Ok, a little bit more needs to be added here. I stupidly assumed that RMS was touting 200k p.a as the benchmark going forward, when after listening to Zep in the U.S here -
Denver 2017 (courtesy of
@plough), FY18 will only include 9 months of Edna May production. Yes, as others have posted, the average production rate for Edna May over the past 10 years is anywhere from 66k-96k, so.... 81k or there about. Since RMS is going to produce 130k p.a from Mt Magnet for at least another 3 years, that brings them up and over 210k p.a. Then.... as per the presentation, its about what RMS plans to do with Edna halfway through next year. Do they go with Stage 3 open pit, or... go underground (or... 3rd option which Zep gives no clues on, perhaps both???). As he states RMS target is to produce 300k p.a. Unless they buy a 3rd mine, Edna would need to produce around 170p.a. Doable but only with higher grade ore.... (the plant can process around 2.7mtpa). So at a recover of 94%, or a grade of around 2g/t. Could only be done if both Open and U/G is done consecutively, or... a different deposit is mixed in.
Oh, Zep mentions that in FY19, Edna should hit 100k p.a. So total production of perhaps 225k... (around the 12m mark of the video) (but.. that does imply that perhaps my above speculation is just that - one further aquisition looks to be the most logical way for RMS to hit 300kpa). Also of interest, was the discussion about Mt Magnet and Morning star pit, looks to be much bigger and really should add 2-3 years mine life alone, not including Shannon (which he says should give Mt M another 1 year of production at least, which is pretty exciting really, as an U/G project, with lots of potential for drilling extensions once they get U/G and drill again assuming the dev goes ahead).
I wonder if this is another reason why they have pulled back a little on exploration for the next 9 months... build up big cash pile and then (assuming that the $3m spent on drilling Edna May U/G proves worthwhile), do both.
Of course, he also mentions acquisitions. So... Might just buy another producer who mines around 80k p.a. Only 2 companies come to mind straight away, DRM and MOY. Then again, as Zep mentions at the end, the Chinese partnership may offer up something even bigger than Edna May. Very much wait and see on that I guess.
Anyway. Another nice say for the share price. No 30%-50% gains like the nuggets explorers, slow and steady is fine for RMS.
(20min delay)