One of the things that's been exercising my mind has been the effect of currency on the profitability and hence SP of out project.
While everyone watches (and reacts to ?) the headline Cu & Ni prices in USD.
We've seen a relatively sharp fall in the AUD v's USD.
Some of the effects of a deprecation of the AUD are:
- Metal price receive in AUD > P/L >The Balance sheet UP.
- Capital price for plant goes up.
- A key input approx 25% (for us) oil/ diesel.
Overall a fall in AUD v's USD is good for us.
Most of the analysts e.g. Hartley's have it at 78c a few years out.
So going from 78c to 74C is good.
Further the reasons for the fall is important. AUS v's Interest rate spread and The terms of trade is falling. Which means (IVHMO) a 0.70 AUD/USD is a very real prospect.
I've got a rough model built which I'll refine post PFS that will allow that sensitivity analysis. Lets just see how much detail they give us.
For now I'm just pointing out an important element working in our favour (less obvious to some).