Spaceshot
Ah, the Owl of Minerva, the symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity and erudition so applicable to NWH's Management, and enhanced in their psyche by the Samsung disaster.
The Owl of Minerva is the Roman name for the Owl of Athena – Athena being the goddess linked to the aforementioned good traits, and she was traditionally associated with a wise owl. This gave rise to an Ancient Greek idiom, “Bring owls to Athens.”, which is similar in gist to the English idiom, “Take coals to Newecastle.” There is wordplay in the Greek idiom. Athens (Athena in Latin) had many owls, so taking an owl there served little purpose. Athens also had nearby silver mines, and in honour of the Owl of Athena, the silver coins minted there had an embossed owl on one side, and the coins were called “owls”. It made little sense to take “owls” or other silver coins to Athens, whereas bringing “owls” to places where silver was scarce would deliver an arbitrage gain.
So much for amusement, I'll now add something relevant to this thread,but still wooly. We need a contract win, or new Management guidance to deliver something substantial to discuss.
As a retired contract negotiator, I can confirm that those involved know with a high level of certainty that a contract will be signed by the authorised signatories long before all the required signatures are garnered. The signatories themselves usually rubber-stamp what is served up to them on a plate, they often take no part in the long process, which can take years, that proceeds contract execution. It often amused me that although I had zero authority, I could with confidence tell my opposite number that if he, or she, convinces me, the deal would go through. Because I was often better at stringing words together than they were, I on occasions would supply the person with whom I was negotiation with the words required to win their management's support. My ploy to substantially control the process was to exploit my counterparts' laziness and often their poor spreadsheeting and writing skills, and this included seizing control of the contract articulation process to ensure that what we had agreed was well worded.
On the matter of RCRMT's potential significance to NWH, the article at
https://www.australianmining.com.au...ls-predicts-another-strong-year-for-iron-ore/ states,
“The company is also looking to hit key milestones this year, including finding a third party to commercialise the Lake Giles project and appointing an engineering group to design a magnetite processing plant and complete a metallurgical test work.” These words prompted me to write what follows.
I have over recent years switched from thinking that magnetite's day could dawn a decade hence to thinking its day has come. This could potentially allow RCRMT to get into the increased need for high-class conveying, screening and milling plant that processing magnetite requires relative to DSO (direct-ship ore – that is, haematite). I have often addressed the magnetite matter on this NWH subforum, so I'll write no more on why magnetite has a great future, especially as high quality DSO becomes difficult to find, and Australia is awash with magnetite.
We know that FMG has progressed its magnetite mine at Iron Bridge. MACA won a $26m contract for bulk earthworks for access roads and infrastructure, which I hoped NWH would win. The ore processing plant contract went to a Finish firm, Outotec (see
https://im-mining.com/2019/10/18/outotec-gets-major-higmill-order-iron-bridge-magnetite-project/ and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outotec).
LYL (and Mondium a MND-LYL JV) have good histories in building sophisticated processing plants, as do other Australian companies. RCRMT is, however, is bit player in this game – it can supply ancillary ore conveying equipment and consumables like screening, steel balls for ball mills and steel rods and rod mills. All that RCRMT might have to do to get deeper into the game is to become the Australian, or WA, agent for firms like Outotec, because RCRMT has sufficient skills to sell, install and maintain ore-milling and ancillary equipment, and it can supply and maintain the necessary screening and ore conveying infrastructure that must integrate with milling. Maintenance, mainly the supply of consumables like screens, milling balls and rods is good repeat business. If this contention is true, you can be sure that our wise, perspicuous and erudite Management are aware of the possibilities, and their business potential.
(20min delay)
