General - Gold Stocks - Crusader - Lynas -

Good afternoon

what a great market! But metals/minerals are crying for a correction - and it looks like we will get that today, at least in the base metals. Since recent lows in June, Nickel is up by 36%, Copper by 26% and Zinc by 24%. While I believe, that prices for all three have gone up for fundamental reasons, I think tehy all need a break!

Gold is perhaps a bit different...save havens are very much wanted in a world of political and physical hurricans! The US-situation does remind me of a very good book I have been reading recently, American War from Omar El Akkad. Sience Fiction in 20175...and all of America´s East Coast is gone because of flooding. Perhaps Trump is getting the emssage, that Global Warming in fact is real!

Lynas - Rare Earth prices are continuing to go through the roof - NdPr are trading just above 80$, and also others like Lantanum, cerium etc have gone up by 50-100% this year. Lynas has gone up by 150% since May, driven by full production, strong prices, and a move to very strong profitability. Debt has been reduced, convertibles are getting exercised. I understand, that the terms of the convertible also make it possible for the company to call them now. That would trigger more selling - I guess part of the convertibles will be held by hedge funds, which are debt-funds and will continue to sell the resulting equity. Also, they are sitting on very nice profits! 

BUT LYC is the only listed producer of this stuff of some relevance outside of China - a truly unique and strategic position! I think it would be good for the long term usage of Rare Earth, if prices would not go up to dramatically from here. The company has an EV of more than 1.4 bill A$ today....amazing turnaround from the dead! But what I want to say is, that it never hurts to sell a few and take some profits on the way up. Very hard to say, what investors will be happy to pay for this stock. Up to a degree, they might just need to have some, as the stock will most certainly become an ASX 200 Index member soon. This might be a good time for LYC to call the conversion! Great story, and I will continue to ride it - but I have sold 25% of my holding.

West African Resources - announced some high grade drilling results from their M5 deposit ( the other, stunning results from the past had been from M1 ). Significant, as the chances for not only M1, but also M5 to go underground are pretty high. 

Macquarie also started coverage with a 50ct target - but I think every valuation is difficult for as long as we don´t have the new reserve/resource estimate, at least. We should have that within a month. The stock is a bit tired in the moment - the placement at 31ct has taken a lot of buying out of the market. But I continue to hold a large position myself, as a substantial reserve increase should trigger some corporate interest.

Gold stocks - Australian companies have been relatively subdued recently - at least compared to the excitement in physical gold. The A$-strength has certainly worked against us here! Domestic Australian producers have dramatically outperformed stocks like Resolute, Perseus or others, with assets outside. No doubt, that country risks are playing a greater roie these days - terrorist attacks, government nationalism and general political instability have not helped here. But based on numbers, the value is in these non-Australian stocks. My favourite gold producer Evolution, for example, is looking very good on the charts - but I think this type of stock might well underperform a bit, as the A$ gold price is 10% lower than it was in the middle of 2016. Some Australian companies will also be affected by the hike of royalties in Western Australia, which does not really impact the low-cost producers like EVN, but does do so  on higher cost producers like BLK or DRM., where the margins are slim anyway.

Overall, I would certainly not reduce my exposure, but use any weakness to add stocks like PRU/RSG.

Crusader - Stratex International, who are planning a merger with Crusader, giving mainly cash to the merged entity, have today received some shareholder opposition against the merger. We will see what happens here...basically, I think it´s a good deal for Stratex as well as Crusader - giving the latter some needed cash at a premium, while giving Stratex great gold leverage via Borborema and their second project in Brazil. Stratex had announced yesterday, that they had defined cost savings of at least 20% in capex for Borborema.This would put Boroborem within reach of being financable. But for all of this, the merger would need to be completed before any substantial outperformance can be expected, as Crusader is in need of cash! The payment for Posse will be made in 15 monthly instalments, following the recent receipt of the first 300.000 US$ ( in total 2,57 Mill US$ ). With 8 mill US$ in cash, the merged company would be able to finish a bankable feasibility study for Borborema ( capex envisgaed to be below 100 Mill US$ for 70.000 oz p.a. and NPV of 250 mill$ ), plus advance Juruena, which is awaiting enviromental approval and is small at this stage, but could add cashflow of 15 Mill US$ p.a. . Overall, an interesting preposition - but the corpoarte side of it needs to be completed first!

Have a nice weekend!

