On a separate issue, let me spend some time exploring with other...

On a separate issue, let me spend some time exploring with other interested posters of this thread about upside potentials in mining and their pitfalls. I have fell into some and hence I present a cautionary note of placing too much value into mining development projects and estimates.

The point I make with these cases is NOT to say this is where Red 5 will head with the King of the Hill mine, but I want to just remind people that for every successful mine built are many that left heartaches. I do not care what people say about downrampers or fear mongers. These people have their heads so up in their own sky, good luck to them. I have over 6 years of investing experience, rode the bottom of the bear market for gold miners, hung on and am making sufficient bucks to not rely on my day job. I have no obligation to share my experience with anyone, nor do I think my experience makes me the most correct. But, I got to where I am by having an open-mind to the experts who walked through cycles after cycles, rather than rely on one hit wonders and being an echo chamber of their own narrow successes. If they are that successful, I would think they would not frequent Hotcopper anyway, right? They would be attending conferences, flying around and being paid to talk rather than be here typing away. That or they have a heart to share and treat others with respect.

Some of you may have held Dacian Gold over the past 2 years on the back of their Mount Morgan mine being developed. I saw many seasoned veterans in the gold mining space talk about how the stock price at $3 could keep going up. But with the company's March quarterly results looking somewhat tepid, investors got jittery, and then in late May when they updated their operations and downgraded their production profile, all hell broke loose. I refrained from buying throughout until the plunge in June because the company did not provide an AISC for the first three quarters of production. I flew by my numbers and I did not have a needle to work with. But when the March quarterly came out and they had an AISC, I could work off on it. I bought in early June and am a happy camper. Made some good returns, though my heart goes out to many who had lost big and are still in the red as we speak.

Another company is Blackham Resources, which is now a poster child of Murphy's Law in mining. They had sold their Matilda-Wiluna gold mine as a 200koz p.a. operation, and for 3 years, they have been producing around 60-80koz p.a. and are still trying to figure out how to improve mine extraction and processing efficiency. I bought into the hope in early 2018 that the bottom was in, and dug a deeper hole for myself to this date. But the numbers did speak, it spoke for the moment but the management kept downgrading. Many are calling the management frauds and the like, fair enough if they wish to call upon that. Perhaps they are, or perhaps mining is not as straightforward as people want to think it is.

Consider also KIN Mining, a late stage explorer and early stage development company. My wife saw that it looked interesting given that it was classified by some broker firm as being a company with cobalt (it turned out to not have any, must have been a misclassification) so it was a good potential punt given the EV boom. They had gotten funding from Sprott to build their Cardinia gold project and the stock was trading at 30c or so at one stage. But due to tepid gold price and also operational complications, they put that project on hold and the stock price plummeted. Now they are looking at more accommodative gold price environment to evaluate whether to restart their mine. But the stock price is now 15% of what it was at the start of 2018. The project resource ounces are there, they may be picked up by a hungry mid-tier wanting to expand. That would be good.

So, in saying this, I like how Red 5 has come a long way from 2 years ago and everyone is excited, as I am, about the King of the Hills mine now being one of the Top 20 deposits in Australia. But, remember that our optimism can be backed up by management outlook, analysts' numbers, people who have kicked the rocks and say it is gold, and still something can come between that and when the gold gets poured. I am glad that so far only two people are vocally on my back about my views, it means that there are enough investors who have a healthy mindset. But the moment I see more people joining aboard to attack my views of caution notwithstanding confirmations of funding packages and more substantial development in the project that converts to cash, I know that this place is getting crowded by people who will be weak hands at any signs contrary to being positive.