When Bayer owned HCS, HCS got its fingers burnt when playing around in the mining game. At the time instruction came down from Bayer - "never again". I believe HCS has maintained this stance and thus direct equity is not on, which is unfortunate, as clearly its outlay would be quickly recovered.
Putting the above aside, the Ethiopian ore is largely refractory so acid treatment to reduce the high RA levels will be ineffective. The RA levels can be reduced by high-tech smelting (remember syncon?) but there is no way this will happen in Ethiopia. Similarly any suggestion that HCS would produce high purity Ta and or Ta capacitor powders in Ethiopia is just plain silly. HCS can do all of the above however they would not risk the high probability of technology leaks occurring in Ethiopia.
AR1 Price at posting:
1.4¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