WS

General - Strike - Berkeley - Perseus - Peak

Good afternoon

The US$ is reversing more than yesterday´s losses agsinst Euro - and subsequently, European equities are recovering. Economic optimism in Europe fell slightly in Germany, but is at a 11-year high in Europe overall! German infaltion increased to 1.8%, very close to the 2% wanted by the ECB.

Metals can hold the ground today - not bad, given the strong US$!

US secoond Quarter growth got revised up to 3%.

Berkeley - The Oman state fund invests 65 Mill US$ at 50p into the company, giving them enough to finance the mine! They are getting about 28% of the company, and have options at an average of 85p to add another 8%. Given the terrible state of the uranium market, this is an excellent outcome - very limited dilution, and at a 10% premium to the share price. 6 month ago, I would have hoped for better, but at about 20 US$ spot for uranium, this is very positive. The contract price for uranium - and I would hope, that they will get that - is currently 35-40 US$ lb. The stock is cheap - but who wants uranium? We have heard the uranium story for so long...the market looks good, but has been for some time without doing anything for the spot price!

This is also good news for Anglo Pacific, the London-based royalty company - they will get 1% of gross revenue over life time, and own 20 mill shares in BKY.

Strike Energy - sometimes, waiting pays...that is currently the case in Finders, which is steadily rising, and definitely in Strike, which today announced the "technical success" of their massive gas resource in South Australia.Gas/water production and the gas content of the 35m thick coal seam have been established, and the company is VERY happy with it. This is a major step forward to prove the commerciality of the resource! But this is not enough as yet to get somebody to pay big amounts like 150 mill$ or so for a major stake of the project - and I think this will be teh way forward. As indicated before, the company is now confident enough to spend the approx 8 mill$ for a new well, Jaws, which will be drilled in March 2018 or so, using all the information gathered so far, and ideally suited to commercially produce from the field. This is the big price - and will be the next major step to realise the substantial value in Strike. All very technical unfortunately - but I think we will see more performance from Strike in the short term. 

There is a very high chance of Strike now getting South Australia government grants to help spending for Jaws - but every $ has to be matched by equity. So I would not rule some kind of transaction later this year - placement, convertible bond or whatever will look suitable at the time.

The fun has just started! Stock has moved 25% today from bombed out levels - we are only back to where we were 5 month ago, and fundamentals are much better now. Will be interesting to see some research tomorrow!

Perseus - a terrible reult on the surface, but many one-offs, write-offs etc in there. What is important for me is, that the company produced 18 mill A$ in operating cash flow in the half year to June, based on 100.000 oz of production ( vs 76.000 in the first half ). The production rate will further improve in the current year, The company is guidning for 250-285.000 oz, which is implying 225-255.000 oz from Edikan - the balance from Sissingue, which is on track to produce from March 2018, and will not only give them a second mine in a second country, but will also lower their average costs . With gold trading above 1300 US$, this company will produce a nice amount of cash - I think about 65 Mill A$ in 2018 financial year.

The bankable feasibility stduy for the next, major leg in growth for PRU, Yaoure, is making good progress and is on target for Dec 2017 finiah. So far, all parameters are in line or are better than waht the company expetced at the time of the takeover. As I said yesterday - PRU are wonderfully sensitive to the gold price - 100 US$ would increase cash flow by 50%.

Peak Resources - the stock is suspended today, and the announcement of the capitalraising is imminent. I dearly hope, that management can tell us something about the situation in Tanzania - that will make the difference between a very good punt at 4ct, or an ultra-cheap investment. This is a very good Rare Earth project, but in one of the worst countries in the moment. For many years, tanzania has been a very reasonable place for miners - this has changed recently. The government will not see a single $ of foreign investment, if tehy don´t become more sensible. Past experience shows, that tehy will learn this relatively quickly!

Have a nice evening

WS

General - Rare Earth/Lynas/Peak - Caravel - Foran - Dacian - Perseus

Good afternoon

Finally, European equities are giving in to the very weak US$ today...In times of uncertainty, it used to be the case, that the US$ got stronger - under Trump, the opposite is the case, as he is part of the uncertainty! I do not believe, that the weakness is entirely due to Jackson Hole - in the end, it had started way before. All these very fine people in Charlottesville and other issues are hunting him!

