12th June 2026, 10:41pm: I came across this (page 1 below) today in an announcement by MM8 (Medallion Metals) dated 9th June (3 days ago) titled: Major Milestones Achieved at Cosmic Boy

So as I mentioned in my straw at the top of this thread three months ago, I expected that GNG would get the Cosmic Boy EPC contract, and they clearly remain on track for that - see green highlighted sections above - although I called it the Forrestania Nickel-to-gold mill conversion for Medallion Metals (MM8) in that post, and they are calling it the refurbishment and modification of the Cosmic Boy Concentrator (CBC), which is the central nickel processing facility that WSA (Western Areas) built within their Forrestania Nickel Operation in WA that IGO bought (when IGO acquired WSA) and IGO later sold to MM8 after they had put it on C&M, so it wasn't operating at the time. So Forrestania is the area, rather than the specific piece of kit. Same, Same.

And a quick scan of the past 3 months of announcements by GNG show that this project has not yet been deemed worthy of any announcements by GNG, because they have not yet been awarded the EPC contract or been granted preferred contractor status, despite the fact that they are clearly going to be awarded the contract after completing the FS and doing the FEED work for it.

And I daresay there are a number of other projects that are also at a similar stage, i.e. pre-announcement, such as MRT's Black Swan nickel-to-gold upgrade project - very similar in scope to the MM8 job - where GNG were awarded the studies for that project in April last year (see here for that announcement) (MRT - Maritana Minerals - were called Horizon Minerals then). MRT also released an announcement three days ago (on June 9th) - BSPH-Project-Update-Increases-Capacity-to-25MT-per-annum.pdf which included the following:

Engineering and Design

The Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) phase has been completed, with the FEED report prepared by GR Engineering Services (GRES) now submitted for review.  

and:

Next Steps

Maritana is focused on the following key activities as the project advances toward construction and initial mining operations:

• EPC Contract and FID - finalising the EPC and reimbursable contract arrangements with GRES [ASX: GNG], including completion of the capital cost review and ongoing optimisation work.
• Approvals - progressing the lodged regulatory approvals (works approvals, MDCPs and clearing permits) through to grant.
• Mill Refurbishment - completing removal of the SAG mill and confirming the refurbishment or replacement pathway.
• Accommodation - advancing accommodation construction works, site earthworks and ongoing site preparation.
• Water Supply - finalising the project water strategy with Western Groundwater and Flow Water Services.
• Mill Construction and Commissioning - progressing toward full construction commencement, targeted for ore commissioning H1 FY28.
• Mine Operations - advancing mining operational readiness, including contract awards for Open Pit, Underground and Haulage services targeted for late 2026. 

Source: BSPH-Project-Update-Increases-Capacity-to-25MT-per-annum.pdf

So, as I have been suggesting, the positive newsflow for GNG is set to continue. And there's been plenty of positive news lately from them already, hence their share price almost doubling in the past 12 months. Well it did double but it's come off a smidge from that recent +$6/share high point.

Disclosure: I hold GNG (21.9%) and MRT (2.5%), but not MM8 at this point. GNG is my largest real money position and also my largest position here on SM.

Another GNG study awarded which doesn't qualify as market sensitive, so no announcement from GNG - just BAU. However the growing studies that GR Engineering Services (GRES: GNG) are doing is a good indicator for their future work pipeline, and their order book is already bulging at the seams. This PFS would normally roll into a DFS and then an EPC contract, so probably becomes material to GNG in terms of revenue in a year or two. Future work.

Source: Tunkillia-Pre-Feasibility-Study-Begins.pdf

Disclosure: GNG is my largest position, both here and in my real money portfolios.

Full Announcement: https://investorhub.tesorogold.com.au/announcements/7610363

This is significant because it's in Chile, and most of GNG's work has tradionally been in Australia. While Peter De Leo (MD of Lycopodium) pointed out to us in his meeting here in March that he considers GNG and LYL to be two very different companies with different business structures, specifically he considers GNG to be an E&C (engineering and construction) CONTRACTOR, and says that LYL are not contractors, they are Engineers and project delivery specialists, the fact remains that both companies derive the vast majority of their work from studies, which tend to lead into the same company that does the studies getting the EPC or EPCM (or EP&CM/EP&PM) contract if the project is robust and profitable and the client can raise the money to build it.

