Based on the information which we have so far, we can probably infer that NAG has four credible pathways to income streams:-
1. Gold which they produce from their 100% tenements. Although we don't yet have the most recent drilling results, it appears that they have some rich gold deposits, and if Fosterville and Costerfield are anything to go by, there could well be some very high grades at greater depth.
2. Stibnite/antimony which they produce from their 100% tenements. Again, we don't have the most recent drilling results, but it appears that they have some high grade stibnite, possibly even higher grade than Costerfield. In the company release on 7 July, the Chairman said that finding the massive stibnite veins is undoubtedly the most exciting development in the company's history.
3. Income from the JVs with SXG, which are already looking promising, with NAG probably retaining 30%.
4. A 50% share of the toll milling income from the new plant, including 50% of the income from GCM's ore processing.
There is also the possibility of additional earnings from any future JVs on NAG's extensive tenements, and it is likely that the possibility of future JVs has been occupying the minds of the SXG directors, as they have the right of first refusal. However, NAG might opt to retain 100% of it's inground assets, and progressively mine them in-house or via a contract mining company. Results from exploration will no doubt influence their decision in this regard.
I have not taken into account a possible PASS deal, because I believe that NAG will be very much focussed on their gold and antimony assets, the JVs, and the partnership with GCM and the processing plant.
Depending on the prospectivity of their huge tenement holdings, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that NAG could earn a good income for many years just through a number of favourably-structured JVs and the tolling income, with only limited expenditure, just contributing to the costs of expansion of the processing plant, and some limited exploration.
Despite ill-informed comment to the contrary, it is not particularly difficult to mine and treat stibnite ore. In fact, the process is quite similar to gold. In addition to Costerfield earning significant income from stibnite, an Australian-owned company, Red River Resources (RVR), has the Hillgrove Gold Mine near Armidale, which has produced substantial quantities of stibnite. I think that the RVR deposit was ranked as the largest in Australia, and seventh largest in the world outside China and Russia, but Costerfield might now have a larger deposit than RVR. SXG have also found some significant stibnite deposits at Sunday Creek, reasonably close to the Nagambie processing plant..
In addition to its many well-known applications, antimony has been found to be the best material for the manufacture of very large scale storage batteries similar to those which are being planned around the world for storing energy from the huge number of renewable energy projects, and this market alone is likely to create enormous unmet demand for antimony. There was some information about these batteries in one of the RVR presentations.
There is a real possibility that NAG might have the largest stibnite deposit in Australia, and together with their gold and other potential income streams, this little company could become a very much bigger company in the next couple of years.
Happy days ahead.
Mike
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