I believe you are in the correct general direction with your comments that WSA will be a low-cost/high margin miner and hence the reason why we have all filled up on them, however you're making quite a few errors with the JBM comments.
Your comments on JBM grades and costs must be made in the context of where they were mining at the time (eg. lately has been a transition period from Cosmos Deeps to let's say the "outer" Alec Mairs and Tapinos deposits - make no mistake, when they were in the guts of Cosmos and Cosmos Deeps, the grades were up there with WSA stuff and costs halved
- Sinclair is at shallow depth so grades/costs must be taken in that context - the 0.7% stuff was Anomoly 1 which was/will be left on the backburner for yrs given evrything else they have
Not being critical - I think it's great that you are taking the time to dig for info and try and attatch a resultant valuation - just that some of those valuations are let's say 'skewed' through JBM numbers not being used to form the correct picture
When WSA told us the cash cost figure a few mths ago, I looked back through JBM's figures myself - don't know if this will format properly or if indeed anyone is interested but may help someone - don't forget to cross-reference them with the production story at the time:
Financial Statistics at June 30, 2007 (Unaudited) 1, 2
Unit Costs – A$/lb Payable Ni June Quarter Financial
Year
Mining 0.73 0.90
Milling 0.34 0.38
Administration 0.28 0.29
Transport 0.09 0.08
Smelting/Refining (net of by-product credits) 1.38 1.38
Cash Operating Unit Cost 2.82 3.03
Royalty 0.32 0.26
Amortisation, Depreciation and Rehabilitation 1.01 1.17
Total 4.15 4.46
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Financial Statistics at June 30, 2005
Revenue/Costs – A$’000 June Quarter Year to Date
Sales Revenue 56,911 230,603
Mine Costs 21,146 72,311
Amortisation, Depreciation and Rehabilitation 5,625 21,133
Royalty 1,540 6,429
Administration – corporate (net) 1,536 1,621
Exploration 7,221 23,201
Unit Costs – A$/lb Payable Ni June Quarter Year to Date
Mining 0.98 0.83
Milling 0.37 0.33
Administration 0.29 0.26
Transport 0.08 0.07
Smelting/Refining (net of by-product credits) 1.31 1.28
Royalty 0.26 0.25
Amortisation, Depreciation and Rehabilitation 1.02 0.92
Total 4.31 3.94
*******************************************
Financial Statistics at 30 June 2004
Revenue/Costs – A$’000 June Quarter Year to Date
Sales Revenue 67,140 235,371
Mine Costs 16,964 62,360
Amortisation/Depreciation 4,631 15,857
Royalty 1,332 4,996
Administration - corporate 256 399
Exploration 821 6,792
CAPEX – Cosmos Deeps 1,084 11,068
CAPEX – Cosmos South 613 2,181
Unit Costs – A$/lb Payable Ni June Quarter Year to Date
Mining 0.52 0.51
Milling 0.24 0.26
Administration 0.23 0.21
Transport 0.07 0.07
Smelting/Refining 1.47 1.46
Royalty 0.20 0.20
Amortisation/Depreciation 0.68 0.63
Total 3.43 3.34
*************************
QUARTERLY REPORT
FOR THE PERIOD ENDED June 30, 2003
Another milestone was reached late in the quarter, with the first ore produced from underground. The Ilias Decline reached the target elevation for the first cross-cut at the end of May, with the first round fired in the 9995 level cross-cut on 4th June. The first Cosmos Deeps underground ore was accessed on June 16th at the top of the orebody, and a total of 4,684 tonnes at 8.15% nickel was hauled to the surface for the quarter.
Mining in the open pit occurred between the 338.5m RL and the 320m RL during the quarter, approximately 155m below surface. Although the operating area has decreased as mining of the open pit nears completion, operations were well managed, with safe and steady progress being maintained. It is planned to complete the mining of the open pit by the end of July 2003, with the final floor at 307m RL, and a ‘goodbye cut’ to the 303m