"....opportunity to accelerate by 12 months the commencement previously contemplated"
What I think they are saying, is exactly what they are saying.
At this point with the BFS and loans not complete, so they must remain somewhat vague...
they cannot state any more than this.
However they are saying there is an OPPORTUNITY TO ACCELERATE COMMENCEMENT.
They cannot commit to it, they cannot say it is going to happen, because there is no official BFS for the banks yet to give loans on, and no official green light with an FID from the Board.
But there is AN OPPORTUNITY TO ACCELERATE THE PROJECT BY 12 MONTHS.
We know they have been doing everything possible to prepare in advance
for lightning-fast action when the BFS and FID are done in June or July.
That is only 90 days away...
In the meantime, let us review what has been done already, before the BFS, that is out of the normal sequence:
1. Four international banking syndicates have been lined up. Since November.
2. High level partnerships with major Chinese EPC/finance groups have been established.
3. They just raised $155 million AuD...to accelerate development.
4. Leases have been signed.
5. Key personnel have been hired. There are ads in Australian papers for more personnel and bids.
6. Long lead equipment has been bought and delivered to Australian port.
7. A Port-a-camp for the construction workers has been purchased.
8. The EPC led to a delay in the BFS; but they have been working on this, and you can bet that they are lining things up.
9. The mining block plan is already in place; and it is in such a condition, that they have already been able to modify the stope plan to target higher cobalt-grade stopes than previously.
10. The community and local governments have been brought on board and there are agreements and the contacts
are already substantive and functional.
11. There are already blueprints
12. The base work for a BFS has already been done, because there are already two separate PFS's completed from 2016, one for for scandium as a stand-alone project, and one for a nickel-cobalt project, which Sunrise has become. It is mostly a question of firming up the cost estimates to a BFS degree of certainty, and deciding what numbers to plug into the assumptions, and merging a bunch of spread sheets.
These are the preparations that we know about. Surely the urgency and existing facts are enough to persuade anyone, that there are other preparatory actions being taken that are undisclosed.
Now against these known preparations, we have prior guidance that the timetable for breaking ground is THIS YEAR.
We also have public guidance that the commencement is scheduled for early 2020, and that the BFS and FID are
expected to be Q3 and Q4 2018. This guidance was given prior to the present capital raise.
So, that is what we know.
What do you think ?
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