These projects tend to start with a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) and/or a Scoping Study (SS), usually followed by a Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) which, if the numbers all stack up nicely will lead into a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) which is what GNG have begun for TSO for their El Zorro Gold Project (EZGP) in Chile which includes their 1.82Moz Ternera GP (gold deposit).

A robust DFS is the final step before financing and an FID (Final Investment Decision), which generally means a contract to build the processing facility is awarded (so, an EPC, EPCM or EP&PM/EP&CM contract, with those letters standing for Engineering, Procurement, Construction, Management, and CM meaning Construction Management and PM meaning Project Management) although sometimes companies will engage companies like GNG or LYL to do FEED (Front-End Engineering Design) as part of the lead-up or lead-in to that build contract award. FEED work usually comes at the end of a DFS when the project looks like it is going to proceed.

A DFS is sometimes just referred to as a FS, and it used to be referred to in prior years sometimes as a BFS which meant Bankable Feasibility Study because it was the final study with sufficient detail that you could take it to the bank, to get the project financed, but these days it's generally referred to as a DFS (with the D being for Definitive).

Companies don't always "keep" a project from PEA/SS through to DFS; sometimes miners will do much of the initial study work themselves often with the assistance of subject matter experts or contractors, and then bring in a well-regarded company like GNG or LYL to do the DFS, because it's the DFS and who did the DFS that matters most to project financiers - they want to know that the project will make money and that the people that did the study are competent and have the track record to prove it.

So I would have expected LYL to have been awarded this DFS ahead of GNG, particularly now that LYL have expanded into the Americas (North but mostly South America) via their 60% acquisition of SAXUM which is headquartered in Argentina and does most of their work in the Americas.

I hold shares in both and my larger exposure is to GNG at this point in time, so I'm not complaining, but I did find it interesting.

GNG haven't made an announcement about this because these various studies are just BAU (business as usual) for them - however they are worth keeping track of because they remain one of the best lead indicators for the pipeline of potentially MUCH larger build contracts that both of these companies reply on for the vast majority of their revenue and profits.

Disclosure: I hold TSO, GNG and LYL.

02-July-2026: Another day, another positive thing I've read about GNG and how busy they are and are likely to be over the next couple of years:

There was an interesting announcement by Brightstar (BTR) today - who I hold - and who are currently getting some of their ore toll-treated at Genesis' Laverton Plant - the old Mt Morgans Mill GMD accquired with the Dacian Gold assets back in the day - as it's still labelled in the map below ("Mt Morgans, Genesis"), but GMD are calling it their Laverton mill now, and they're calling Gwalia at Leonora their Leonora mill - and BTR are now getting their own Laverton Mill built by GNG - which this update is all about: GOLDFIELDS PROJECT CONSTRUCTION UPDATE (.pdf) [02-July-2026] [BTR are now calling it their Goldfields Mill, but it's just south east of the WA town of Laverton, so most people will call it their Laverton Mill.]

The more interesting things about this update are (1) that they are concurrently progressing their higher grade Sandstone Project - it's currently lower grade (2.4Moz @ 1.5g/t Au compared to 1.6 Moz @ 1.6 g/t Au at Laverton / their Goldfields Hub) but their MD Alex Rovira has been talking up the higher grade hits they have been achieving at Sandstone and he's convinced it's going to be bigger and higher grade than their Laverton Gold, but it just makes more sense to build Laverton first because with GMD buying the FML assets last year and then MAU this year (and MAU's high grade Lady Julie gold project), GMD are not planning to be toll-treating for other producers in FY28, and there's plenty of gold around that area and not enough mill capacity to process it all, so that's why BTR are doing the build, which they say is ahead of schedule due to FEED work that GNG have done, and (2) Alex Rovira (BTR's MD) explains that there is strong demand for the services that GNG provide currently, so getting a jump on this build is crucial to getting it done on budget and on time - the words he used were:

"Construction activities at our Goldfields Project continue to progress on time and on budget, with the Project remaining on track to achieve first gold in June 2027. This progress underscores the strong execution capabilities of the Brightstar team and our EPC partner, GR Engineering. 

Central to maintaining this strong momentum has been the strategic pre-FID early works arrangements with GR Engineering, with this proactive partnership enabling Brightstar to secure a significant head start on ordering long lead-time items and project development - an approach that is now delivering dividends through de-risked schedule and budget performance. This has positioned Brightstar well against a backdrop of increasing demand for gold processing plant EPC services industry-wide in Western Australia."

Too right Alex!