Hurrican Harvey is devastating Houston...as much rain in very few days as we have in Germany in a full year - and it´s raining quite a bit here! Damage estimates are still very uncertain, but could go to 100 bill US$. Prices for Gasoline and Natural Gas are rising. Trump might need a few ten thousand Mexicans to help rebuilding Texas!

Base metals especially, and also gold are profiting from the weak US$ - the former are up by 2-3% today, gold by about 1%. as the US$ is only about 0,5% weaker against the A$, A$-metal prices are looking very sexy.

Rare Earth / Lynas / Peak - I am a little confused to which price for Rare Earth different companies / analysts are actually using - wether it´s incl VAT or not including VAT. Some people quote today´s price as 65$, some as 76 US$/kg....in any case, very strong and up from about 30$ at the beginning of the year. 

Lynas , using 65 US$/kg as today´s price, could actually make 250 Mill EBITDA in a full year....I have little doubt, that all convertibles would be exercised, resulting in total shares outstanding of a staggering 6.7 Billion shares. There are still 200 Mill US$ in debt outstanding - so the EV is roughly 1.3 Bill A$! This is equivalent to 5x EV/EBITDA...not that bad for the only significant producer of Rare Earth outside of China. But to make this stock a bargain, one actually has to use say 85 US$/kg for Pr/Nd - which is a distinct chance over the next year or two. Lynas are really the only signficant player worldwide...and with potential, to produce 400 Mill A$ in EBITDA at 85 US$/Nd PR, I think the stock is worth investing.

Peak Resources would produce just about 50% of the amount of Nd/Pr Lynas are producing , or about 2.800t p.a. according to the recent optimisation study. The project would produce 220 mill A$ in yearly EBITDA at 85 us$ for ND/Pr - again, roughly 50% of what LYC could generate. The After tax NPV10 would be 729 Mill A$. The World Bank and private equity investor Appian hold 25% of the project directly, PEK 75% - the former 2 also hold about the same % of PEK´s equity. PEK would need approx 550 mill A$ in pre-production + working capital for the plant in Tanzania, and the processing plant in England. A lot of money - but this is a strategic investment. At a market cap of only 20 mill A$ as at today, the upside is pretty dramatic,. But I have already indicated the major problem: The resource is in Tanzania, and currently the enviroment for miners is such, that I would rule out any significant bank-financing in Tanzania. But we have seen these things before - they will ( over time ) rectify themselves. But in any case, the country risk is very high currently - as is the upside...there is a lot of room between 500 Mill A$ NPV and 20 Mill$ market cap!! In my view, this more than covers the risks of Tanzania! PEK have announced, that they will shortly conduct a rights issue at 4ct - so this is nothing for short term punters! But this is the Rare Earth investment with real upside and speculative appeal....while Lynas is surely developing into a real investment grade stock, with some upside, but we are talking 30-50% here over the next 1-2 years, if Rare Earth price do, what I think they will do.

Caravel Minerals - I have been invested with a small holding in this one for a while. At a market cap of 5 mill$, it´s sort of a copper-option. The company is developing ( or rather: holding, as they did not have any cash ) a large copper deposit not far from Perth, with a resource of about 800.000t of copper at a cut-off grade 0,25%. A scoping study done last year has indicated commercial viability, by using a 15 millt p.a. processing plant. The study assumed a strip ratio of 1:1, a copper price of 2,75 US$ and an exchange rate of 72ct - the latter two are about equivalent of today´s prices. The resulting NPV7 ( obviously, using 7%, is a bit low! ), arrived at an after tax NPV of more than 500 Mill A$ = 100x the current share price. Problem as ususal: 440 mill A$ in capex! The company is coming to life again at a copper price of 3.10 US$, as at today....Recently, they did a small placement, largely done to a group of smart guys, who want to use an innovative ore-sorting method, to enrich grades before processing. This would not only cut opex of 1.50 US$ cash costs /lb, but also potentially reduce throughput rates and hence the initial capex. 

I think one day, the market will revisite these small/ultra-small developers....once that happens, the market cap could very quickly go back to 10 mill$ very easily, before you start even noticing. Obviously, there is absolutely no interest in this sort of company right now - so you should really see an investment here as a pure option. If long term forecats are right, and the EV-market actually does need as much copper as some analysts believe, we could have a bit of fun here!

