Yes, it is amazing the market did not react more positively to this news, dropping the share price by more than 5%. The announcement confirms that the company intends using ore sorting to reduce the amount of material requiring hauling, milling and flotation. The amount of energy required is estimated to halve this way. Mining is all about getting at a saleable product with the lowest amount of energy (= cost) required.
The plant size will be much reduced, no tailings dam required. These will have a major beneficial impact on reducing initial capital expenditure. The paste plant will add to capex and pumping the tailings back up to the workings will add to operating expenses, but for this a substantial additional amount of material will become available for mining without needing additional mine development to access this. The savings on mine development will more than compensate for the additional pumping and paste placement cost.
Most importantly though, the insinuation that local authorities are on board should give us all great confidence that the environmental and mining permits will be granted and are just a matter of time. This was and is the greatest risk to Gorno. Just this aspect alone should have propelled the price upwards.
AZI Price at posting:
8.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
