Transformed: The New Lens
Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:03 pm
For many GGP shareholders ... I think it's necessary to reshape your thinking:
Hard, but we have to look at Greatland through an entirely new lens: The company has been truly transformed by Shaun Day. Simply put it's not a 'JUNIOR GOLD developer' anymore - it's a now top 5 Oz (soon to be ASX listed) 'gold miner'. Obviously a HUGE SUCESS from management using extremely clever deal execution and leveraged circumstances.. IMO Shaun Day is yet to be fully recognised by the market for this frankly astonishing achievement (but don't worry, that's still to come). Skeptics are there, after all, to be won over.
To the Old Guard GGP LTH - you know who you are - we have to accept there probably won't be that much exploration news or new link ups/ JVs with far flung organisations for some time (especially with speculative tosh with nothing tangible to offer - ie Wishbone or GBP).
I'm not saying there won't be new drilling; at EG, Scally or Black hills or even Goliath (does anyone actually recall that we had gold hits over there?) I'm, sure that will continue. I think the Greatland's intense focus will NOW principally, and rightly, be fully on transforming Telfer.
Telfer is just a massive proven, former T1, globally significant, gold mine. Transforming it back into a major, highly profitable gold/copper asset is by far the biggest and best and most immediate opportunity for Greatland.
Simply put - It's immediate payback. Every dollar spent at Telfer directly improves our balance sheet - which in turn, directly increases the chances of perfect execution success at Havieron. Telfer pays for Havieron...but Havieron makes us filthy rich.
We ALL know Havieron is this exceptional, massive asset. The delivery of its full development will not only be hugely profitable, but also probably fairly complicated and time consuming from an engineering perspective - transforming it into at 5-6-7mt mine won't be easy. Unless they plan to block cave it. But I assume thats not possible anytime soon ... or at least until we get down 1500m to the base of the Eastern breccia or whatever many years away.
There is a well known adage, within the mining industry - that a junior bringing on a single development asset, as a single asset company, with debt on the balance sheet, is about the most risky scenario in mining. Period. Which on the bright side means, there is a lot of upside from here too (hence the SP roller coaster since the first MRE).
BUT The fact is - we NOW have effectively side-stepped much of that risk with our acquisition of 300-400koz PA gold mine in Telfer, humming away for what? - 2, 3, 5 or maybe even 10 more years, slamming Greatland fully into the 'investable bucket'. Greatland and Havieron are now hugely de risked.
The fact stands, extending Telfer's mine life is more important than anything to GGP shareholders, right now...And TBF probably even more important than another big discovery.. Just look at Hummingbird; two massive discoveries - no method of paying for them.
Over the past few years Greatland just went from being in the 'F**k bucket' (ie almost running out of cash and the 5% debacle) , to the 'chop bucket' - operational success in closing the deal to secure 100% , into the 'investible bucket' (showing a viable journey to execute the development of Havieron) .
For a long time - We were led to believe the narrative that Telfer was running out of gold.
I'm not sure where that came from , probably Gervais and Callum - but we were led to believed that's why Havieron was so critical to Telfer. Which long term, sure, it was... so it was not dishonest... However we now understand Telfer's short mine life was probably more a function of NCMs operational laziness and competition for capital within the group than Telfer running out of gold.
SO - The truth, it transpires was slightly different. Gaining 100% of Hav was critical to Telfer and NCM long term because they saw Telfer as too low grade and as a problem asset compared to Cadia. But the Telfer benefits, timescales (and problems) were not widely understood by us. Shaun day has always said Telfer was ripe for a massive overhaul. Telfer is so big, Day says, it may easily run for another 5-10 years "or like Jundee, another 20 years", if the gold price environment supports economic production. And if better management can address the fixed costs. This will take time but it will happen.
And remember- very large, lower grade bulk deposits like Telfer give you the highest torque to the gold price. As we’ve just seen Telfer makes unbelievable amounts of cash with 20mt running through the mill. Conversely : High grade deposits protect you from downside and bankruptcy. Fortunately we have both!.
