RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:S/Ni Ratio QuestionsGreat points raised!
The mill is a large investment and is being treated as a seperate business venture. Someone asked about this during the NIckel investment conference last year (through Crux). For the large low grade sulphides - it is generally beleived that the Major that takes them over would build that. The scale being built here is for 30-40 years providing approx 250M EBIDTA yearly. Also, with all these additional properties the scale could greatly increase. However - questioning where the mill comes from is something we should all ask and understand I beleive.
While Ausenco is getting paid by CNC to complete their PEA - they rely on their reputation in order to work on projects. Ausenco is a multinational company that appears to both do economic studies as well as help build projects. On Crux, I beleive that MS was referring to some PEAs not being worth the paper they are printed on as part of making a point that Ausenco is a legit firm with a reputation amongst the Majors of the world. I had the same question initially - but my research (albeit by a retail investor) found that they are a large and well respected company that works on alot of large projects.
Your point about decreased opex I cant answer because I dont know much about Iron transport costs and whether it is well accounted for in the PEA - does anyone have info on this?
For me - I have invested in CNC because it appears to be the best option for who can actually supply nickel to the North American market. Nickel sourced from other countries have expense issues with travel; or issues with high carbon attached to the projects.
I feel confident that Large low grade nickel projects are economic as long as they have good infrastructure. But are they economic enough for the majors to care? Are they holding out hope for a large scale high grade deposit somwhere?
I really want to see interest by the majors, and the strategic partner is a good opportunity to show the market that this WILL become a mine.
JMO