Hey Wassa, whilst we have not met, you might be surprised to know that I still look forward to meeting you at a conference one day, it is so rare to know others that can disagree, but still continue to discuss matters. Great post and I do tip my hat to you in regards to the operational performance assessments, albeit I am hopeful that as we speak, the operations are morphing into something much better. Particularly because WGX has become a lot more methodical in their drilling programs, to ensure that grades... match expectations and there are no repeats of Paddy Flats.
About Karora, I appreciate your positive view on the deal overall, as I was pondering what it sort of compares to, and my first thought was the 30% of Tropicanna, sure... its a good mine, but... worth $1b back then.... what would it be worth now? Similar to Karora, yet... only half the production.
Without a doubt, the gold price has helped the companies you mention, but I guess that was also part of my strategy (higher beta to a rising gold price, particularly since it is also spending heavily on internal growth), once I got a feel for the new MD (trust is really important to me, I know it's a little old school, but my father has just had too much of an influence on me, same reason I don't sell SPR I guess, SL is a straight talker), I went all in on WGX in late 2022 and... just a few weeks ago at $2.50 (not at all bragging, just had a little luck with timing of capital movements), so much so that it's around 1/4 of my portfolio.
Well done on ALK, great move, especially with the PNR to ALK move. For what it's worth, bought all I could in ALK a couple of weeks ago, though less than WGX, because while ALK has arguably more upside, I still view it as being higher risk than WGX (operationally, it's a single mine). I think part of the snap back was a view that there would be a capital raising, or.... that they would not have a smooth transition with the Karora assets (I don't totally discount a capital raising if they went for say, PNR, but... I would be ok with that, as they would be getting a great asset at a good price).
If WGX changes it's spots, I will most definitely change my views, but... not sure about you, but I just love to see drilling and, I also still view WGX dirt as some of the most prospective in W.A (and it's got a lot of it). Finally, after almost a decade, WGX has money to spend on drilling, perhaps they won't be as successful as SPR, but...they don't have to be to see good gains.
My portfolio is looking incredibly different to 1,2,5, 10 and 20 years ago. Glad to hear your family is doing well.
Whether you get onboard or not, I continue to appreciate the differing opinion. I know I need to be more critical of my views as it definitely reduces the amount of mistakes I make. I still think that most don't actually believe the gold price will stay high and yet.... the more people don't think it will happen, the more it seems to
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