Below is a part excerpt from a Quintis Update released on 6th...

Below is a part excerpt from a Quintis Update released on 6th December, 2017. The update should be on the Quintis website. My rough calculations are based on this!

"FY17 PROJECT VALUATIONS Quintis and SPL are currently finalising the annual reports which include the plantations owned by third party growers. Quintis and SPL expect the valuations of grower trees will also be reduced, for the same reasons stated above. We currently anticipate these will be finalised in the next couple of weeks and growers will then be provided with an update on the valuation of each project. 2017 HARVEST The harvest of our fourth Indian Sandalwood plantation, TFS Sandalwood Project 2002, was completed earlier this year. A total of 5,517 trees over 26.3 hectares were harvested in Kununurra on behalf of non-electing growers (growers who did not elect to collect their own produce). The harvested wood is being stored in the Primary Processing Centre in Kununurra ready for inspection by interested purchasers. SPL are currently marketing to sell the wood via a public tender. The tender is being advertised domestically and internationally. Quintis’ operations team have measured and weighed the TFS 2002 grower wood and have calculated the estimated heartwood from the harvested trees at approximately 38 tonnes. This was below the yield expected by Quintis. The yield expectation for the 2017 harvest was based on the same predictive model that was proven accurate with the larger 2016 harvest of approximately 100 hectares. As a result, the outcome of the 2017 harvest was subject to comprehensive investigation and two main reasons were identified that contributed to the lower than expected yield: i. A lower bole height (the distance from the base of the tree to the base of the first living branch that forms a part of the tree crown) than the 2016 harvest. An assessment of the 2016 harvest results (the Quintis group’s first significant harvest) found a strong correlation between bole height and aromatic heartwood yield. The mean bole height in the 2017 harvest was found to be 10cm lower than that of 2016; and ii. The two sites harvested in 2017 experienced lower levels of photosynthetic activity over the last few years of the rotation. Investigations are still underway as to the cause of this but initial indications suggest that localised rising salinity, linked to a rising water table, was a key factor. The Quintis group has incorporated the learnings from the 2016 and 2017 harvests into both its ongoing forestry activities and its yield forecasts."

So, 38 tonnes from 26.3 hectares, is 1.44 tonnes/hectare. If the heartwood is worth $100,000/tonne, each hectare is worth $144,000. When you take into account the marketing and harvest costs, it will be much less than this amount, which is way short of the TFS 2002 Prospectus of $900,000 NET. Therefore, for each 1/6th hectare woodlot, (the fees, for the woodlot initial purchase price and ongoing management fees, are approx $38,000 over the 15 year term) the return in my view is about $24,000 per 1/6th hectare, less harvest and selling costs. My calculations also show an average production of only 6.88 kg's of heartwood per tree.