This is the best I can do.THOUGHTSon PIO
There are a number of expected reports we areawaiting’
1. Theprice of our pollucite.
2. Resultsof drilling at Peg 8 South
3. Resultsof metallurgical work on cobalt laterite ores at Blair Dome, by StrategicMetallurgy
4. Explorationtarget for cobalt ores at Blair Dome
5. Wewere told a couple of years ago that there was a warehouse full of drill coresfrom nickel and gold exploration on Pioneer Dome. None of this had been looked at in relation to LCT mineral deposits. We were told that it would be. We have heard nothing in two years.
6. Themine approval was for a mine approx. 500 metres long. The existing proposed workings are only about 130 metres long. We have no explanation for this, but it cannot be an error. PIO know, or have good reason to believe, something about the Sinclair deposit which they have not revealed. We now have an exploration target of 700,000 to 900,000 tonnes of potassium microcline.
I suspect we won’t get any further info on polluciteprice till we get money in the can.
It is not difficult to come up with a prettyreasonable calculation of the expected price of the pollucite.
As far as I can find out, 80% caesium formate brinesells for about $A76,000. Sodium formate or potassium formate sells for about A$500 a tonne. Since caesium is lower down the perodic table than either sodium or potassium it should be less reactive than them and so the cost of manufacture should be even lower for the caesium compound. Thus almost the entire value of the caesium formate is in the caesium atom. Given the rarity and constraint of supply of caesium and the demonstrated anxiety of Cabot to secure a supply, we should be able to capture at least 75% of the value of the caesium formate. I do not accept that the management of this Company are incompetent.
It is a simple matter, from atomic weights tocalculate that it takes 3.75 tonnes of pollucite at 17% Cs2O to make 1 tonne of80% caesium formate brine. A simple calculation on these figures gives a value of our pollucite of about A$15,000 a tonne.
We know that we have stockpiled about 7,000 tonnesand we know that there are further drill penetrations below the currentworkings. There has been some discussion on this forum as to whether the lowerpenetrations are separate lenses or are “shoots” from the upper lens. This is irrelevant. We know there is more and the best guess I can make is a total of 10,000 tonnes.
Then we have the mysterious case of Peg 8 South forwhich we await drill information. I don’t think we will see that in the near future if at all. The only information released is two comments from Mr Crook in which he says that the geology is similar to Peg 8 and that it is a “Tanco-like deposit” Make of that what you will, but if there is not a substantial deposit of pollucite the comments are close to false and misleading information. I say another 20,000 tonnes. That gives 30,000 tonnes at A$15,000. When I went to school that came to A$450M.
Then we have microcline. Mr Crook gives a price of $50 to $100 a tonne. My search of the internet gives a price of $100 to $300 a tonne. I suspect the Mr Crook’s price is at mine gate and the internet price is at place of consumption in Asia, Europe or USA. The cost of crushing and transport to Asia would be about $50 a tonne assuming shipping in 20,000 to 30,000 tonne lots. This gives an internet price of $50 to $250 a tonne at mine gate. It looks to me that we have 200,000 tonnes of microcline and I would assume a price of $100 a tonne. That gives me $20M. Then there is the lepidolite. Someone is very interested in getting their hands on this if they are paying for drilling, and the grades are spectacular. There is also a good quantity of silica. The price here can vary from $50 to $5,000 a tonne depending on purity. Given that we are in a highly differentiated pegmatite, we have a fair chance of getting into the upper range. We have no information from PIO to go on. And Mr Crook says that cobalt at Blair Dome is the company maker.
PIO have identified eight rank five pegmatites andsix rank four at Pioneer Dome. Apart from work done by LPD at Peg 9, which was specifically looking for lepidolite, there has only been any drilling at three pegmatites. Exploration at Peg 8A has resulted in the Sinclair mine. Drilling at Peg 3 was reported as not encouraging and no further work was done. Drilling at Peg 8 South was reported as “similar to Sinclair” and a “Tanco-like deposit”. This was ranked as rank 4 in the only published ranking of pegmatites. I can only assume that at some later time the ranking has been improved as there are 7 pegmatites ranked five which remain undrilled. One would think that the prospects for further discoveries of LCT minerals at Pioneer Dome were pretty good, perhaps even excellent, on the basis of success so far.
There has been a lot of talk on this forum aboutcomments made by David Crook about atleast $M10 or $M15 from Sinclair. Somehow this has been interpreted as “not more than”. I suspect that the comments have been made to get rid of pesterers. It is absurd to suggest that a major world company would advance A$6.8M interest free and without security except over the resource, unless they were very anxious to get their hands on the resource and it was worth many multiples of the $6.8M. If so it will be the only such deal I have heard of.
At Blair Dome, besides the cobalt and the new thick,low grade intersection of nickel sulphide we have the Blair Nickel Mine whichclosed in 2008 because of low nickel price. There is probably as much nickel remaining in the mine as has been produced to date. The grades and thickness of intersections appear to be increasing with depth. It is not economical to drill this deposit from the surface. It would require the re-opening of the mine so it could be drilled from the bottom of current workings. Allow a cost of $1M. This is not a lot of money in relation to 100,000 tonnes of nickel metal likely to be proven but is not feasible till there is some money in the tin from Sinclair. To operate at the depths below the current working economically would require the construction of an underground crusher and a shaft for ore haulage. This is a significant expenditure but easily handled from the proceeds of Sinclair. This would be a major earner at current nickel prices.
And then we have recent Company appointments. At the beginning of the year, or perhaps last year, we had the appointment of a new CFO. This is the first new appointment I would make if I were transitioning a company from explorer to miner. The next appointment to be made is for a project manager or COO. We have appointed two of these, one for each of Blair and Pioneer Domes. This means that PIO is confident that it has viable mines at each of the two domes. It also means that three well credentialed individuals have formed the opinion that PIO has the mineral deposits to form a viable, profitable venture after some due diligence, and they see a good career with PIO.
And then there is avery substantial holding in the Pilbara conglomerate gold area, if you believein that story, and that is looking increasingly exciting if you have beenfollowing the interviews etc. with Q H. I won’t go on, but there are other interesting properties. David Crook seems to believe that any exploration money and effort is better spent on these properties than on Acra or the Pilbara leases. He must be excited about these prospects. Given his track
