When I spoke with Steve his comments were in the context of a discussion about Knappa and Mt Rhine.. He said that a partner would probably be required to help fund the exploration of these resources and share the risk.Â
In regard Nugent his remark was that the board had not given him the go ahead to begin on this, but he felt that he could get a UG operation going by the time the stockpile ran out if given the go ahead some weeks ago when I spoke to him. He said Nugent can be developed even if a PHES was to go ahead.
Where the funding was coming from for Nugent was not discussed. I would assume given the boards priority to pay a good divy and use the franking credits that a raising would be necessary for Nugent UG - but he did not explicitly say this so I am not sure - its just my guess.
Point taken about proper process before the release of numbers. However, one would hope that they will have some pretty firm numbers about the economics of exploiting the resources under the pit before they say yay or nay to a PHES. After all we need a sound decision as to what is the best way forward.
Steve gave no indication that the board was planning to shut up shop after the stockpile is processed. He only said that the board had heard the message about the need to reward holders and use the franking credits.
HGO Price at posting:
7.6¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)