Foran Mining - another one of the smaller developers, which has done absolutely nothing. As you know, I have been holding this little Canadian stock for some time now, and I have not given up! What more do you want but a holder of a zinc/lead/copper reserve in the current enviroment??? Smart people running it, and one day, tehy will realize value from the resource. I have not seen any recent calculations, but at current metal prices, the NPV should be close to 500 Mill Can$ or so - in any case dramatically higher than the current market cap of 27 Mill can$! Hudson Bay only have a few years of mine life left to feed their smelter, and one day they will get nervous and bid for this little beauty! Well, I hope - in any case, there is a lot of value for the patient investor.

back to some real , more sizeable and tradable investments....:

Dacian Gold - Dacian is developing the Mt Morgans gold project in Western Australia, with an initial reserve of 1.2 mill ounces. The company is cashed up with 114 mill A$ in cash, and a 150 mill debt facility ( 105 still available ). It´s more tha fully financed. Underground development has started and is ahead of schedule, the open pit will start by year end, and first production in March 2018. The company is run by experienced operator Rowan Williams. There is a lot of exploration potential, and the company is targeting it with a large 15 mill A$ budget. 

The project will produce more than 200.000 oz p.a., at AISC of approx 1000 A$/oz, generating between 100-and 120 mill A$ in free cash p.a. at current gold prices. The company is budgeting for 8 years of production, as some of the underground production will come from indicated resources.

DCN had a failed attempt at a placement a while ago, and finally raised the necessary equity at 2$, a level they have subsequently traded at for some time. I think this is now overcome, and once in production, the company will probably trade more in line with other,established producers in Australia. This should drive a re-rating to an EV of 750-800 mill A$, giving us upside of about 30%. Nothing fantastic, but nice enough to consider,  and exploration could be a nice profit driver here. In the end, there are not many Australian gold stocks of reasonable size, which offer 30% upside in a save jurisdiction, without needing any help from a better gold price. Also, I think the stock will be included in the GDXJ in the not too distant future, offering some nice buying support. The market would very much welcome a new, halfway sizeable producer of reasonably good quality - DCN would fit this.

Perseus - Hartley´s initiated coverage with a buy, and 58ct valuation. That might be a bit rich at their gold price forecast, which is essentially unchanged going forward - but what I find interesting is, that they indicate a sensitivity of 64% in earnings on a 10% improvement on gold price - that is very tempting for gold bulls and one of the reasons, why I like PRU.They remain just about the most leverage stock in my universe of reasonable quality! The stock has clearly been left behind vs the recent move in the gold price, and should have some shorter term catch-up- , as well as some longer term rerating potential.

Have a nice evening

WS

General - West African - Prairie Mining - Strike - Panoramic

Good afternoon

well I always feel bad for my long absence...back from holidays for a few days, and then another week...but I have to admit, that I really enjoyed the beautiful island Sylt in Northern Germany ( for Aussies, hard to imagine, that somebody enjoys beach-holiday with average daily temperature of say 18 degrees! ) and some time on my family farm near Hamburg! Life can be great!

And it´s even more enjoyable, when metal markets are running hot! Copper has advanced 20% this year ( 5% since 31.7. 2017 ), Zinc by 19% ( 9,5% since 31.7. ), Nickel by 15% ( and 12% since 31.7. ), cobalt and Rare Earth have just about doubled this year, and even gold is up by 12.7% ( and by 2.5% since 31.7. ). Iron ore, Coking Coal and Thermal Coal are trading at great prices, which nobody would have thought possible not too long ago - and yet, this does not feel like a bull market at all. We have had some nice share prices lately - but there still is very little euphoria around, if any - and small developers have not shared the rise at all. In a way, that is positive and allows investors to take positions , while everything is quiet - but a little more fun would be apreciated!

What has led to the strength in metals? First and foremost, I think it´s the economic performance of China, which ahs been better than sceptical investors had estimated. But I think in sentiment, the big improvement has come from the dramatic shift in favour of electrical cars. I can feel this with myself - just a few month ago, I ordered my new AUDI Diesel - already now, I feel almost embarassed to not have ordered at least a hybrid car! Thios thing has huge political wind behind it, and I think there is a chance, that this electrical revolution will spread even faster, than it´s looking now. Nickel, Copper, Rare Earth, Cobalt , Lithium - they are the metals of the future, and fantastic numbers of fresh demand are being mentioned. And in almost all of these metals, supply/demand is pretty balanced now. So additional demand might have a pretty explosive impact. 

The big unknown for all of this is technology change: Will engines need Rare Earth in 2025? Will the batteries need more nickel than now? Will they need graphite? 

