Nothing too magical or scientific in my approach, other than probably more suspicious/cynical of expectations from small cap exploration floats.
There have been huge advances in recovery techniques and the economics of shifting dirt, which for shallow mining has made processing less than a gram viable in quite a few instances. However, IMO in the most simple of terms, the knowing & some appreciation of basic continuity/regularity of the geology over width & depth verses type & depth of overburden is basically what makes or breaks viability. Qualification - if all goes to plan..!!!!
To know & quantify the geology depends on drilling, and that IMO is were a lot of small caps battle, and depends on good management. IMO STN achieved some of the best value I've seen at Apollo. If you apply the above basics to STN, all the boxes are very positively ticked, with the big advantage of Ian's identification of the heap leach possibility & advantage of his testing by modeling.
Yes, I think the experience thing that helps me most, is being able to some degree estimate/visualise area & volume, with rough comparison to other known exploration outcomes. Again in simple terms, if I read a report with a few drill results over a big area with average grades starting a bit deep, I wouldn't spend much time researching further. It surprises me how little research a lot of small caps investors do. Even if you don't understand all the jargon, read as much as you can about companies you are interested in, and you will learn to pick up reoccurring patterns - IMO Dims broker data is a great example.
I have very limited knowledge and no experience of underground mining, and have been burnt by too many small caps in that arena, so now I don't go there. Gelena & King Island being 2 of my worst experiences.
Only other tip I have & have learnt from is when you suffer a big loss, or read of something that crashed that shouldn't have, keep a little black book with the names of the directors........ Hope the above might be of some help. Cheers CR
STN Price at posting:
36.5¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
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