Post by
RatPatrol on Jan 28, 2021 5:52pm
Whither BHP?
BHP owns 13% of SolGold, equal to Newcrest's holding.
HOWEVER, BHP's market cap is 10 times larger than Newcrest's.
And to place this into perspective, financing Cascabel might be $3B ( this capital cost may be Very Wrong).
BHP has been exploring Ecuador in a small way, for more than 25 years.
It staked what is now the Mirador Mine in southeast Ecuador (Corriente Resources) but
sold it to Tongling Copper after deeming it to be too small in its corporate plans.
BHP took back a NSR on this mine's production.
BHP AT LEAST is finding out how the Chinese are treating others in Ecuador.
So BHP and Newcrest are EQUALS in SolGold at this moment.
BHP bought its shares later but no matter.
Both BHP and Newcrest (thru' its 32% shareholding plus an NSR on Lundin's Fruta de Norte
mine production) know Ecuador WELL.
SolGold is Ecuador's largest concession holder by number (I think) and by acreage.
And ALL concessions presently staked and paid for are exempt from adverse implications
coming out of the referendum Feb. 7th.
Up until a few months ago, BHP was planning a very large expansion (doubling the size
I believe) of its Boulder Dam mine (copper/uranium).
This plan has been shelved, BUT NOT because of copper's outlook.
OBSERVATIONS
1) BHP needs to fill copper demand fairly quickly.
2) Cascabel could fill this copper demand fairly quickly.
3) The big idea would be for BHP to outbid Newcrest to own SolGold.
4) The Smart idea would be to joint venture with Newcrest; something like
this was realized in the Carlin trend Only 2 years ago after Barrick and Newmont
EXPENSIVELY BUTTED HEADS FOR 3 DECADES!
Soooooo........
SolGold is possibly too big and complicated an elephant to be carved up at one sitting.
BHP, even in spite of its size, may jointly take out SolGold with Newcrest.
But focus on Cascabel.
And leave the other concessions to...
Cornerstone?
We c......
DYODD.