ML is Superior to MOLFor the moment, the market has favored MOL over ML, but that is for two reasons.
MOL has been the recipient of an enormous amount of gratuitous hype. And secondly, the market is not yet sophisticated enough to understand the importance of the distinction between a copper-molybdenum Phorphory, found primarily in the U.S (Mineral Park, Bagdad, and Sierreta) and the other kind, a molybdenum-copper Phorphory, (a good example of that is the Moly property in Australia)
Why is the distinction important?
Because, when there are weak copper grades below 0.1% in a moly/copper deposit (and that distinction characterizes most of the MOL deposit) the copper is detrimental to the project, because it costs more to remove it from the molydenite concentrate than it is worth. So, when MOL finally gets around to doing their metallurgical testing, they may be in for a very big shock. Most of their copper is in this ultra low grade category, and it is a containment.
No such problem exists for ML. They are light years ahead of MOL in terms of the operational dynamics of their mine. Their meteralical tests have had supurb results, and in fact are superior to Bagdad and Sieretta, two of the most renown copper-moly producers in the world. Beyond that, ML’s Mineral Park has the added pedigree of having had its copper moly ore successfully produced for 16 consecutive years by Cyprus. In fact, their ore was so desirable, that it was sometimes shipped to the Sieretta mine to bolster its recoveries!
Finally, ML has the financial flexibility of having the ability to produce sizeable quantities of copper, which is important, because it can be forward hedged, and right now, molybdenum cannot. So lets say copper does make its was back up to $4.00. ML could, if it wanted to, to sell forward 50 million pounds, and with the proceeds, completely eliminate their outstanding Notes, and in the process, virtually eliminate the dilution that accompanied their expansion. MOL could never do anything of the sort, and instead will be saddled with maybe a 150 million share dilution (IF they have a successful Feasibilty Study, including viable metallurgy) to pay for their expansion.