Topic for debate: Harte Gold and the Sugar Zone was a more savvy...

Topic for debate: Harte Gold and the Sugar Zone was a more savvy acquisition by Silver Lake than Apollo and Rebecca was by Ramelius. What are the arguments for the positive and for the negative.

Silver Lake paid A$139m plus another $22m to buy out the royalties and $25m to square away some debt (?) and Ramelius paid gross of about $160m but picked up about $30m in cash but roughly speaking the deals were sort of in the same ballpark. (those numbers may be off a bit but hopefully not by too much). Silver Lake has just put the Sugar Zone operation into hibernation but have announced they will spend about $25m this FY to drill drill drill! to work out what exactly they have there. Sugar Zone is in the land of high grade long life elephants but it could be more warthog than elephant (both have tusks, a prominent snout and live in the same locations but funnily enough everyone is looking for elephants not warthogs). Rebecca is clearly destined to be a second string to Lake Roe and whatever add-on goes towards forming a hub. Sugar Zone may not ever amount to anything but it has the potential to be a company maker. Rebecca is destined to be a plodder, full stop.

Some time ago I was banging on about how Silver Lake was pulling away from Ramelius but in terms of market cap that has totally flipped with Ramelius way way ahead of Silver Lake in terms of market cap ($1.25b v $0.88b). Maybe I was a bit early with that call.... I do think in the interim Ramelius did a good deal with Breaker and is doing a good deal with Musgrave but it still has not addressed what to do with Edna May. Silver Lake has life of mine questions with its main asset, Deflector. Both have oodles of cash. Is Ramelius really a 40% better investment than Silver Lake? Personally I don't think Ramelius is dear but I reckon Silver Lake could be a bargain. Anyway I'd appreciate other's thoughts - willing to take some stick as long as you explain your reasoning.