Cheers for that More, possibly one of the better interviews Nic has been in, particularly as the interview went along. In some ways, it was a lot on the topics I had wanted to hear about in the Boda/Kai study discussion.
Alkane Resources (ASX:ALK) - Balancing Gold Production Growth with Copper-Gold Development PotentialAround the 24m mark, Nic gets questioned about ALK and what it's doing corporately.... and I could not help but wonder, if ALK has perhaps been approached by a mid tier producer like... GOR, because GOR is cash rich (or will be when they eventually sell their DEG investment), yet... not masters of their own destiny and have a 150-175k p.a production profile (shared with Goldfields). Nic discussed RED/SLR and the logic of that deal, and GORs cash would ensure ALK could wipe of it's debt, fully fund the highway diversion (potentially even speed up the timeline, as for now, nothing major is happening for 6+ months) and ramp up exploration both regionally and to improve Boda/Kai.
There could be many other suitors other than GOR, I just view GOR as being interested in that size company, I mean, they went after AOP, but got out bidded by RMS, so clearly GOR want to be operators. Tommingly will have a 10+ year mine life, which compares well with GORs Gruyere open pit mine.
Then GOR would be a 250k+ p.a producer with 2 separate mines, plus... GOR has been quite savvy in how they sold 50% of their original discovery, perhaps they can see a similar outcome with Boda/Kai in the years to come.
That being said, Nic sounded very keen and proactive about investing in small cap developers that are starved of cash, but... I struggle to see how ALK can do that in a substantial way with the debt they now have. Partnerships (perhaps early stage ones is a different matter). I am not against this sort of move, in fact I continue to be surprised that the larger mid tier producers still have not done this, but again... I would feel more confident in Nic and Board if they had been able to make hard decisions about CAI earlier on (I wonder if fellow HC posters can think of any small developers that are sitting on assets which the market is bored with, but that ALKs team could turn from an ugly duck to a Swan?)... for those that follow KIN, I think ALK is perhaps going to replicate their move on PNX (who is asset rich, but cash poor).
Had a chuckle at the 28m mark.... the interviewer summed up ALK well... as an advantage of sorts.
Anyway, I enjoyed the interview overall, as it gave me something to really speculate on.
(20min delay)