Perhaps look at it from the top end down...These guys are not...

Perhaps look at it from the top end down...
These guys are not only backing Ollie, Kevin, Tony and team because they have successfully achieved production from a brownfields heritage mine (as well as improved the Saloro recoveries and grade etc) but they are also backing tungsten as a commodity with a high probability of a decent price rise in the not too distant future.
This expected price rise will come off the back of;
increased demand for "new" applications such as EV batteries, nuclear fusion etc
increased "existing" use for carbides, for drilling, machinery, aerospace, electronics etc
increased need for defence replenishment as the world enters a volatile geo-political time

Cronimet, as a large commodity house and recycler, knows the tungsten market well and Ormonde are also quite familiar with their long standing connection with Saloro via Ormonde as previous owners of Saloro.

Having a positive view on the tungsten outlook, their next step is to " find and back " an operations team with a track record of bringing a mine into production, operating it efficiently and being able to face the challenges that such hard rock tungsten mining presents.
Oaktree have already been through this process when they searched for the best operational tungsten team to bail them out of their Saloro predicament - they could have walked away with a big loss and red faces but they chose to jump into bed with EQR.
In doing so, they not only backed EQR but they backed tungsten as well - and they were prepared to pay a premium.

So their next step is to build on the publicly announced strategy of an acquisition path and find more distressed yet viable mines.
EQR's successful bid to the Qld Govt under the abandoned mines resurrection project, delivered the old Wolfram Camp mine not far away from Mt Carbine, which was a process that afforded EQR some leverage as they were able to negotiate some acceptable terms as part of the deal.
Clearly there are more tungsten deposits in that remote area of FNQ such as Watershed which could possibly form another piece of their planned Qld regional cluster.

The same or similar could be said of quite a number of mines in the Iberian peninsula of Spain & Portugal which are also distressed with some simply having expired licences - the Spanish Govt, similar to Qld Govt, are also keen to further develop their exploration licences into working mines but are probably frustrated by the lack of experienced teams to get the mines to that point.

Kevin has stated on many occasions that the ground in Spain has similar geology and minerallurgy to that of Qld with both being very receptive to the benefits of TOMRA Xray ore sorting technology

Having several mines similar to a Wolfram Camp, in Spain, at a time when tungsten hits its nadir in supply terms and whose price starts to ascend with increased demand and increased and more widespread uses, would prove EQR's acquisition strategy to be a very smart play - any mention of tungsten would warrant a mention of EQR.

None of us are really in a position to stick their neck out and make speculation as to how long it would take from "..current state to positive revenue.." but I will say this - both geographies have proven supply, similar geology, the in situ resources of each will prove "upwards" with further drilling, they are beneficiaries of TOMRA technology and they have a successful operating team continually overcoming hurdles to achieve production.

If these projects had anyone else but this team operating it, I would gladly walk away - but they have Ollie, Kevin, Tony et al firmly in place so I am happy to stay,
And so is Oaktree who looked at the likes of Almonty and their projects, and at G6M and Dolphin - and they walked away from both and backed the right team.
As scottm would say - patience !