From memory Ramelius estimates they need $150m for Edna May...

From memory Ramelius estimates they need $150m for Edna May stage 3; they will likely need circa $200m for a mill and mine at Rebecca and if they replicate at Rebecca their model of near mill base resource mixing with high grade satellite resources they maybe will need another $150m for a high grade stranded deposit.

A couple of points:

• You might be right that currently the cost of a new mill is way above $200m but I can't see them hitting the go button on Rebecca for at least 3 or 4 years. Depending on how transitional rising prices and labour and supply chain shortages are development costs may have settled by then.
• Rebecca currently has resources of 1.1m ounces at 1.2 g/t, neither the quality nor the quantity justifies a new mill. I reckon they will have to pick up a high grade smallish resource not too near existing operations but close enough to Rebecca. The one with the best potential to fit that description might be Ozaurum's Patricia deposit. Ozaurum's Andrew Pumphrey seems to think he has a major discovery at Mulgabbie, which is next to NST's Carosue Dam mill but about 40 clicks from Patricia. Maybe he would take cash for Patricia from Ramelius to help fund any development of Mulgabbie. (I pinched the map from E79 which owns the tenements that are marked up on the map).

I suspect Mark Zeptner's thinking is if they pick up a third hub, which is out of the gate with a net positive cash flow, they can run the three hubs to clean up their balance sheet for a couple of years before kicking on with developing Rebecca. I also suspect that they see Rebecca in the longer term replacing a spent Edna May so the timing for Rebecca will be determined in part by the longevity of Edna May.