In this regard, the recent decision by Tesla, to change from induction engine ( which does not need any Rare Earth ) to a permanent-magnet engine for it´s new model, has been sensational news and has put a rocket under the prices for Neodynium/ Praesodynium, which nearly doubled this year and exploded on the news.

Generally, we also had some more news on supply disruptions, which have certainly helped as well. From continung problems at the worlds second largest mine, Grasberg in Indonesia, to power problems in Zambia, copper has been a big beneficiary here, as coking coal, iron ore and thermal coal have been beneficiaries of closures of enviromentally problematic mines in China. And nickel has benefited from continuing pressure on nickel ore mines in the Phillippines and Indonesia. On top of this, investors are starting to understand, that EV´s could nearly double the demand for nickel from sulphide and lateritic depeosits, which is the only material for use in batteries.

So potentially, the fun has only just started!!

Funny enough, not all stocks have profited from the above as yet. Australian Lithium producers have been very disappointing generally. GXY, ORE, PLS ore KDR - just to mention a few of the larger ones - have done absolutely nothing to very little this year. The only larger company, which has performed very well, is Mineral Resources. And I think I know the reason: This is a well-known compnay, management has been proven for many years, institutions like it, and they have profits from mining services + iron ore, so are not entirely relying on lithium. I have bought them some time ago, because I still do not fully understand the challenges and in/outs of lithium production - so I bought this company, relying on proven management. I think the very same reason has been behind the strong institutional buying for this name, implying, that it should make sense to look at the laggards. Improved, institutional understanding of lithium, Rare Earth, Graphite etc will drive more investment into the sector over time!

Panoramic - all of the above has been driving a slow re-rating of PAN from recent lows of around 20ct, to now 30ct - but still a far cry from 40ct-level, reached in February of this year.

As you all know, PAN are sitting on a large, more or less fully developed mine, with mine life of many years to come. While current mine-plan is for 8.5 years, I have no doubt, that PAN will still produce nickel from Savannah in 15 years - provided the nickel price is right.You might remember, that PAN announced the results of their optimised feasibility study late in July, calling for 11.000t of nickel production p.a., 5.800t of copper, and 760t of cobalt. Prices used for the optimisation study have been 4,21 US$ nickel; 2,68 US$ copper, and 27,50 US$ cobalt - as at today, the nickel price is 5,20 US$, copper is 3,05$, and cobalt is 29 US$, while the exchange used has moved from 77ct to 79ct ( a slight negative ). At todays prices, the pre-tax , NPV8 of the project is somewhere between 250-and 270 Mill A$, on my numbers. Only 20 Mill A$ in pre-production capital are needed to bring the mine back into production, + working capital. This is roughly double the current market cap, and I am sure, that the company is not far away from pushing the button to bring Savannah back into production, as the margin of Sustaining Cash Costs / A$-nickel price is approaching 50%. And why should nickel not be trading at levels substantially higher in a few years time? Given the EV-momentum, I think 6-7$ /lb on a sustainable basis are easily possible.

You know, that I have been liking this stock for a long time - but I really believe, that we are only in the early stages of a long price rally. The old high from feb 2017 should be easily justifyable - after that, 60ct, the 2015-high, should be a good target on a 2-year view.

Prairie Mining - the project continues to have strong support from the Prime Minister, his government and local authorities + people. The company announced another approval last week, to re-zone the farmland at the Jan Karski Mine to "mining"-land, an important step within the approval process. The Chines partner has submitted a first draft of the bankable feasibility study recently, and a final version is expected for September. I am just not 100%& sure of what the company can actually announced, as the study is not a study being done based on ASX_approved technicals. It could be, that this BFS will not be published in detail and that it will only be used by Chines Financing partners as the basis for lending. The product-quality is excellent, and China as well as Europe do need the product. I could there very well imagine, that this project will NOT have a big problem to recive Chinese financing, despite the current foreign investment restrictions for Chinese companies. The next step will be the announcement of the bankable feasibility study next month- I am sure, that we will get some strong indication from it, despite the ASX-restrictions.

Last but not least, share price of Polish coal producers Bogdanka and JSW have been very strong lately, adding further support and potentially, also making bids for PDZ from one or the other potentially cheaper. As London stockbroker Beaufor wrote recently: Each of PDZ´s two projects is potentially worth much more than the current share price implies, even at substanially lower coal prices than we have today!! 

