I think that for NST its all about milling capacity. The EAR takeover allows them to quickly expand the mill constrained Junee area from its current 2.2Mtpa to over 4Mtpa as well as providing additional resources and exploration potential. It also allows NST boost future Junee gold production from 250Kozpa to over 400Kozpa which fits perfectly with their objective of holding a few large scale Tier 1 300Kozpa+ assets.
I believe NST have the same strategy marked out for the Tanami region however they would much prefer a 100% holding for the CTP, the only problem being that APAC also have a strong understanding of the area's potential and are unlikely to sell their effective controlling interest in TAM. If anything I still believe they will use their very cashed up position to purchase the rest of the company.
Given there is a potential stalemate, I think NST are going to have to accept their ultimate 75% CTP holding in order to bring the project to life. In the longer term, successful future drilling and probably an additional plant (West Tanami?) could still allow them to achieve their 300Kozpa goal. At these fantastic gold prices it is in no ones interest to do nothing!
DYOR
TAM Price at posting:
5.6¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
