Can anyone explain why Sandfire's market cap ($1000M) is double that of Cudeco's ($480M)?
By my analysis they appear to be on par in terms of revenue. They have a higher grade (5%) but only a 1.5Mtpa plant and most of the mine is underground.
From Sandfire's March quarterly :
- Life-of-mine extraction of 10.68Mt of material grading 5.0% Cu, 1.7g/t Au (531,000t copper, 579,000oz gold) - Production of 60-70,000tpa of payable copper metal and 40-45,000oz pa of gold over initial scheduled mine life of 7+ years - C1 cash operating costs of US$0.90-$1.00/lb including gold credits - Pre-tax operating cash flow of A$330-350M per annum (from FY 2012/2013)
Mining method: Open pit (2 years), underground (7+ years) Construction time: 13 months (commencing June 2011) First production: Open pit Q1 CY 2012 Underground Q3 CY 2012 Processing rate: 1.5Mtpa Metallurgical recovery: 91% Average annual payable metal output: 60-70,000tpa payable copper 40-45,000oz payable gold
Pre-production capital cost estimate: A$270M (plant and infrastructure) A$130M (open pit/underground development) A$400M total (including contingencies)