RE: My only concern What concerns?
I understood that Abcourt has already hired another mining engineer as I have previously posted. Anyone can be replaced. The world is full of competent individuals well suited to fill many different roles and perform different tasks.
If Renaud HInse does decide to leave this world for that better place, I would certainly be surprised. He strikes me as a very rugged individual!
In any case, if bad fortune does dictate that fateful outcome, sooner than later, then there are always the surviving younger family members, who would take good care of their personal financial interest in the company.
It would simply be a matter of an estate transfer of ownership. A lot of Hinse's personal investment is already held in trust. That will have very favorable tax advantages at the time of his death. He obviously has had access to good legal and accounting advice.
Abcourt mines has no long term debt. This is an incredible advantage to the company at the present time. But it is also one of the reasons why the stock has been trading so cheaply. The sellers may feel that Hinse ran the company much too conservatively and will always be reluctant to change.
But they may be forgetting that the higher gold price now makes the start up of the Sleeping Giant mine, a much more likely, shorter term outcome. No debt issuance may now be necessary at all. Maybe a 2021 start-up is now a very likely scenario. The financial numbers won't confirm this possibility until nearer to the end of this year.
Hinse has made it perfectly clear that he needs the second mine's additional ore to maximize the profitability of the mill. The limited supply of ore transported from the Elder mine is insufficient to accomplish that task. He really needs the Sleeping Giant mine's production!
But the company also needs to extend each mine's lifespan. A four year life is not enough to impress any longer term investor. Drilling needs to be done at both mines.
Both mines are favorably located near multiple fault lines, and where they converge, a lot more gold is very often found.
Little has been mentioned on this forum about Abcourt Mine's 31.5% joint venture with Midland Exploration at the Laflamme property, favorably located near the Sleeping Giant mine. This gold property also contains known PGM resources at the Copernick section. As everyone knows, platinum and palladium are very valuable metals.
When Abcourt Mines becomes a more profitable operation, a couple of years from now, perhaps some addtional exposure to the PGM sector would add significant value to its share price. But the available resources of these two metals, as well as the Cu/Au content already in place there, needs to be better defined on that property. Drilling will do that. The geophysics has been done.
A much more profitable Abcourt Mines could do a better job at exploiting that very nearby resource. Midland might decide to continue to joint venture with Abcourt. But there would be a cost involved for them. Their J/V position could always be exchanged for a reasonable royalty. Or they might, just decide to sell their remaining position, whatever may be left.
https://www.midlandexploration.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Laflamme-JV-Website-Avril-2020.pdf Abcourt also has exposure to the base metal zinc, as well, to significant silver at its Abcourt-Barvue property. But for now, zinc is out of favor with the market. And gold still has more luster than silver. That mine will one day be, more fully developed. But its time has not yet come.
For now, the gold and PGM mining sector is where the highest returns will be made. Place your bets!
All the best! Java