(3) They have also bought put options that allows them to set a floor price of US$4,000/tonne for 60Koz of production for the first 2 years of production from FY27 onwards - well, we're in FY27 now, so that's a typo, he means FY28, as the table on page 6 of today's announcement makes it clear that these puts start in the Sept Qtr of 2027 (which is FY28) and go through to the March Qtr of 2029, at least that's the way I read it - here's his summary paragraph of that deal below - I note that they don't cap their upside by using puts, only their downside is protected at $4,000/oz USD or $5,809/oz in AUD.

"Additionally, we have further de-risked our planned production ramp-up period through the purchase of deferred-premium put options covering 60,000oz of production to protect early revenues and provide a floor price while maintaining full gold price exposure to the upside. The deferred-premium nature of this structure also maintains our strong balance sheet position as we advance through construction and mining ramp-up activities at the Goldfields Project in parallel with a substantial exploration budget and feasibility studies at Sandstone.

I would like to thank our staff, contractors and partners for their outstanding commitment and professionalism. Their efforts are delivering key milestones and positioning Brightstar as a significant new mid-tier gold producer in Western Australia." 

I have a decent position in my SPF in BTR - it's my second largest position - here are my current top 7 positions in my SPF at today's closing SPs.

22% of that combined portfolio is my IPF, so those weightings numbers are just of the other 78% and would be higher if I removed the IPF, but they're both under the same HIN - I've just removed the IPF positions from this screenshot using MS Paint so as not to confuse things, as I'm just showing my top 7 SPF positions, not any of my IPF positions - which are GNG, LYL and SEMI, which went ex-div today for a big 285.351202 cpu ($2.85351202/unit) distribution to be paid on July 16th - which would have exaggerated their (SEMI's) unit price fall today, down -$5.850 (-12.42%) to close at $41.25/unit today.

Looks like there were some people hanging out for the ex-div date to sell out and take profits, after their unit price had risen over +100% in the past year (52 Week High: $47.780; 52 Week Low: $17.360 around this time last year) and what better time to lock in profits than in the first month of the new financial year?

So, yeah I'm well down on these SPF positions, but also well positioned for their positive market re-ratings, when they come. Three of them are building mills (MRT are converting Black Swan from nickel to gold, BTR and AAR are building new mills). One of them is already producing with their own mill (MEK). The other 3 (CRS, BVR and TOR) are there because of their ground (location) and their management, so I'm expecting big things from at least two of those three, there'll likely be at least one dud amongst them.

But interesting that Alex Rovira, the MD of BTR is calling out that "backdrop of increasing demand for gold processing plant EPC services industry-wide in Western Australia."

And we know GNG work right across Australia and in at least one other country currently - Chile - as I mentioned in my post in this thread yeasterday.

Disclosure: GNG Held (19%), BTR held (2%). Those weightings are based on all of my real money share market investments across 4 portfolios and are based on Tuesday's closing prices (30th June). The weightings above in the edited screenshot are based on today's closing share prices but are only percentages of my combined IPF and SPF (two of my 4 real money portfolios).

@Bear77 , I am going to spend some time over the weekend summarising these posts to produce some sort of "forward looking contracts" list to get a more holistic view of what is to come. Not quite sure what that would look like yet, but I want to give it a crack!

@jcmleng @Bear77

Genesis has announced this morning that they have put forward a superior proposal to Regis, for the takeover of Vault Minerals. Under the proposal, 'Tower Hill ore would be processed through the King of the Hills (“KOTH”) mill, avoiding the need for the Tower Hill mill and expansion of the Laverton mill, which Genesis estimates would result in growth capital expenditure savings of A$715 million'.

As a second order impact of this deal, it is likely to materially impact GNG revenue if the Tower Hill expansion does not go ahead. I know you both will be across the numbers better than I am, but from my desktop assessment, this could have the potential to reduce GNG revenue in the vicinity of $150-190m (pending any break provisions in their contract) if Genesis are successful in their merger with Vault.

Regis have 11:59pm (AWST) on Friday 10 July 2026 to provide an equivalent or superior offer proposal for Vault. Interesting few days ahead...

Yes, interesting indeed, Genesis needed to get the rail line shortened anyway because the old one ran through the middle of what is set to become the Tower Hill OP, so they haven't wasted money on that side of things, but if this deal does go ahead, and I'm surprised GMD didn't move before Regis did TBH because now they presumably have to pay more, and this just gives Ral's old sparring partner Luke Tonkin a larger retirement present if it does go through, not something that would have been on Ral's "to do" list.

