Folks – I started a new thread as the last one lost focus.
Here are some summary notes I took from the AGM on Monday. Please remember this is my interpretation on what I heard, I’ve popped in to risk categories, hopefully this helps investors at all levels. I met a few of you the other day, for those of you I have not met – let me disclose that I am intending to hold long term, I have worked in hard rock and soft rock, and I have a passion for sharing information with honesty, I like to help the “grandparent” type investors here, so nothing is intended as down or up ramping, just as I see it….
Exploration Risks;
We briefly ran through some of the grades being returned. My thoughts are there are next to nil risks on the exploration front. Obviously the reason there is a risk in any exploration programme is that the holes will be dusters, this is obviously NOT the case and PLS have eliminated this risk and demonstrated that we have invested our money into a drilling program that has turned up the goods. For those of you who are not geos and have no burning desire to become one, every drill out keeps on bringing back good results and as I have mentioned before they are consistent with the formation. The results you see are not cherry picked. You can go through and look at all the grades yourself, but if they mean nothing to you, from my perspective these are very good results. This is what I would have expected to have seen. PLS have added in a couple of DC holes (diamond core). One or two of you asked me about diamond drilling at the AGM – this is significantly more expensive drilling and you don’t drill DC unless you know you are on to something big and want a good look at what is going on down holw – the core comes up as, well core – (google it), it is very exciting as you can actually see the formation and the mineralization (RC – reverse circulation – brings up a whole lot of little chips which is a lot less exciting) …….sorry – getting a little excited about rocks and minerals again………….bottom line – this is a good thing!
At present my understanding is that we have a 40% increase on the interpreted model. 40% is pretty neat to say the least, but as John Young said, this formation just keeps on ticking all the right boxes. 1.3% overall res grade up to 50 metres (and that is having drilled to a TD (Total Depth) of 210 metres – not sure what is further down). This is before the next resource upgrade which as most of you may have read is scheduled for February. John also discussed the Western Domain exploration - my thoughts are that the Western Domain will up the resource estimates significantly, however I couldn’t pin anyone down on a figure for a percentage increase – these guys are conservative. Bottom line - we have a strike of up to 8 kilometres – that’s very very good folks. Only question in my mind is what is below 210m and will this affect pit design. Either way – these guys are on to this also. Pit design is factored in for Jan studies.
Resource estimates
Before another debate on this erupts let me say that although most of you think that geology is an exact science, it is not, it is subjective and based on experience as well as best practice. All estimates alter and I have never been on a project that hasn’t. As per above – I could not pin these guys down to an estimate – but wouldn’t expect a good geo to be that silly anyway – these folks are conservative which reinstalls confidence for me. My gut feeling on this is that with the next upgrade they will put out a conservative estimate of around 60-70mt and at that stage we will have around 80mt resource. Not certain what will be indicated or inferred. To me it makes little difference at this stage as it’s an economically viable and minable reserve. In my opinion based on tonnage we will have exceeded Greenbushes in the next couple of years. Again – this is subjective and based on what I have seen in the past.
Permits
We were advised that Tabba Tabba is due next week. In the hands of government. No issues, just the usual backlog, For those of you who have not worked in this industry before this is very normal, important permits and licences are in trays of departments that are understaffed, its critical (for legal purposes ?) that there is all the required crossing Ts and dotting I’s. Usual 14 days allowed for govt to respond, and if there is any ts not crossed then they can take 21days…rah rah rah. Bottom line – my thoughts is that TT permit is a done deal.
Timing of other permits the only other risk I can see in respect to PLS. Timing in my opinion – not ifs, but when.
Native title
Aboriginal Native Title – no land claims or issues
Ability to exploit discovery
PLS obviously recognizes the significance of what they have discovered, I’ve noted down that Neil stated they intend to bring on new staff with Ops experience in January. Timing on this indicates that they mean business and they are ahead of the 8 ball. PLS have recognized that these need to be high calibre people with Ops experience – hence Resolution 5. Encouraging that they acknowledge that they are able to capitalize on the existing downturn and bring in some very experienced individuals – believe this demonstrates our funds are being spent well.
$130 million CR mid 2016 / Q2. Don’t envisage that this is a risk, Neil advised that it is not decided yet but PLS would prefer to raise this through debt. Cost is low as processing is simple; crush and separate. As many of you would know, floatation for finer material. Yes, the possibility of using Wodgina for processing was also discussed. Neil stated this is a trade off between CAPEX and OPEX.
I’m not sure where I sit with my thoughts on if they will go to production or get ready to go into production and sell this baby off as some lucrative figure, either way, they know what they are on to and know the bottom line. Neil was open and transparent when asked about the possibility of takeover and was visibly excited about going into production, (he had a tiny smile on one side) however he did say that if there was an offer were made it would be considered and shareholders would be involved in this decision.
I won’t include my notes on supply / demand – everyone else has covered this – needless to say its very very very exciting! As for the vibe of the meeting – it was also very exciting (to me anyway) and I can’t help but be very excited and feel a little privileged to be a part of this, albeit it only as a shareholder……..
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