I don't really know why it sold Hermes and surrounds to NST and...

I don't really know why it sold Hermes and surrounds to NST and also farmed-out Wilgeena (renamed Hermes South by Superior Gold for some reason) and surrounds to NST at the same time. However, NST came in as a substantial holder at that time as well with a cap contrib at 1.5c,.so I suspect that the deal was done and structured so that a specialist gold company could hopefully help feed its Plutonic gold producing plant from Hermes and also from Wilgeena.

The deal put money in the bank and saved on exploration costs too, but keeping an income from the sold or farmed-out tenements if all worked out ok. The canadian company which bought Plutonic from NST seems to be on the way to fulfilling the said hoped-for income. Hermes South promises more than that though.

Having already farmed-out the base metals tenements to IGO, the NST deal meant that ALY had no land of its own. I believe that the Board wanted its own tenements elsewhere, but it took a couple of years to acquire them.

To answer your query, captain, many a small company can't handle what it has, but rather than sell, farms-out instead so as to save spending money but at the same time keeping its hand in in the hope that the major party mines (as with Hermes for instance) or finds more minerals (as with Wilgeena/ H South). It's coming together I reckon!