As far as GNG is concerned, it might be a blessing in disguise, because while it WAS going to be a high value project for GNG because of the large size (annual processing capacity) of the mill, they have SO much work coming up, I was starting to wonder how they were going to manage all of it at the same time. If GMD buys VAU and TH ore gets trucked to KOTH and the TH mill doesn't need to be built because of that, that potentially frees up a heap of people to work on all of those other gold projects that GNG has won EPC contracts for already plus those that have yet to be announced.

Certainly means Vault is in play now. I've just bought $55K of VAU in my ISA - freed up cash there by selling all of my CMM, and trimming my NST and CYL which were all in profit. If RRL come over the top, I make money; If the GMD-VAU deal goes through I end up with some cash plus more GMD shares, and GMD is one of my highest conviction gold positions anyway, so owning more GMD isn't a bad outcome.

I'm thinking it's a win-win for VAU shareholders at around $5.07 to $5.08 per share (what I just paid for them) because the GMD offer implies a VAU share value of $5.27, and while I know GMD is down around -4% today, and the scrip (shares) part of the deal is most of the consideration being paid (with only $0.475 per VAU share in cash + 0.7629 new GMD shares for each VAU share), what I'm seeing is VAU being more or less appropriately priced for the offer based on the GMD share price today rather than the higher GMD share price being quoted in the documents (which is Friday's closing price), and GMD is one of the biggest growth stories in the Aussie gold space, perhaps bigger than NST, but that will all depend on how NST's Hemi build, commissioning and ramp up goes after they complete the KCMG mill expansion project. GMD is exciting and with the KOTH mill plus the surrounding tenements that perfectly complement GMD's own tenements that already surround KOTH on three sides and are all relatively close to Leonora, it's always been a perfect fit for GMD. GMD also have better management than NST IMO so GMD deserves to be a larger position for me than NST.

So if the GMD-VAU deal goes ahead, GMD looks even better, and they already looked really good, so I expect the GMD share price to recover from today's circa -4% fall. And RRL get their massive $50.7m break fee, so they're not left out of pocket, and if they only wanted Vault to get hold of Vault's massive cash pile to help fund RRL's possible plan to buy out AngloGold Ashanti's majority ownership of Tropicana (which RRL already own 30% of) - which is the industry gossip - as there are no synergies in the RRL-VAU merger - then if Vault's cash is all they were really after in the first place, so no harm, no foul. The $50.7 million break fee should certainly not leave them out of pocket.

If RRL come over the top (and I don't hold any RRL), then VAU shareholders get some more money, or RRL shares, but it would have to be a really good offer not just a slightly better one, because people generally consider GMD shares to be of greater strategic value than RRL shares in terms of the management and growth prospects of those respective companies. So if a new RRL offer is just a little bit better, VAU shareholders might still prefer the GMD offer, and might vote down the VAU offer, which is why I reckon RRL really have to stump up a lot more cash or shares, or walk away now, and RRL walking away is probably the most sensible option for them.

But if RRL do trump this offer and it does go their way, GMD have wasted some money on their bid, but they have also forced RRL to pay a lot more for Vault, and GMD still have their new Tower Hill mill EPC contract in place with GNG, so the Tower Hill high-grade gold OP goes ahead regardless, it's just a matter of where that ore gets processed and whether GMD get those additional tenements that Vault currently own - that are all north of Tower Hill.

GMD aren't going to be much worse off if their bid for Vault fails.

It's also worth considering that Raleigh Finlayson at GMD has been angling to buy the KOTH mill since it was a RED (Red 5) asset, before Red 5 and Silver Lake Resources merged to create Vault, so the work GMD has done on this has not all been in recent days or weeks, it's just been updated; the money spent on the DD has been spent by GMD over years.

RRL are also not going to be much worse off if their own bid fails, because there were no synergies anyway - their assets are not geographically close to each other, and they get the massive $50.7 million break fee from Vault. They just have to work out another way to fund their plan to buy the rest of Tropicana off AngloGold Ashanti.

So I can't see a situation here where owning Vault shares at today's prices doesn't make good sense. That's why I bought some today. I'd previously held a smaller VAU position in that same ISA portfolio but sold them a few weeks ago to top up other positions. Not a great move on my part - my crystal ball wasn't working well that day. But if the circumstances change, I always reserve the right to change my mind, and the circumstances certainly did change today.

