Coastraider, the AQQ float was a disaster from day one. And as the POG started falling into 2012, the Feb 2012 scoping study was not inspiring, with an expected capital cost of $244mill ($177mill up front). The factors in this cost were the boom conditions in the mining sector at the time, with major iron ore and LNG projects pushing up costs and project design, with the project not being staged.
Little wonder work was stopped on the PFS, the project just didn’t stack up at the time with the combination of high capital costs, a lower POG & a market cap of about $5 mill (making raising that kind of capital impossible).
This is when the old management was booted and the company basically put into hibernation, with the focus being reducing costs and surviving the winter for gold stocks of 2012-2015. I've put AQQ (purple line) compared to SBM below to show how dire conditions in the gold industry became over that pieriod, all gold stocks took a beating.
Only now with the new scoping study in Feb this year is AQQ awaking and looking outside to see that the sun is shining and the fields are lush and green…
I believe the time for AQQ has come. Watch this space.
