You make a good point. It's plain to see in the preso just how much earth they need to move to get to the target zones in the new open pit plans.
The positive side is that they are re-modelling their assumptions on the distribution of the resource and having done so they are still finding lots of good grades and beefing up the provable resource.
Their initial assumptions (mine plane) have proved to be a bit wrong, especially about the underground. However they are working hard to find a new and more targeted approach.
As you point out, they may need to invest in a lot more $$$ in pre-stripping to make the new mine plan work and to get anything truly useful from the underground.
And in the meantime they need to at least make the existing operation operating at positive cash-flow - based on the lower 100mtpa rate which was the initial plan.
So here we have a big quandary don't we? The potential is still there. It's much clearer than it was a year ago but the runs aren't on the board yet and they may need further capital injection to get the next (more profitable?) phase of the development up and running.
At least now after this presentation I have a better feel of where the project is at and the challenges they are trying to overcome.
BLK Price at posting:
19.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