Disclosure: I hold GMD shares and I now also hold VAU shares again. I do not hold RRL shares.

My top 10 positions in my ISA portfolio are now BC8, GMD, CYL, EVN, RMS, PNR, VAU, NST, GGP and FFM, in that order, with another 5 smaller positions (ALK, MEK, TCG, MI6 and CHN). The order of those are based on Friday's closing share prices.

I may buy CMM back later. Don't know yet. They've just got federal environmental approval through for Mt Gibson with conditions, but still need some final WA Gov approvals now that they've cleared the federal hurdle. They look close to fully priced anyway, so possibly not as much upside in CMM right now as many of their peers whose share prices have been really smashed. Take Pantoro (PNR) as an example, it wouldn't take much to see a massive positive re-rate of that company, that's why they're the 6th largest position in my ISA right now - I've been topping up that position last week and the week before. I fully intend to take profits on that one when the positive re-rate occurs.

A Strawman member asked me via DM today: With VAU price continuing to drop. Are you considering increasing your position here or happy with your current sizing?

[Wednesday 8th July 2026]

My Reply was:

Yes, I reckon I'll take a few more nibbles as they drop, today I bought more PNR (Pantoro) in my ISA - tomorrow will likely be more VAU.

It depends on the Genesis (GMD) share price tho. I know it's mix and match cash and scrip (shares) offer, but there's a maximum cash component - for everybody combined - so if everyone elects to take maximum cash and minimum scrip (GMD shares) for their VAU shares, they're going to get less cash than they wanted / expected and more GMD shares - because of the limits. So I'm basically pricing it like the suggestion they gave on the day of the announcement (Monday):

So, if that's too small to read, the suggested split is: Vault shareholders would receive 0.7629 new Genesis ordinary shares plus A$0.475 in cash for each Vault share held.

So Genesis (GMD) closed down -4.5% @ $5.52/share today, so the GMD offer now (tonight) values Vault at $4.685, being $0.475 cash plus $4.21 worth of GMD shares (0.7629 x $5.52 = $4.21), = $4.685 total.

So what I'm saying is that the offer value drops as the GMD share price drops, same as the previous RRL offer for VAU dropped as the RRL share price dropped.

And yes, I know that GMD are saying they will allow some leeway in terms of the mix of cash and shares that individual shareholders elect to receive, but they have set limits as I've already mentioned. Obviously, if the GMD share price is trading well below the price that it was on Friday - being the last Trading Day before this GMD offer was launched - of $6.29 (see Note 1 in the screenshot above), then VAU shareholder will be asking for more cash and less GMD shares, but there is a limit to the amount of cash that is available under the offer, as explained in the documents, so any individual mix and match election is subject to scale back and if everybody wants max cash, then they WILL be scaled back..

Because of that, the easiest way to work it out is to just use their own suggested mix of 0.7629 new Genesis ordinary shares plus A$0.475 in cash for each Vault share held. And that gives the GMD offer a value on VAU of $4.685. VAU closed today at $4.82, so that's MORE than the GMD offer.

To be clear, the GMD offer based on GMD's closing SP today values VAU @ $4.685/share and VAU closed today at $4.82, which is +2.9% higher than GMD's offer based on GMD's share price right now.

So that suggests that the market is considering it a strong possibility that either (a) RRL will come over the top of GMD - which is unlikely in my opinion and also in the opinion of Trav and JD on MoM - see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFwSJdl6H0o [recorded and posted yesterday] - because Regis have no synergies other than wanting to get hold of Vault's cash, and that only makes sense up to a certain price, and the market clearly prefers the GMD offer as proven by the Regis (RRL) SP dropping when they announced their bid for VAU and the Regis SP RISING when the higher GMD bid for VAU was lodged by GMD and announced by GMD and VAU. Plus RRL get a $50 million break fee just for walking away - easy money if they do nothing.

Or (b) that the GMD share price will rise between now and the settlement date, which will be months down the track from now.

Or (c) that they (the VAU shareholder) will be able to get maximum cash and minimum GMD shares and it'll all be worthwhile.

Or (d) they aren't getting their calculators out and doing the maths.

I'm in the camp that thinks (b) is most likely - so the GMD share price will be higher when this settles, but that doesn't mean that VAU is getting cheaper right now, it just means that VAU is following the GMD share price down because most people think that the GMD deal is the most likely one to ultimately go through.

