General Discussion, page-991

Thanks for your post, ether. You make some very valid points. I agree, I think investors could be overlooking the upsides to having a project in Madagascar (and then there are some posters who are perhaps taking advantage of that).

I also believe that inflationary pressures are going to have a huge impact on the bottom line of Aust companies operating here and in western juridstictions too. We only need to look at utility and labour costs to realise that developing countries offer a lot of upsides when it comes to both CAPEX and OPEX.

Whilst BEM is investigating the implementation of solar and battery power such as Next Source has done, it too will likely be a hybrid setup incorporating diesel generators for backup for the intial few years. The following comparison in diesel prices and wages shows exactly why Madagascar is a very attractive place to do business... and, not only that, countries such as Madagascar need our business to improve their economies and provide a better life for their people:-







We can see from the above just how disproportionate wages are considering what that miniimum wages in Aust, let alone the wages of FIFO workers!!! Then factor in how much higher wages will become given the labour shortages in the resource industry!

Now take a look at the current prices for diesel and electricity in Madagascar. I just think that investors are overlooking Madagascar and getting sucked in by the hype surrounding projects here in Aust since CoVid and the resource boom... and I think the cost blowouts are going provide some nasty surprises to those invested in projects based on "juridsticton" hype (and that goes for explorers, developers and producers):-