Hi Ducky ,Good to see the CSA lodes continuing with decent...

Hi Ducky ,

Good to see the CSA lodes continuing with decent grades to depths way below HGO's exploration targets.

It seems Metals Acquisition Ltd was a Blank Cheque Company used by Glencore as an exit strategy via listing the CSA mine on the New York stock Exchange without the need for full disclosure.

Whilst there is truck loads to learn about the Wolves of Wall St, Blank Check companies, free carry, warrants, tax minimisation, market makers and pumped up values there is little to learn in relation to the value of HGO IMO.

MAL carry a lot of debt including mezz finance which they pay the cash rate plus a margin between 8% and 10% (very high risk) and continue to capitalise interest and raise capital to survive. Not sure what the $200m ASX listing is all about unless the Wall St Punters and the Market Makers have seen the light. Not sure how well a full prospectus offering on the well regulated ASX will be accepted.

The CSA mine is a very deep underground mine , deeper than HGO's original deep deeps, that has very high mining and processing costs and is 700 kms from the port. Glencore retained a 1.5% NSR royalty. They don't have any gold so need a very high copper cut off grade to be viable.

They are currently processing circa 1mt of ore pa. N.B. because they are mining 2000 m below the surface

* Their mining cost of Au$ 120/tonne compares to HGO stope only cost of $25 to $30.
* Their processing cost $37 compares to HGOs $14.
* Hgo is 55 kms from the port they are 700 kms and they don't have any gold.
* Their capital cost of development $70/t milled compares to HGO $17 to $22 ( Stope mining plus development cost $47/t)
* Their transport to port costs would be circa 14x Hgo's


The 98% cu recovery is a function of the bit of copper that cant be recovered not increasing much as grade increases.

Cash flow being generated. from operations.

In the first 3 quarters of 2023 they generated $34m of cash flow from operations. After deducting interest, non operating overheads, depreciation and amortisation they are most likely making losses. Throwing in Exploration and other non operating Cap Ex explains the need for capital raising.