My impressions on the live investor call
After I watched this session twice, I was left with three clear impressions. But first, the headline quotes that kicked off the session and anchored the theme of the communication:
“unequivocally good results we’re getting at ST”
“gone well beyond the confirmation of the historical resource”
“now firmly into the expansion of that resource”
Now, my impressions:
1) They are listening and responding to retail investors
This is evidenced by the fact that they had a cross functional team there (Ian and Adam, Richard was intended but didn’t make it).
They spoke directly to retail; they had an extended, live Q&A.
They addressed hot issues:
- drilling suspension NR
- lack of news flow (they admitted more than once news has been absent, and is needed)
- the project timeline again - this repetition is good. They gave some definition of each step/milestone, indicated that new drill rigs is the critical assumption, they admitted it is an aggressive, stretch target, but still achievable.
Overall, they took some critical comments/questions in stride (e.g., not being concrete in terms of security concerns), particularly Adam, and there was noticeable candor. As if they let their guard down - very refreshing.
1:13:20 About investor outreach:
“…know that we’ll work during that time with a very robust outreach program. We have institutional outreach, we have retail outreach programs going on all the time. We will definitely turn those up to a higher level at the point in time when we think the markets are going to be more responsive”
It seems here that by “during that time,” Adam was referring to the fall of 2022 when he hopes the general equity markets will recover, the price of copper may be higher, and Oroco will have more defined what it has
Adam left us with the comment: “let’s do this frequently. It is great for you and great for us as well.”
2) A new hierarchy is evident
There is a clear sense from Ian that Richard Lock is driving a sense of urgency, and my impression was that they defer to his leadership, which allows them to focus on their core roles.
In reference to the PEA project timeline: “this definitely reflects a focus that Richard has brought to really increase the speed of generating our data and a sense of urgency to get to PEA milestone”
“[the PEA] timeline has all of our attention”
In response to a question about adding new new rigs: “Richard is cracking the whip…we are resourced and prepared to start increasing rigs”
However, they were quite vague about this topic and especially the “when.” Sounds like they are waiting on the necessary water permitting.
Richard said “you guys are a lot closer to the target than you think. Here’s how we’re going to go forward”
Ian referred more than once to “the more expedited approach that Richard brings”
3) They maintain their stance on releasing drill results
At least from Adam’s perspective, the MO is clear - they will not make forward-looking statements on drill results. That is, no discussion of when or how often they might be coming. He said there is a history of Oroco making forward looking statements and timelines are tough to meet, so he’s not going to touch that. I may be too young an Oroco investor to recall this, other than Craig Dalziel making relatively recent comments on pending results, I don’t know to what Adam is referring. Perhaps others can clarify.
In regard to WHAT they will release, Adam articulated 1) that they are well aware of the urgent need for drill results and 2) that they are favoring context over speed. In other words, they want enough holes in a batched release to support conclusions rather than single observation speculation.
Ian gave great color on drilling progress as well as some key figures. Their current drill rate is about 35m per day at a cost of USD $700-720 per meter. He also made the comment that this is a “commercially focused drill campaign.” This supports their strategy of an expedited, successful financial exit.