Ann: Presentation Ramelius takeover offer for Musgrave Minerals, page-2

A bit surprised by the lack of chatter and analysis on this proposed deal, at least on the Ramelius threads. Should duck over and check out the Musgrave threads I suppose.

I've not got much in the way of analysis to share about this deal but as someone who has regularly had a public sulk about the Golden Horse's m&a choices over the last couple of years I feel obliged to tips me hat to Mark Zeptner and the team for this move. Bravo!! ... I can only guess that Bob Vassie is on holiday...

I think there has been a screaming opportunity for consolidation in the Murchison and that Ramelius has been the obvious player to orchestrate that consolidation, and Musgrave is now the obvious first domino (actually in my view for some time Gascoyne with its new near plant was the one but with the Never Never promise starting to be realised and two blocking shareholders now in place I think that moment has passed). And unlike Rebecca and Roe the Musgrave resources can relatively quickly and relatively cheaply be monetised through the Checkers mill. In other words I think Ramelius will, in the short to medium term, get a momentum from Musgrave that they will not get from Apollo and Breaker until much further down the track, if at all.

A couple of questions I have regarding how the deal works is (1) what to do with the Checkers mill which is old and limited to 1.9mtpa, (I might have missed if they had flagged they would refurbish or expand Checkers), and (2) how will the feed from Musgrave slot in with the feed from Penny. Given that at this stage Penny is a shooting star for only a few years is there any expectation that higher grade ore from Musgrave will replace Penny ore or will it be used as a supplement to Penny ore. I assumed Musgrave ore was high grade but maybe that was only in comparison to the ore from Gascoyne's main pit and anyway it seems I assumed wrong. Certainly not in the same league as Penny at least.

Still talking about that third hub. But I'm no longer willing to pull that particular finger. I think this move on Musgrave on a stand-alone assessment is a confident step in the right direction.

Finally I think I read that the Ramelius offer betters the Westgold offer by something like 27%. Seems a hefty premium which should test Westgold's resolve.

Once again, well done to the Ramelius team.