The bubble chart is informative. COB: 80% of revenue is Co = US$280m implies US $350m gross revenue. Mining X volume, refining 20% X, acid use 50-100kg/t (pretty standard in gold pyrites - DYOR) implies 2% of X acid use (that's a key cost). BH substation supplies wholesale power. Plenty of people, right skills, housing, etc already there.
Now assume a lateritic ore is 30% ?? Co to produce (typically) 800-1,000t of Co. (Yep some have PGMs and scandium so add those if they are payable. And yes, CLQ are much larger so is their MC). Let's call that US$65m Co revenue (assumes its 100% payable but that's unknown) implies US$220m gross revenue. So mining X volume, refining 100% X with acid at 500-700kg per tonne = 50-70% of X acid use. Power ??People?? FIFO sites, in particular, are very high cost.
I've been a long term holder and listened to the grade argument for a while. Grade holds true if everything else is equal, but it ain't. I can see how these guys will make a strong margin on a low grade ore. If you back Nickel/Cobalt then this is not your play (but you are backing both horses past the post rather than just one), but seems to me that nickel is struggling (am I'm sorry about that as I have mates working in the industry).
COB Price at posting:
38.0¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
