Good afternoon
laizy Friday today for equities...but metals are rebounding today, as the US$ is slightly weaker.
the speculation in anything to do with battery metals is continuing...you just need cobalt in your company name, of announce something with some kind of relevance, and punters are piling in! In many cases, certainly a bit crazy...be cautious!
The other area of big speculation is still ongoing as well - that´s the conglomerate gold story in the Pilbara. Again - at least highly speculative, if not mad! But punters are loving it - and god knows - in the end, they might be right? I think the odds are against them...
91.000 EV`s ( + 106% vs last year ) have been bought in Chana in October...EV´s are booming there, but it´s unclear - well, to me at least - whether subsidies are continuing.
Grasberg, the world´s second largest copper mine, with 490.000t of annual production, has been in trouble for some time now, as the Indonesian government is trying to increase ownership. As if this would not be enough, the mines safety is now threatened by armed seperatists, who have occupied a few, nearby villages. What a difficult country!!!
In their monthly email, Evolution is making a good point: In terms of production costs AISC, the three cheapest producers have all been Australian: EVN, RRL and SBM....with Saracen and Northern Star not far behind. This confirms, what we have been saying: The Australian gold sector is doing extremely well these days!
Pilbara s - as you know, the companies is developing one of the world´s largest hard rock deposits in Western Australia, producing spodumene, and going into production soon ( spodumene is lithium concentrate ). The company has today announced a MOU with Polaris Shpping and LG Chem, to develop a chemical facility in South Korea to produce 30.000t of lithium hydroxide = battery lithium. This is only a MOU so far - but certainly good news. Over and above current off-take agreements, the ore body is large enough to supply ample demand!
Chalice - IF you want to play conglomerates, this is a very save way to do so. I am not a shareholder currently, but am tempted. 53 Mill A$ market cap, 50 mill A$ cash in the bank. They have done it twice ove rthe last few years, without really hitting the big jack-pot, though. And certainly, tehy have missed the opportunity to buy something real during the bear-market. But they are currently exploring a gold project in Quebec, which is called East Cadillac, which I like. Total exploration spend is 7.5 mill$ under the current budget - that is very active for a small company. Their conglomerate asset, you ahve for free - whatever that´s wort ( as you know, I am a non-believer! ). But I do like the Canadian asset! Some people are criticising Tim Goyder for his salary - if I recall correctly, it´s 500.000$ or so - but Tim is very wealthy himslef, does not need to rip off his company, and has not done so in many years. On the contrary, he has supported Chalice and other companies in his camp very often in the past, and has never sold a share! At 20.5ct and just about cahs backing, with blue sky from some share ramp possibility re conglomerates, and a good , active exploration project in Canada, this is worth investment, in my opinion.
Have a nice weekend!
WS