Whilst I respect your differing opinion Undaunted, I also want to challenge you on your thesis about 'great' discoveries you have followed that were later hocked off for soft reasons etc. How many of them were discovered on a mining lease beside a 6 year old that that is being kept (spending big $$ to do so) in pristine condition for a quick restart (and fully owned by the same company)?
Other posters have provided some excellent commentary on why SL is so laser focused on 'de-risking', because you of all people have been calling out failed developers since I first noticed your posts. The list of struggling developers is lengthy over the past 10 years and not just small cap developers, even the likes of DCN and its vaunted 200k p.a run rate, or even RED being unable to make Darlot profitable (or the huge amount of time and $$ to get KOTH to profitability), or CAI or GCY or MOY or Wiluna or Novo or OBM Version 1, or PNR. I am sure I missed a few, yet.... what do they all have in common.... a weak understanding of the orebody. 10000% every single time (of course other factors also piled on top).
SL and his team are balancing a lot of balls in the air right now, because.... when you have success like they are, it's damn hard to keep replicating it, yet when you can.... something truly exceptional happens (I have only had it happen to me personally twice, GIR and DEG).
As for your thoughts on what the company is planning. I really feel you are just grumpy for the sake of it. SL has clearly articulated the plan since last year.
It's in every presentation... I checked.
To me this would be categorized as being 'consistent'.
April 18 2023
May 16 2023
Jul 25 2023
Aug 29 2023
Sept 12 2023
Nov 2023
Feb 1st 2024
Feb 15th 2024
But just like the Ads, there's more!
Within the next 3-5 months, the reserves and mining study are still going to be released like SL have stated (though I imagine that almost every parameter is changing with every drill hole). I think SL is ensuring the the SPR 'moat' is being strengthened daily to ensure no low ball T/O occurs, and the best way to do that is to ensure there are no 'holes' in the armor, or in this case, a mine plan which has bulk feed for the plant (particularly higher grade bulk versus the old sub 1g/t the plant first ran on). Never Never is proven, that is now locked in. It's all about how much the other targets have and... their potential volumes of ore. i.e. 3 U/G mines feeding the plant with 500kt p.a (1.5mtpa) means they might only need perhaps 500kt of open pit to ensure the plant hums (the plant does not have to operate at full capacity to be highly profitable.
The main pit already has a huge amount of tonnes, but... and I think this is the biggest point for me, its growing fast, especially West Winds, so... why would you turn on the plant when, if you can drill for another 12 months and prove up enough U/G ore sources to not even need to strip the main pit, why aim for 130k p.a, when 200k p.a is within reach? (not pie in the sky wannabe explorer in the sky, but... everything is there, but it needs extensions to be drilled).
This from today's presentation: +5yr mine plan.... with an MRE coming mid 2024 and a exploration target in the next 2 weeks.
Very aware that I could still be proven wrong and SL changes the goal posts (nothing is certain when investing), so get the cream pies ready for throwing Undaunted.
Finally, I do hope SL and the Geo team can keep their exploration target conservative, as I still don't overly like them (except.... when they succeed! ha).
(20min delay)