Interesting post Journey, I like the change in perspective you have offered..
A few comments:
1)
"resource in the middle of no where":
This resource is certainly not
"in the middle of no where". Plenty of the true strength of this project is indeed attributed to its exact location. "
The Project is strategically located close to existing power and transport infrastructure, including the Alice Springs-Darwin Railway, the Stuart Highway and the LPG pipeline, 20km to the east." and
"a large aquifer system within the Hansen Palaeochannel, which lies beneath the Hansen Riven, located around 20km for the Mount Peake deposit."
Many resources are worthless for the exact reason of being
"in the middle of nowhere". They can't transport the ore, they don't have gas or water etc. Mount Peake is not one of these. Its location is fantastic.
2)
"$1B is a hell of a lot of capital to come up with":
Agree. However as made clear in yesterdays AGM let's factor in some consideration around the true number that will be required to raise once/if:
a) SMS part-fund and build refinery
b) Converted into USD
c) NT Govt input
Perhaps that $1Bn AUD becomes more achievable when this is taken in to consideration.
a) 700mil USD (on current exchange)
b) SMS fund $100-200mil of refinery building costs as investment
c) NT Govt stumps up $20-50m
Obviously these are complete dart board numbers and these out or may not occur however, the point I am trying to make is that the $1Bn AUD could more likely be $500-600M USD (yes, still a grand amount to raise) which is much more palatable for our overseas partners who deal in USD / Pound, particularly when we have a large number of Tier 1 partners that can form a consortium. Perhaps the NT Govt. fund could prove to be positive also? Again, this is all theory based on what PB has said over time and in the AGM however IMO we can think of the funding in this light rather than $1bn $1bn $1bn..... It makes it much more attractive when broken down into 'bite-sized' chunks.....
.
I enjoyed your post with a completely different spin to what we have been discussing. In regards to a value of the project as you have hypothesised, I'll leave that to the others to stab at...
Mafew
DYOR.
(20min delay)