I can’t emphasise enough that when I first met SD a few years back how excited he was at the prospect of making a huge efficiency savings as boss man at Telfer - King of the Patterson we joked. He was literally chomping at the bit back then, 3 years ago. He ripped apart and ridiculed the way NCM ran things at Telfer with that "stupid little black NCM book of theirs called "How to mine gold” ...from the 1980s, that they still followed, to the letter". That's just how they did it... stuck in a time warp or whatever.
At the time, his pipe dream had no context, because I don’t think I/we believed he could pull it off - it was like a slightly outrageous childhood fantasy or something. How could GGP possibly buy Telfer, and Havieron?!? - Well - just look at how the cookie crumbled.
The lesson? Don't ever underestimate Shaun Day.
And the cash - I mean $89m USD in the first 27 days - clearly facilitates a low risk pathway to a full scale GGP controlled DFS development of Havieron (ie not a 2 or 3mt operation but a 5-6-7Mt gig) Once production is executed, other opportunities such as Antipa will be considered to fill Telfer AS REQUIRED. Reality is, today we are a long way from that IMO.
Interestingly also, today, was the Money of mIne Podcast where GGP headlines the show and they obviously like what they see in this shortened quarterly... so it's well worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuFzzLYV-lI
But also Matty Michael, the ex miner discussed something totally new: - pretty crucial fresh NEW intelligence that I haven't ever heard before :
Apparently there is gold everywhere {at Telfer} and at some point there was once a high level plan to mine the whole zone between the main dome open pit and the the west dome open pit and underground. That's an absolutely massive opportunity to contemplate but presumably the 2016- 2018 gold price most probably precluded it...
Hello $4400 AUD gold my old friend... Total Game changer at Telfer. Like Shaun says "there has never been a better time to own Telfer". Watching his disciplined approach to capital allocation will be an education, thats for sure.
Also of note - Ali was flagging that if we're domiciled in Oz then wouldn't need FIRB approvals for future M&A deals..
The next key transformation I expect will be a steady re-rate to match up to our Australian peer valuations, such as Evolution and Degrey,... IMO GGP is way better near term, and will become a top 4/5 Australian gold miner and maybe a top 2nd /3rd Australian miner over 5 years:
I can guarantee that re-valuation hasn't happened - yet - and it is going to be quite a ride.
Enjoy ;0)
Hard, but we have to look at Greatland through an entirely new lens: The company has been truly transformed by Shaun Day. Simply put it's not a 'JUNIOR GOLD developer' anymore - it's a now top 5 Oz (soon to be ASX listed) 'gold miner'. Obviously a HUGE SUCESS from management using extremely clever deal execution and leveraged circumstances.. IMO Shaun Day is yet to be fully recognised by the market for this frankly astonishing achievement (but don't worry, that's still to come). Skeptics are there, after all, to be won over.
To the Old Guard GGP LTH - you know who you are - we have to accept there probably won't be that much exploration news or new link ups/ JVs with far flung organisations for some time (especially with speculative tosh with nothing tangible to offer - ie Wishbone or GBP).
I'm not saying there won't be new drilling; at EG, Scally or Black hills or even Goliath (does anyone actually recall that we had gold hits over there?) I'm, sure that will continue. I think the Greatland's intense focus will NOW principally, and rightly, be fully on transforming Telfer.
Telfer is just a massive proven, former T1, globally significant, gold mine. Transforming it back into a major, highly profitable gold/copper asset is by far the biggest and best and most immediate opportunity for Greatland.
Simply put - It's immediate payback. Every dollar spent at Telfer directly improves our balance sheet - which in turn, directly increases the chances of perfect execution success at Havieron. Telfer pays for Havieron...but Havieron makes us filthy rich.
We ALL know Havieron is this exceptional, massive asset. The delivery of its full development will not only be hugely profitable, but also probably fairly complicated and time consuming from an engineering perspective - transforming it into at 5-6-7mt mine won't be easy. Unless they plan to block cave it. But I assume thats not possible anytime soon ... or at least until we get down 1500m to the base of the Eastern breccia or whatever many years away.
There is a well known adage, within the mining industry - that a junior bringing on a single development asset, as a single asset company, with debt on the balance sheet, is about the most risky scenario in mining. Period. Which on the bright side means, there is a lot of upside from here too (hence the SP roller coaster since the first MRE).
