RE:RE:RE:what exactly is the "supply chain" in this case??
@bigguy56 and others: I have digested some of your prior posts and I have to chirp up as I feel you, and others might be getting (waaay) off track here. To better understand what causes radiation in Central African Copperbelt ores, kindly read my SH post linked below written just after KAT announced it's cessation of Cobalt Exports and fully ONE MONTH ago already (6th November), so certainly nothing new to close KAT watchers:
https://www.stockhouse.com/companies/bullboard/t.kat/katanga-mining-ltd?postid=28933202
And might I suggest that when you hear government officials talk to Reuters and Bloomberg about "Supply Chain" issues, you must not make the naiive mistake you did thinking immediately that something nefarious was up (mentioning as you did, "BreEx", and suggesting as you did, in your own words, that Uranium "salting" may have happened). Why? Well as it happens, those DRC officials ARE CORRECT.
KAT has many problems: terrible IR (= none), no Corporate presence in Canada anymore, a CEO who in all fairness, cannot and probably never has been on a Broker sponsored roadshow to Market KAT and build Buy Side support. He too, has also probably never arranged and conducted Broker Analyst Site Trips from Europe & North America to site in the DRC to do his job to build Sell Side support. BUT, it must be admitted too, for all their obvious faults, these guys ARE GOOD MINING ENGINEERS and they KNOW how to operate in the DRC.
So that's the positive... the negative is that they may have been under immense pressure to attain production on time and on target and NEGLECTED THE SUPPLY CHAIN.
To put it simply, Ore is produced from blasting in Open Pits following significant and prior PRODUCTION DRILLING. This drilling defines the SUPPLY CHAIN.
From this, Ore types (High Grade Cu containing High Grade U (or not as the case may be) ordinarily are categorized such that the RADIOMETRIC CONTENT IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN CAN BE CONTROLLED.
The rule of thumb is simply: deliterious elements in, deliterious elements out. Meaning you've got to have full confidence in your ore supply chain otherwise you're going to get into trouble.
But it's really simple. It's just called ORE BLENDING.
So in their rush to Production, it seems to me that insufficient, or poor (or both) PRODUCTION DRILLING OCCURRED (Ore Type Definition drilling) as well, poor or ineffective (or both) ORE BLENDING too, took place.
These matters will get fixed. In the meantime, KAT may have opportunity to better measure and blend what Co powder has already been produced, mix it with "cleaner", newer product , such that everything going forward meets and passes Radiometric content levels. And in the interim, build an Ion Exchange circuit so that all Radiometric levels henceforth, are reduced back to safe export levels.
I hope this makes sense. Good luck with your positions.
These are my views only. Thanks for reading.
* if you or others want a deeper dive into KAT, read my Seeking Alpha KAT Blog here: https://seekingalpha.com/instablog/31295425-kvn/5043562-katff-huge-undervalued-opportunity-minority-shareholders-independent-directors-take-glencore?v=1543600888