Aquarius (AQP) has acquired an SA based PGM deposit for $124 million (including $15 million exploration costs). The deposit is at exploration stage and gives a total resource to AQP of approx 21 million oz. The deposits are at depth so it will be a much costlier business than PLA deposits.
PLA across its projects has access to approx 10 million oz but these are all at surface compared to the AQP purchase. Smoky Hills is at production stage while both kalplats and Rooderand are well advanced in comparison to the AQP purchase.
To me this means that the PGM industry is still investing in SA and are willing to pay significant amounts of cash to get access to deposits.
If PLA can get its Smoky Hills mine operating properly then this is one undervalued share (approx $ 200 million market cap) and should rise in multiples of todays price. The big question is if the management can do it together with JIC and my feeling is that we are shortly to find out. If they fail I do not see that PLA will remain independant for too much longer.
BR Max
PLA Price at posting:
53.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