West African Resources - announced some more, pretty spectacular drilling results the otheer day. While intersections have not been as long as some previous ones, they have been the deepest intersection drilled so far, extending the ore body at M1. I think the market had hoped for a new resource estimate in time for the Digegrs & dealers erly this month, which did not eventuate. Officially, the company had stated a 3rd-Quarter announcement - so September will be the month! Also, the recent terrorist attack in Ougadogou did not help sentiment, I guess. Despite this, the company has held it´s price level at 36-37ct, and I hope for the next spike with the announcement.

Strike - announced a very important, new contract with Orica during my absence. You might remember, that Orica had paid STX 7,5 Mill$ a few years ago in return for a substantial supply agreement at a gas price, which has never been published, but pretty low, as I believe - at least in comparison to todays elevated prices. Orica had also lent STX 2.5 Mill$.

Orica subsequently made a formal error, which STX used to cancel out this agreement. Orica then planned litigation to get the 7.5 Mill$ back, which would have been impossible for STX wto pay out without a placement. 

A new contract has now been agreed upon: Much reduced deliveries at better prices, a repayment of the 7.5 mill$ only on certain progress on a substabntial gas development, and an extension of the 2.5 mill$ loan from mid next year to 31.12.2018.This loan will be convertible int STx shares at a minimum of 20ct. Theis agreement is in the form of a term sheet - a final and definite agreement is planned to be fixed before the 8th of September. This will remove all uncertainties surround the old Orica-agreement.

Exciting times for STX until the end of this year - I do expect more corporate announcements, and strong progress of the project. I bought some more stock recently.

This is it for the day....and while I am finishing, it´s still raining in Houston, and gold is trading at 1306 - above 1300 for the first time in 10 month!

have a nice evening

WS

General - Oceana

Good afternoon

the German car industry received a nice 1-2 punch within 24 hours: The German Mininster of Traffic forbids the registration of all Porsche Cayenne models, using a 3ltr Audi engine, for software cheating. A German court indirectly imposes a ban of all diesel-engined cars in the town of Stuttgart from 1.1.2018 - hometown to Daimler and Porsche. I guess there might be an appeal possible.

The Trump administration slaughtering each other - terrier Scramucci is indirectly accusing Reince Priebus to be the "leak". the terrier calls him a "f......g paranoid schizophrenic". Nice administration!! About Steve Bannon: "I am not trying to suck my own d..k"! Unbelievable, that guy....Next thing, might be, that he is trying to grab Trumps p...y??? This is a new low-point in American culture.....( if that ever existed)

Vale is the next large iron ore producer cutting it´s guidance by a few million t....And Glencore paying top-$ for a stake in ex-RIO´s Hunter Valley thermal coal mines. GLEN are obviously very smart - big expression of confidence in thermal coal! So the good news for bulk-producers continues...

Citi is citing a very positive update from CAT ( and Komatsu today with equally good numbers ), strong order-intake from infrastructure contractors in China, and a 10% increase in whitegood sales as being a very positive indicator for this half´s growth in China.

Spanish + Swedish economy growing very strongly, while German CPI much stronger than expected ( 1,7% vs 1.5% expected ). GDP first estimate for the US is +2.6%, while inflation is still nowhere to be seen. Unsurprisingly, bonds are pretty weak here in Germany - the US$ is back down to 1.17 against the Euro - A$ under pressure and bounced from chart resistance at 81ct to just 79.4 today.

Base metals mixed - zinc is weak - nickel/tin a little better - but as the day progresses, everything is turning green agani! There seem to be some real legs to this rally - normally, I would have expected profit-taking following such a strong week.  Cobalt in London retreated over the last week or two from 6.000$t to 5700$/t.

Oceana Gold - had a disappointing Quarter at their new mine, Haile. Grades were much lower than expected, and the plant recovery was also below plan. Especially the grades are a bit of a worry - I guess recoveries will only need fine tuning. This is a real dent into their otherwise impeccable, operational performance in recent times....and a president, who is very subjective and emotional with regards to mining like Duerte, is not really serving them well in reducing country risk in the Phillipines. OGC is one of the best managed, Australian mining companies - one has to watch Haile carefully, but potentially, a nice buying opportunity developing here. But not yet!

Have a nice weekend!

I will be on holidays - might make the odd, unqualified commentary from the wonderful island Sylt!

WS