The first shipment of concentrated is expected this week. Resource upgrade expected early May now after merger news has been released. The resource upgrade should help commence the next leg up on the share price.
Bald Hill Project Production Upside Potential
Fines circuit to treat otherwise stockpiled <1mm fines and 1mm-5.6mm middlings at the rate of 300,000-400,000tpa. Increase production by up to 25% at incremental cost. Metallurgy points to fines DMS, low capital and operating cost, lower risk.
One stage of tantalum concentration commences in March 2018, other two stages of tantalum production expected to commence later in 2018.
A second DMS circuit under consideration, subject to Reserve upgrade:
o Strong demand for spodumene concentrate with strong likelihood of additional offtake prepayments
o DMS circuit would have a low capital cost and fast payback
o Would be very similar to recently completed Stage 1 DMS, with design improvements
o Construction time expected to be faster than the 7 months taken for the Stage 1 DMS
o Significant benefits to costs due to high ratio of fixed costs as a result of low consumable consumption
Lowest Capex Lithium Project in Australia
Contract mining
Contract crushing
Staged development
Exceptional metallurgical characteristics
New 1,200ktpa spodumene DMS circuit’s annual forecast production of 155,000t of concentrate
Separate (existing) 350ktpa tantalum plant
Limited additional infrastructure required
Major Shareholders (as at 12 March 2018) % ---------------------------------------------
JP Morgan Nominees* 15.79% Citicorp Nominees 9.90% Merriwee Pty Ltd 5.94% Chalmsbury Nominees 5.24% UBS Nominees 4.37% Top 20 60.69%
The resource upgrade gave an exit window for the people who are concerned about the upcoming merger, that's why the price didn't take off. And rightly so. Given the merger conditions, it's perfectly feasible for AMAL to sell off Bald Hill to Baowei (nee Burwill) for a song in return for a packet under the table and there's nothing the ex-Tawana holders could do about it. Sale of assets don't require any shareholder vote even if there is only one asset. Nobody wants AMAL. Only the mine is of interest.