But I've been wrong before, and I will be again. But that's how I'm thinking.

So I'm considering buying more of both VAU AND GMD as they fall, but buying VAU seems to make more sense to me because there's more than one way to win - so (a), (b) or (c) above could happen, whereas if I'm just buying more GMD then I'm putting all my chips on (b). So more optionality with topping up VAU I reckon.

Hope that makes sense.

I'm going to pop that lot in a post now for all Strawman members, since I've written it.

Disclosure: Holding GMD and VAU in Real Life, Holding GMD here and trying to buy VAU, but my sell orders aren't going through to pay for the VAU buy because I've set my prices too high. Not holding RRL.

Very good MoM podcast Friday evening (Jul 10, 2026) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SttT9giqGNM

"Matt Griffin is back. Two years on from his last chat with us, the Maple-Brown Abbott small caps PM returns to unpack a macro-dominated FY26 that saw 75% of active managers underperform the index."

"It’s a full tour of the small cap resources landscape, from gold to uranium, aluminium and the mining services boom."

In this ep, Matt covers:

• Why gold swelled to 18% of the small cap index, and why the coming quarterly season could disappoint
• His stock theses on Bellevue, Catalyst Metals and long-term holding Genesis Minerals
• Uranium’s brutal working capital cycle and why Paladin is his only exposure
• GR Engineering’s path to a billion dollar revenue business

-------------------------------------------------------

▶️ CHAPTER TIMESTAMPS

• 0:00 - Small Caps Valuation Snapshot
• 10:00 - Gold Stock Picks and Process - [Bullish Bellevue and Catalyst, not holding Meeka, he's happy to be on the sidelines with Meeka right now - doesn't know how many bad quarter they will have before they sort themselves out - he had a similar approach to BGL (Bellevue), so stayed out during the downgrade cycle and is now in because he thinks they're back on track. Interesting!]
• 26:20 - Why Paladin Stands Out
• 33:00 - Alcoa Aluminium Bull Case
• 40:50 - Mining Services Rerate - Big positive rap on GR Engineering Services (GNG) !
• 48:30 - Tin and Rare Earths Wrap

-------------------------------------------------------

Interesting discussion on GR Engineering Services (GNG) - in terms of if they are too expensive, and whether you are basing that on FY26 earnings or the significantly higher FY27 and FY28 earnings - GNG are going to be a billion dollar revenue company within a few years, maybe within the next 3, 4 or 5 years, but they need to avoid any hand grenades - i.e. no blow-ups in terms of not getting paid for projects - which has happened with smaller clients in prior years who had cashflow issues (the clients did) - some years back - I've covered that extensively here on SM - (including the two examples that Matt gives in the pod) - however GNG haven't had any major issues in recent years and their clients are generally larger and more cashed up, so less risk there now.

There was no discussion on GNG losing the entire Tower Hill Processing Plant EPC contract if the GMD deal to buy VAU goes through, and it probably will go through as Regis (RRL) just have one working day (Monday) left to match or beat GMD's offer and then GMD's offer will become binding on Vault in the absence of a superior proposal. And consensus out there is that RRL does walk away and pockets that $50.7m break fee. Nobody else has the synergies that GMD have with buying VAU; I've always considered GMD to be the natural owners of VAU's KOTH (King of the Hills) gold mill just north of Tower Hill, which is just north of their Leonora Mill (formerly known as the Gwalia mill); And I've always said that - including here - but I'm just surprised by the timing. Very well played by Luke Tonkin in the end, and I'm NOT a fan of his, but he's probably played his hand to perfection in terms of getting out on a high with as much cash as possible.

None of that (the GMD-VAU tie up and Tower Hill new mill build being in doubt) was discussed, and that could be for two reasons. First possible reason is that this could have been recorded prior to last Monday (6th July) when GMD lobbed in their own bid for VAU which puts the Tower Hill build in doubt, as there is nothing there to say when this interview was recorded, although JD was tuning in by phone (audio only) from his family holiday in Germany, which I think was during this past week, so maybe it was recorded in the 48 hours prior to them posting it on Friday night (10th July)?

The Second possible reason is that with 7 new EPC contracts announced by GNG in the past 3 months plus more to come, potentially losing one of them isn't going to break the investment thesis, especially the longer term thesis that GNG is just going to get busier and busier and the market isn't pricing in GNG as a billion dollars per annum revenue company yet, which they're well on their way to achieving, WITH GREAT TAILWINDS!

