Are you seriously comparing an operation that's nearing end of life with another that's got a massive expansion well advanced and a mine life of 50+ years? It's great that Mt Cattlin is doing well, the spodumene market has gone crazy over the last couple months and I'm glad we're able to cash in, but there's no future there. In 10 years Mt Cattlin will be a big empty hole next to a pile of rust, but Olaroz will be printing a fortune for the rest of our lifetimes.
I don't know why you're all saying that Olaroz is loss making, I'm looking at a $12m gross profit. Not amazing right now, but things are going to look very different over the next 12 months as Naraha and the Stage 2 expansion come online. Plus those weak long-term contracts will get re-signed eventually. Olaroz is about step up a gear and it'll be a long time before SDV or JB come online to balance things out again. This is the advantage of a diversified miner, the different projects can fill out the timeline. Mt Cattlin then Olaroz then SDV then James Bay then Cauchari. The foot won't be coming off the accelerator for over a decade, and the momentum is going to be massive.
The company has clearly made a strong profit. The reduction in cash balance is because they're spending the money on future developments, which is what we want. It's right there on the bottom of page 9. There's that merger cost too, but that's just a once off.
It looks like pre-construction work is well underway at SDV and they're just waiting for the final permits before things really kick off. Really excited for the day when the "permits approved" announcement comes in. And it's great to see there's some progress at James Bay, looking forward to that reserve update.
I can see the chess pieces starting to move into place. What an absolute monster this company is going to be in 5 years, especially if these lithium prices hold.
ORE Price at posting:
$9.13 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held