, at the furthest point from port and deeper under ground. Also people seem to forget what the PFS was, 60 km slurry pipe to a 3rd party owned processing plant, then transported via train to a S.A. port (although the actual port was never confirmed). My thoughts at the time of "20mtpa" BFS was now the benefaction plant will need to be built at the site to produce a high grade product (slurry) to pump to a port that does not exist. (At this stage I sold my holding). So many potential iron ore mines never get realized, Magnetite mines require far more infrastructure that hematite mines which therefore require much more start up funding. I predicted 6-8 months ago that HIO would be lucky to get change from $10 billion AUD and I stand by that claim. One big supporter of HIO (I'm sure you know who I'm referring to) claimed that the start up cost would no more than twice that estimated in the PFS.... Obviously I was a lot closer to the tee with the 20mtpa now going out the window... So many fell in love with this stock mostly due the the marketing spin and the trade marked "SUPER GRADE". Anyone who truly understands the process of refining magnetite ore knew it was just marketing spin (hype) during a time when iron ore was achieving record prices. Consider you can basically refine any low grade (DTR) ore to 70% iron content but at what cost? Soft ore with low silica contain will be the cheapest but low DTR ore will produce massive amounts of tailings that create more costs and more environmental issues.
Although my comments do sound negative this is not me trying to "down ramp" for a cheaper entry price... Personally I am currently happy with the profit I made trading HIO and honestly I cant say the same for MGT at the moment... I can't see myself buying back into HIO during 2023 as there is still too many "T's" to cross and "i's" to dot. "Time" for start up mines = cash burn, cash burn = credit raises, credit raises = share dilution, share dilution = lower share price. Eventually share dilution will require a share consolidation (see MGT). Then if funding is still not found the whole process is repeated....
HIO Price at posting:
7.4¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
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