Hey
@JollyJohn, once I start down the rabbit hole... I almost have to just throw my hands up in the air and write off an entire evening (or morning as is the case today), though I can 'thank' plough for that!
Plenty of feed, absolutely, WGX is a strange beast, as in, it was gathered together by... a certain person who's main focus was growth for the sake of it, and as such, as each of the 3 mills came online, the basic plan was just fill the plants and worry about profitability later. This carried on for many years, many capital raisings and even with the selling off of some assets. Big Bell is now the pillar of the company, yet it also almost bankrupt them. They also basically did the opposite of RMS in every way possible, and did almost no drilling, and... did not drill current mines, or near mines, which... is crazy as that is the easiest way to find more gold!
Strangely, as I did some reading, I realised that its almost 1 year to the day since WB took the helm (officially at least, I think he was already pushing hard in the months before his new roll, to try and begin steering WGX onto a new course). Hopefully the team buy him a beer or something at the least, though... I wonder if he would just brush it off, comes across as humble.
Also... as the new MD, he moved quickly to refine the operations and take pressure off the entire workforce. Work.... smarter not harder.
This was his basic plan back in mid 2022.
So far, Fender was quickly shut down (it had only just began suppling ore, which in itself was a bold move.
Though interestingly, it can be turned on very quickly.... if needed. Quite a valuable option for a number or reasons:
* Staff availability increases, issues with Big Bell, increased processing capacity becomes available, remove the need to use the stockpiles altogether at Tuckbianna etc.
As for Day Dawn (which... slightly confusingly, is actually two mines, Great Fingall and Golden Crown, but... known as the Day Dawn Goldfield), is still a work in progress, much has changed with their understanding of the Great Fingall since they had that deep hit, but... very little has been discussed about Golden Crown, though I assume that is because they have not drilled it, or... any results have been sub par.
There seems to be so many assets under WGX grasp, that... have in some cases, not been drilled for a 100 years....
@plough are you alluding to the reserves for Day Dawn (Fingall & Golden Crown)? As to why they are not mining them, or did in the past.... who knows. Logically, it should have been brought into the mine plan before Big Bell, as the upfront capex would (hopefully will be), much reduced, but... Mr C liked big plans and be damned with reality.
This is from back in 2021 reserves and more recently in 2022. Interesting to note the increase in grade.
What caught my eye, is how under drilled Great Fingal is. Plus, how much of the defined mineralisation has not been... mined.
With mining techniques enabling lower grades to become profitable, I wonder... how many ounces could be economic? I mean, WB is keen and already pretty confident they are going to go ahead with the development.
Regarding why it's not already in production.... WB is likely moving as fast as he can, but... does not want to make the mistakes made by past management.
As for Big Bell, absolutely, it's been mined for a century on and off. I was more just looking at the Bluebird Mill. Big Bell had its own plant a while back.
WGX basically has known open pits and U/G mines which are not in operation, but... can be if their scale justifies it. Again, similarities to Mt Magnet, yet.... I view RMS having been very focused on continually testing (and bringing in to ways to test), which WGX is only just beginning to undertake.
We will learn soon enough whether the Big Bell Deeps stacks up (pretty confident it will), then... I guess they will turn their attention to Great Fingall and continue to upscale BlueBird U/G. Then.... as they get locked into the mine plan, WGX can start working its way through the small OP/UG assets and keep pruning to best fit assets to plants etc. This sort of optionality, is sort of exciting, as it gives WGX the ability to grow their margins, yet not necessarily have to mine more ore. Fender/Caustons for example. Basically 65k ounces p.a just, needs to be staffed...
Ever time I delve deeper, I only see Dalgaranga as being a very logical fit for WGX. It will dramatically reduce their average processing costs over the 4 plants. It will be enable even greater economies of scale which WB is keen to leverage off and enable WGX to reopen existing assets. The only way I see RMS as being a buyer, is if they held MGV already. Which they don't.
Here is WGX runway. Looking forward to how close they get (this slide is from August 2022), so just before Fender was shut).
Good luck to all holders.
(20min delay)