Tubber is spot on. Monty is far too small, despite the high...

Tubber is spot on. Monty is far too small, despite the high grade, to do much more than supplement the ore feed into Degrussa's concentrator. I think it's probably an optimistic scenario that sees a 2018 development, not least of which because it's got a lot of permitting ahead of it and 1.5-2 years is an extremely cmpressed permitting period. Even so, the most sensible prognosis is digging Thaduna UG and Monty UG and blending the two ore sources to feed into DeGrussa's concentrator.

Also if Monty is mined out by EOM of DeGrussa, there may not be a blending opportunity with Thaduna, so Thaduna may not go ahead on a stand-alone basis. Remember, that's not been drilled up sufficiently yet to get a 95%+ Indicated resource upon which to base a mine plan - and there's still the issue about dealing with the oxides on top via open pit.

Further, any further regional exploration success is by and large going to come too late to see the DeGrussa concentrator stay open beyond 2021/2022. This includes the neighbours (RNI, ENT, etc) who may have some successes soon, or may not. Any of their exploration successes need to be put through a protracted drill-out; SFR had the big bucks to chuck multiple rigs at Monty and get a maiden resource out in less than a year. Not sure any of the others have that cash lying around, or the market cap to raise the $20M needed to drill out a sizeable ore resource in <1 year.

All in all, SFR is under the pump to firm up ore sources to run DeGrussa concentrator beyond 2021. Grade isn't necessarily king if your whole ore mass is 9 months of mill feed.