Chris Ellison is going "All in" on this consolidation strategy.
MinRes is his baby and he has spent his entire life building that company from mere $10K to one of the largest companies on ASX - $12 Billion (current Market Cap). There has never been a more profound gap between the short term lithium pricing (<$2000) VS the longer term demand outlook.
Market is obviously not looking too favourably at MINRES at this very moment given we have enough on our plate with expansions going on at both Wodgina and Mt Marion (in a backdrop of falling lithium price environment), in addition to the massive investment Chris is making in Onslow iron ore operations.
Agree that there is construction and ramp up risks associated with all that and it puts a lot of strain on the balance sheet especially in a high interest rate environment
BUT there is no one better placed than MINRES to take on these challenges and
deliver. What lies ahead on the other side is massive and Chris has spoken about that several times. Min Res is on track to become a substantial player in both Lithium and Iron Ore
PLUS is in a position to extract additional value beyond commodity revenues via its Mining services contracts both internally and externally. There is no company like Min-Res.
Chris is 65, and yet he is working hard to grow MINRES further.
a) He has his eyes set on a massive consolidation in goldfields involving Delta, Mt Marion, Alita, Essential, Manna and perhaps even Kathleen valley and Buldania. Even if he doesnt own a 100% of the rock - the infrastructure and mining services revenue alone will be worth
Billions
b) Him and Gina are not stopping there - They seem to have massive plans in the Pilbara as well involving Azure and Wildcat. These assets are very early stage and not going to be in production anytime soon. Call it Horizon 3 if you may. Again Chris doesnt need to own all these assets or control the offtake. His prize in all of this is to extract value via his Build Own Operate mining services model. Whatever % of rock and offtake he ends up controlling is a BONUSI have been invested in Minres for 12 years and I have never liked it more than I like it today. Thanks CE for working your a.rss off for us thankless shareholders!
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