Cheers for that prhb,
perhaps ALK should simply refine the highway bypass and forgo the Roswell open pit ounces (whilst converting what they can to U/G in Roswell), thus shortening the length of the bypass, removing the need for a overpass over Kyalite all together. The ALK team is free to use my example in future presentations
Yes, the mine life would be shortened, but... ALK is very confident they can extend Roswell, plus their past mining and orebodies close to the plant have extended far beyond their initial reserves (plus, the open pit ounces are not going anywhere!). I am not against doing the highway etc, as it will hopefully still be extremely profitable and enable Tommi to have long mine life, as just because things cost more, does not make it any less profitable, if as others have pointed out, the POG moves higher concurrently. Pushing back doing the major works makes sense, as it would enable ALK to rebuild it's cash position and hopefully fund a much larger exploration program on all it's assets, then take the time to refine and cost effectively expand Tommi.
This could potentially (thumbsuck), 1/3 to 1/2 the cost. Less time to complete. Sure... it would take a while, but... they have already gone through all the studies and permits. Plus, they can just focus on the U/G and not need to upgrade the plant throughput wise until required. It can process around 1.1mtpa, so it's just about grade in the near term...
Would be so interesting to know what the minimum depth is for U/G mining under highways etc?
Obviously many are unhappy about ALKs underperformance, but... once they update the market on the LOM plan and guidance for FY25, I think sentiment will finally start to change. We will see of course.
(20min delay)