OK. I'm starting here. The reason for this is the new CEO Diane Garrett.
Diane Garrett was named CEO and Director of Hycroft yesterday. Reaction on the stock market: minus. Reaction in forums: zero point zero.
It may be that Sprott, with an investment of 140mUSD in Hycroft and me, assess the current situation overly optimistically. But take a look on Track Record from Diane Garrett:
- Haile project at Romarco developed for takeover to OceanaGold
- Director of NovaGold Resources Inc., 50% / 50% joint venture with Barrick Gold, 39moz M&I Gold, $ 3 billion market capitalization.
- a doctorate in engineering and a master's degree in mineral economics
The largest single shareholder in NovaGold is Electrum Strategic with 25.7%. For the past few years at Nickel Creek Platinum, Electrum Strategic NCP (Diane Garrett) has primarily financed NCP and currently owns 33.9% plus warrants.
My prediction: Garrett will need $ 225m within 5 years to start up Hycroft. Electrum Strategic will fund a nice part of it!
With her experience, Diane Garrett is not at the beginning of a career; but at the peak. I'm not assuming that a woman of her Track Record and expertise would embark on a rash adventure and ruin her professional life.
One more thing about DG's performance at NCP: She really cannot be held responsible for the collapse in the nickel price and the delayed EV revolution.
Briefly about Hycroft:
- P&P 18m AuEq, M&I 31m AuEq.
- 2/3 gold / 1/3 silver. In-situ worth $ 60B,
- $ 400m investment made on site.
- FS with $ 1,300 Au / $ 17.33 Ag and an NPV of $ 2 billion.
- Current market capitalization $ 450m. Listed on the NASDAQ
Link ppt presentation:
https://www.hycroftmining.com/wp-content/uploads/Hycroft-Presentation-Sprott-July-2020-SMJ.pdf
Problem with Hycroft: Absolute low grades with 0.4g / tAuEq. Technically very demanding; Mine should be run up to a gigantic 110ktpd, with a new - on a large scale not yet tested - Leach process, where soda ash (Trona) is added.
Allied Nevada (former owner of the mine) did not go bankrupt due to technical problems. The gold price of $ 1,200 / oz was too low and the debt too high.
We will see!
urai58