Agree.I also bought more at 3.7c averaging on 4.1c, so you're a couple of pips ahead of me .
The only legitimate source yes, because there is a black market in Chinese tungsten, but slowly being shut down.
what I like about HAZ is that they have a new best in class smelter in Vietnam. Great location to serve Europe and Japan at much lower labour costs and red tape than doing it from Aus. This is a great base to start from because in a sense they are immune to fluctuations in the tungsten price because they make their money on the margin - so provided they get their feedstock and off take contracts right, then they should always be making money.
Tungsten supply is forecast to fall over the next 3 years and demand is forecast to increase over this period.
A company like VMLs that has a fairly large tungsten resource and has now completed a DFS on it to mine and produce concentrate in Aus will really only start to make money if tungsten is above $400/mtu. So at the moment the only reason they might get financing and off take from a Japanese company (which is their stated objective) is for purely strategic supply reasons.
Here is where HAZ is again in a great position, because they have their own feedstock resource in Mt Mulgine and Big Hill, which if the Tungsten price is right they can develop and then use to increase their margins at the smelter. So they have automatic off take for mining and concentrator operation, which again means they can start it on a shoe string budget.
I think this puts them in a very competitive position compared to Australian peers that are just focussing on mining and trying to get off take for concentrate from third parties and therefore very vulnerable and leveraged to the tungsten price.
It also means that HAZ could potentially get improved terms from their current feed stock suppliers if they know that vertical integration might be on the cards.
I like the overall picture here and the new board appointments are again showing a company making the kind of moves that shareholders like imo (at least at this stage).
Develop on a shoe string, focus on quality and have a clever corporate strategy that gives a competitive advantage.
cheers
HAZ Price at posting:
3.7¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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