Matt reckons they (GNG) should maintain their margins or even possibly increase them [as there becomes more and more work and contractors / engineers can charge more, because people may need to pay up to get their projects built ahead of other companies' projects].

Also interesting discussion on why Matt is bullish on Catalyst (CYL) - probably the best value in Aussie gold producers he reckons - in terms of them being the cheapest as long as they do deliver on their plans. I agree of course, which is why they're such a large position for me, both here and IRL.

Also a very positive wrap on why his fund continues to hold Genesis (GMD) despite Matt being the PM of the Maple-Brown Abbott small caps fund - and GMD now being an ASX100 company now so certainly NOT a small cap these days. He's been invested alongside Raleigh since the Saracen days and he definitely has plenty of positive things to say about the GMD management team and what to expect from them.

His comments about Meeka (MEK) (which he does not hold now) got me thinking that they (MEK) could potentially pan out like Bellevue (BGL) did at the start with multiple ramp-up issues in their first 18 months or so (after they finished building their mill), and multiple CRs, and having re-read the latest Pantoro (PNR) announcement over the past few days, I'm thinking that Pantoro might be heading down a similar path to BGL.

PNR are blaming lack of workers for their Norseman project on the lack of underground ore being trucked to the plant - well below expectations - and it looks like they are taking steps to rectify the situation including changing mining contractors in one instance (at one UG operation) but it could be a couple of quarters before they start posting production numbers that exceed the market's expectations again, so I'm considering dumping PNR at a loss - and the idea would be to rotate that capital into a company like CYL or GMD that is much more likely to surprise to the upside than to the downside when they report, thinking about the next few reports, not just the next one.

Last bit of goss, while driving around doing various errands on Friday, I switched to Nova FM on the car radio and Byrnecut (the UG mining contractor) were doing a 30 second radio ad with a lot of it using a female worker saying how well they were treated, how good the culture is and how happy she is there - and they were emphasising good pay, calling it financial independence, and this is in Adelaide SA, and Byrnecut do most of their work in WA. That suggests that they need more workers.

Google confirmed for me tonight that Byrnecut Group is privately owned. It is primarily held by international investor Claudio Thyssen's Thyssen Global Mining (70%). The remaining 30% is held by company directors, with long-standing Executive Chairman Steve Coughlan owning 21% and Bill Blake owning the final 9%.

Byrnecut has won several major underground mining contracts recently. Key recent contract wins in Western Australia include:

• Leonora Gold Operations (Genesis Minerals): Awarded a 4-year underground mining contract for development and production at the Gwalia and Ulysses mines. [1]
• Youanmi Gold Project (Rox Resources): Secured a 4-year, two-part underground contract for exploration development, decline refurbishment, and production activities. [1, 2]

So perhaps PNR has a point, they have to pay more or workers are going to go and work for larger companies like Byrnecut, who are actively recruiting and offering high pay. Skilled worker shortages is going to play out over the next few years - it is already playing out in PNR's case. So salaries and wages are going to have to rise, and that means higher costs for miners, and probably E&C contractors / companies like GNG and LYL also, although they can absorb some higher costs because of their terrific margins.

Company culture also plays a big part in attracting and retaining good workers - it's not all just about the pay. I know less about PNR than I would like to in terms of their management and company culture.

A few things to ponder there. Some confirmation bias, some new ideas to consider, but overall the investing strategy stays much the same. But some of the names may change.

US$ gold seems to have settled back above $4,000/oz, at least for now, no big uptrend established yet (again), just sideways movement, but hopefully we don't see any further downward momentum. Aussie goldies are still making plenty of dollars at these prices and they still would be at US$3K/oz to be honest, but US$4K/oz is better!!

GR Engineering Services (GNG) remain VERY well positioned to grow their annual revenue and profits substantially over the next few years, while maintaining or even increasing their margins, as Matt explains (here).

Disclosure: GNG is my largest position both in real life and here.

14/7: (Like those numbers)

RRL walked away, as expected, so the GMD offer to acquire VAU is now binding, making a Tower Hill Mill build unnecessary.

So, as expected, GMD have informed GNG of this, so GNG released this announcement this morning: Market Update - Tower Hill Gold Project.pdf

The most important lines are the last ones: "There will be no adverse impact to GR Engineering’s results for the year ended 30 June 2026. GR Engineering’s contracted and near-term pipeline of work remains strong for the year ending 30 June 2027."

Disc: Held.