So I’ve been sitting back and having a think about the project as a whole. Alister stated that the acquisition of Morila was “Our Jundee moment.”
I flicked over to NST and poked around the Jundee announcement back on the 13th of May 2014 and was quick to spot some similarities and differences. But here is the baseline:
NST at the time of The Jundee acquisition was no junior. NST had a market cap of $645m producing approx 350k oz per annum. Head grade exceeded Morila’s however known resource was just over 500k oz… well under half that of Morila at the time of purchase(both with plenty of potential upside).
It should be noted while both plants were producing on purchase, Jundee had produced some 280k oz the year previous compared to Morilas >60k oz.
my point is this, Jundee took NST from the 5th largest gold producer to the 2nd highest yearly outputs. They were established beforehand and worth a significant amount of money. the also had cash up their sleeve with a strong business model
Firefinch at time of Morila purchase had a market cap of >$50m… or less than $15m just 4 months previous with an annual gold output of 0 oz. There was almost no money in the bank and year of miss management from previous boards.
when Alister was asked about FFX share price after there was no real positive traction in the share price 4-5 months later I remember Alister saying these sort of deals come out of no where and surprise the market.
The difference in the two companies does make them hard to compare, though it’s a Wednesday and nothing else is going on: Morila Acquisition to current date = approx 8.5 months just over 100% rise
jundee acquisition 13 of May plus roughly 8.5 months = almost 100% rise
NST has risen heavily over the last 7 years under strong management, asset additions and expansion has catapulted them to where they are now… it’s why when Anderson says jn our 12- 24 month timeline he plans to acquire … or be acquired …
Morila has been a hell of a company making first gold Producing asset to purchase and get us out of the gate… exciting times.