John435, good post and understandably can see why you make those comments. Firstly as you would know from my posts I am a Mine surveyor for 20 years. I have seen mining companies come and go over the years. In the case of CDU I can understand the frustration, but from what I have observed over the years is that the management of mining companies usually dance to the tune of their big investors. Not the mums and dads CDU dont dance to anyones music but their own..
You mentioned that SFR had a mine up and going within 3 years. Well the difference in WA to QLD is that a mining lease in WA takes 1 year to be approved and in QLD it takes 7 years. I am not saying this to stick up for CDU but I am saying it as a matter of fact. If I remember correctly CDU applied for the mining lease in 2006 and got it approved and licenced in 2012. It usually takes another 2 years for the Mining licence to be converted to a Licence to mine and the approvals to mine. Plans for the open cut lodged with geotechnological reports etc. Then there is the design of the plant and the metallurgical testwork and then the time for the plant to be manufactured and sent to site for construction. Before construction there needs to be millions of dollars spent of roads, site preparation, concreting , sealing of roads, electricity, design and engineering or the open cut, geotechnical expertise, surveying, geology, mine plan, just to mention a few of the requirements, etc etc.
Its just not saying to the Government, "hey we have is a resource lets go mine it". I have been on the mine face and I know that the bureaucratic side takes time. There is the aboriginal and native title clearance, then the cultural clearance and the environmental clearances, the local council even gets involved and the power supply lines have to be approved, I know I survey all these things for mining companies and know their frustrations. Then you have main roads to tell you to make changes to the road infrastructure and then you need rail and ports and offtake and transport agreements.
These are things that the likes of Mal and Hoots and ignorant people like Ozblue who wouldn't have a clue, they just think you press a button and mining begins. As a surveyor i know there are the big issues, like where is the water coming from. In the case of Rocklands I estimate at a rate of 10,000 tonnes of ore per day (3mtpa) they are going to need 10,000 tonnes of water per day (10 million litres of water per day every day). This takes experts and time to organise. Obviously CDU have it organised , but these are issues that the usual punter has not idea of and from reading the posts of HC no one has any idea.
In the case of Sandfire it is a high grade low tonnage mine (CDU will mine and process the equivalent of the entire SFR resource in 1.5 years). SFR has never ever reached its DFS forecasts for one year of their 3 year history, so the usual knockers may as well forget about SFR as it is about to hit the dirt really hard. In fact SFR has not hit one of its forecasts in 3 years and runs out of ore in a another year, so its just about finished. They have big water problems underground. So the ones that always quote SFR may as well forget that one.
As for John435, I think you are a bit smarter than you make out. I can read between the lines of your comments. Maybe you know that CDU will outsmart all the knockers.. CDU is not in production and not selling at these low prices and I remember vividly at an AGM two years ago the Chairman saying, "The Copper price will crash in late 2014 early 2015 due to some large companies starting mines that will cause an massive oversupply of copper. and may mines will have to close as a result of oversupply.". "At the meeting the Chairman said," In mid to late 2015 the Copper price will rally due to massive shortages and an big increase from demand, from the electric car industry and shortages of the metal". Well so far he is right and CDU is not selling copper at these low prices,Maybe that's why they are not in a rush. So far the predictions of CDU have been right on target.
Ill back the management of CDU over the negativity of the Hoots and his likes, any day. They are talkers and actors, CDU is the real deal. This is my opinion. What I have learned in life is Timing is everything and we all know that , " CDU march to their own drum."
CDU Price at posting:
$1.54 Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
