Hi decrisper. No argument that Plutonic's AISC is too high at the moment. We just need to be cognisant of the reasons why and whether they will be reduced. The point being made by the MD is that there is a lot of extra development and exploration going on at Plutonic. Those costs are reflected in the current AISC. He is suggesting that it is all part of the mine plan to open up new ore bodies. That means he is telling us that he expects the AISC to be reduced once Plutonic has achieved it's planning objectives. Obviously we expect to see lower operating costs due to reduced sustaining development/exploration and maybe an increase in average grade once these objectives are achieved.
We will see. If Plutonic meets the objectives being presumed in my post then there is significant chance of good results to help boost the SP further.
There is another issue that adversely affects the AISC that nobody from NST has spoken about that I can recall. That is the low gold recovery rate of 83%. All the other mines are achieving 90% or over. If Plutonic can improve that recovery rate up to the 90% mark then that will reduce the AISC as well.
Does anybody know what the issue is with that recovery rate at Plutonic?
Cheers
NST Price at posting:
$2.11 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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