Yesterday headed out for a 822km 15 hr round trip from home to have a look at Hillgrove, the area, hoping to talk to some locals and just try and get a better understanding of RVR's purchase...it's also school holidays so took my 15yr old daughter for some us time together...we both had a great day.
Hillgrove town. There is absolutely nothing happening here, the world is moving on without them, everyone I saw was elderly milling around there front fence, it was like they was hoping someone would turn up today, I stopped and talked to a few , most were all long term residents, friendly, most knew very little about the mine operation ..other than the multiple closures, they all knew it had been sold...they seemed excited...maybe a few extra cars and trucks to wave to.
The guy who lives closest to the haul road...about 150m... took us for a walk thru some paddocks ( crown land ) showed me the haul road, explained there operation and some history, pointed out places to get a view of some of the old workings, spoke about a personal friend who had been killed at the mine, the environmental problems, the future, he seemed to love there ("his") haul road, I think he hoped to get it built closer to the house.
I spoke to a woman who's husband had worked at the mine for over 20 years, he was raised in Hillgrove, retired before Straits took over but obviously still knew what went on, her comment was they all come, spend lots of money and leave .....it was a reflection of her husbands thoughts of the more recent times...she also spoke about the antimony price as a factor in several closures. ( I was thinking try the gold strategy )
We went to the small museum and looked at the mining history, some great photos, eyeballed some antimony and rock samples, some old tools and relics from the mine.
The mine is at the end of the Main Street but out of view, we went down every road, track, vantage point but can't see a lot, ( which is a positive for the community ) the footprint of the site is very small compared to most mining operations ( think less rehabilitation costs ) they seem to have plenty of open paddock that would be suitable for another tailing dam.
We crossed the gorge and looked down on the historic mining area, not much left, tried to imagine the difficulty in setting up a whole plant in the bottom of a 500m deep gorge in the 1800s...crazy.
The environmental problems from modern operations are minimal in my view but as I have posted before the groundwater run off and the early mining practices will leave a legacy for ever....they dumped an estimated 7 million tonnes of treated tailings in the creek bed, had cyanide plants beside the creeks ....will post some links about enviromental risks, reports and the nsw govt derelict mines strategy for those who enjoy reading....it's all well understood.
From what I could see the general mine upkeep, fencing, cleanliness, power infrastructure, offices looks good. The road connection out to Hillgrove is ok.
On the way home my daughter summed it up " Dad your company just needs to engage with the community, they will have no problems, they love their town"... yes this was my view as well, they won't have much trouble, well not from long term residents I spoke to anyway.
Really happy with what I saw and heard, but history would show Hillgrove is highly sensitive to commodity pricing, requires a good efficient plan before just throwing an open cheque book at it and thinking it will work. Hope this helps.
RVR Price at posting:
21.0¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