BUT The fact is - we NOW have effectively side-stepped much of that risk with our acquisition of 300-400koz PA gold mine in Telfer, humming away for what? - 2, 3, 5 or maybe even 10 more years, slamming Greatland fully into the 'investable bucket'. Greatland and Havieron are now hugely de risked.
The fact stands, extending Telfer's mine life is more important than anything to GGP shareholders, right now...And TBF probably even more important than another big discovery.. Just look at Hummingbird; two massive discoveries - no method of paying for them.
Over the past few years Greatland just went from being in the 'F**k bucket' (ie almost running out of cash and the 5% debacle) , to the 'chop bucket' - operational success in closing the deal to secure 100% , into the 'investible bucket' (showing a viable journey to execute the development of Havieron) .
For a long time - We were led to believe the narrative that Telfer was running out of gold.
I'm not sure where that came from , probably Gervais and Callum - but we were led to believed that's why Havieron was so critical to Telfer. Which long term, sure, it was... so it was not dishonest... However we now understand Telfer's short mine life was probably more a function of NCMs operational laziness and competition for capital within the group than Telfer running out of gold.
SO - The truth, it transpires was slightly different. Gaining 100% of Hav was critical to Telfer and NCM long term because they saw Telfer as too low grade and as a problem asset compared to Cadia. But the Telfer benefits, timescales (and problems) were not widely understood by us. Shaun day has always said Telfer was ripe for a massive overhaul. Telfer is so big, Day says, it may easily run for another 5-10 years "or like Jundee, another 20 years", if the gold price environment supports economic production. And if better management can address the fixed costs. This will take time but it will happen.
And remember- very large, lower grade bulk deposits like Telfer give you the highest torque to the gold price. As we’ve just seen Telfer makes unbelievable amounts of cash with 20mt running through the mill. Conversely : High grade deposits protect you from downside and bankruptcy. Fortunately we have both!.
I can’t emphasise enough that when I first met SD a few years back how excited he was at the prospect of making a huge efficiency savings as boss man at Telfer - King of the Patterson we joked. He was literally chomping at the bit back then, 3 years ago. He ripped apart and ridiculed the way NCM ran things at Telfer with that "stupid little black NCM book of theirs called "How to mine gold” ...from the 1980s, that they still followed, to the letter". That's just how they did it... stuck in a time warp or whatever.
At the time, his pipe dream had no context, because I don’t think I/we believed he could pull it off - it was like a slightly outrageous childhood fantasy or something. How could GGP possibly buy Telfer, and Havieron?!? - Well - just look at how the cookie crumbled.
The lesson? Don't ever underestimate Shaun Day.
And the cash - I mean $89m USD in the first 27 days - clearly facilitates a low risk pathway to a full scale GGP controlled DFS development of Havieron (ie not a 2 or 3mt operation but a 5-6-7Mt gig) Once production is executed, other opportunities such as Antipa will be considered to fill Telfer AS REQUIRED. Reality is, today we are a long way from that IMO.
Interestingly also, today, was the Money of mIne Podcast where GGP headlines the show and they obviously like what they see in this shortened quarterly... so it's well worth a watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuFzzLYV-lI
But also Matty Michael, the ex miner discussed something totally new: - pretty crucial fresh NEW intelligence that I haven't ever heard before :
Apparently there is gold everywhere {at Telfer} and at some point there was once a high level plan to mine the whole zone between the main dome open pit and the the west dome open pit and underground. That's an absolutely massive opportunity to contemplate but presumably the 2016- 2018 gold price most probably precluded it...
Hello $4400 AUD gold my old friend... Total Game changer at Telfer. Like Shaun says "there has never been a better time to own Telfer". Watching his disciplined approach to capital allocation will be an education, thats for sure.
Also of note - Ali was flagging that if we're domiciled in Oz then wouldn't need FIRB approvals for future M&A deals..
The next key transformation I expect will be a steady re-rate to match up to our Australian peer valuations, such as Evolution and Degrey,... IMO GGP is way better near term, and will become a top 4/5 Australian gold miner and maybe a top 2nd /3rd Australian miner over 5 years:
I can guarantee that re-valuation hasn't happened - yet - and it is going to be quite a ride.
Enjoy ;0)