Ann: Westgold FY24 Guidance, page-32

Cheers Authentic and very much agree with your view. WGX is perhaps 1/6 of my portfolio which may seem too much, but, as you say, if WB continues to be transparent and his team continue to refine and tweak each operating mine, I struggle to find a better company to hold within the mid tier space (though I do hold varying % of RED, RMS, WAF, PRU, TIE & ALK) that is unhedged.

WB looks to be taking a very medium/long term view in regards to investing in key assets. As I have posted (perhaps bored!) about, WGX has a plethora of targets, old mined pits, U/G pits etc that have yet to be drilled out. Plus, the 6.8m ounces in resource to continue to convert, though.... as RMS has shown a 3-4 year mine life ('full' production rate at around 250k) is more than enough for the market to reward the company and support the share price.

I find it interesting that @wassa and others have a differing view regarding the large spend going forward (though.... perhaps I am just bias?), in regards to say, RMS spending $200m (cash/script) to enable them to bolster their production at Mt Magnet by perhaps 40-60k over 4-5 years (with MGV), yet, WGX spending perhaps even a similar amount (over a 2 year period) for, as above the ability to produce anywhere from 100-150k within 2 years is not rewarded by the market.

RMS has perhaps 1 full year without needing to spend large sums on non-sustaining capex (Penny sugar hit), then... they are either going to need to spend $220m on Enda May Stage 3, $200-250m+ on a 3rd hub at Rebecca, a large sum to pre-strip the MGV pits which all have very high strip ratios etc. Yet RMS has held up incredibly well even after printing almost $500m in script in recent years.

Cheers @Joelstar just trying to keep myself from going senile! Likewise with your posts and you too @wassa. I already talk to myself too much, so doing it on HC would be a step too far!

Regarding FID for Big Bell and Great Fingall, absolutely, I am only able to go off the FY24 figures (you believe they will change dramatically?) and... a lot of comparing other development. I do think that most of the Big Bell deeps, is.... in that $30m. It clearly states they are aiming to source ore from the deeps late in FY24. The reason it's only $30m, is, that the decline to the start of the 'new' mine is already almost there with the sub level caving infrastructure. As for Great Fingall, it could be another $60m in FY25 (more guestimates), but... to potentially be able to add 85k+ in production, is more than worth it. As I am a medium/long term investor in producers, I am quite excited about the Big Bell deeps for example, as they offer a 10+ year mine life.

I struggle to understand why WB would have given FY24 figures, if he was not very comfortable with them being close to the mark, just does not seem the sort of style he would push, to then allow a lot of cost creep, but we will see.

Fair enough about sitting on the side lines. SLR is a great example of having other undervalued producers to buy up instead.

@wassa - fair enough, I had not put a lot of expectation in wooing you into the WGX camp, but.... never hurts to try!
That is so interesting about the Great Fingall overall cost, but... I don't think that is unreasonable, considering the potential $167m that RMS scoped out for the Hill 50 development. Paddy's flat has approx 1 1/2-2 years left currently, so, GF is a logical flow through and higher output U/G operation.

I very much understand about your point in the 3rd paragraph. It very eloquently sums up the challenge that SLR/RMS/WGX all have. All of them plough huge amounts of capital back into their operations due to the shorter mine lives of their deposits (open or U/G).
Other than Big Bell, most of the developments that the above companies have undertake, have by and large, been on budget and successfully produced the estimated gold, or outperformed. A very different matter when we discuss the building of new projects.... eek, not a good track record in W.A which we all know.

As Joel mentions, both GF and BBD are due this quarter. So again, we can soon check juuusstt how far off I was

Don't stop making me question myself, your views are very much appreciated.