That is a disappointing deal for multiple reasons. Firstly while...

That is a disappointing deal for multiple reasons. Firstly while they advertise it as $69m - nearly half of it is cash deferred in to the future that depends on the project proceeding (which KCN now no longer control). In terms of upfront cash of $30m I think that barely covers what has been spent on it over the last 4.5 years since Chatree was closed.

The bigger issue for me with this transaction is the signalling that relates to the Chatree settlement. From the comments it reads as if KCN will need cash to fund the restart of the mine, implying that there will be no cash compensation from the Thai government. Yes, we now have the additional SPL's and yes there will probably be some kind of royalty/tax concession for a period of time after the restart BUT if that read through is true we get no cash compensation for being shut down for 4.5 years and having had to spend north of $50m (legals and costs of running the company) to get to this point and then we have to fund the upfront costs and have to hope they don't shut us down again ..........

So if that read through is correct we will have ~ $35m to fund the restart of Chatree, no NE (albeit with a 14% stake in TDV) and we owe Zurich US$55m plus interest which has to get funded out of Chatree's future cashflows and I imagine they will want quickly to minimise the risk of any further government action against Chatree.

Obviously this is based on reading through the KCN comments re financial security and potentially use the proceeds to restart Chatree BUT surely you wouldn't sell NE to a $30m market cap Canadian company if you though that an imminent settlement with substantial cash consideration was likely to come from Thailand in the next few months.

I'm out.