14-Sep-2024: Update: I haven't looked at IGO in detail for a few years. I used to hold them, and made money on them in prior years but have been out for a couple - and their share price has been declining progressively since mid-July 2023 (last year) when they were almost $16/share to a recent low of $4.71 (intra-day on Wednesday - 11-Sep-2024 - i.e. Wednesday of this past week). They closed yesterday at $5.39, i.e. close to a 3-year low (they were last down at these levels in late 2020).

There have been some headwinds, including:

1. IGO's then CEO & MD, Peter Bradford, sold their 30% of Tropicana - a world-class gold mine in WA - for a very attractive price (to Regis Resources - RRL) and took IGO further into battery metals via lithium JVs with Chinese company Tianqi Lithium Corporation (Tianqi), and lithium has since collapsed, highlighting that Tianqi have the best end of that deal, at IGO's expense;
2. Peter Bradford unfortunately passed away in October 2022 and their new CEO/MD, Ivan Vella was eventually announced as Peter's replacement but didn't take over the top job until December 2023, so there was a leadership vacuum there for a while dispite there being people filling the CEO role on an interim basis between Bradford and Vella;
3. IGO's other main commodity, Nickel, also went off a cliff, in terms of price, and IGO's prior acquisition of Western Areas - which came with its Forrestania nickel concentrate producing operation plus their Cosmos nickel development project - turned out to be a very bad move - as with the benefit of hindsight, they overpaid and failed miserably in terms of DD because the book value of those assets were subsequently written down by hundreds of millions of dollars. In short, the WSA acquisition was a disaster for IGO. The MD/CEO of Western Areas up until the sale, Dan Lougher, turned up as the new boss at gold miner St Barbara shortly after the WSA sale to IGO, and Dan oversaw the divestment of all of SBM's Leonora assets to Genesis Minerals (GMD), and then retired once more, after a very short stint at SBM. In that case, GMD got the better end of that deal by a good margin, but SBM were in a very poor negotiating position because of their debt and the fact that they were about to breach banking/lending covenants (on June 30, 2023) if they didn't complete that divestment for cash and pay off that debt. But this point is about the nickel price collapsing right after IGO paid top dollar for Western Areas, another nickel miner;
4. Apart from the lithium price being so low, the lithium hydroxide plant in Kwinana (just south of Perth in WA) that IGO own a stake of alongside Tianqi is only running at a fraction of its nameplate capacity due to numerous issues; and
5. IGO's return on expenditure on exploration has been fairly dismal as well.

So, they held a strategy day on Thursday (12th Sept) and here's their presso from that: IGO Strategy Day Presentation.PDF

In short, they are still committed to battery metals, but want to get into copper now, even if it means buying a minority stake in an overseas copper project.

The market was somewhat impressed clearly, as IGO's SP rose +6.8% on the day, to $5.48, but then slipped back a little (-1.64%) to $5.39 on Friday. It probably pays to put that +6.8% rise on Thursday into the context that they'd just hit their lowest share price since late 2020 the previous day ($4.71 intraday on Wednesday 11th Sept), so the base they were coming off was mightly low.

The MoM poddy lads discussed this IGO strategy day presentation for around 17 minutes on Thursday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T1TA53yD-k&t=2024s

I'm not tempted - IGO is a $4 billion company that was a $12.4 billion company on 7-Oct-2022 when their share price was $16.38 and they had the same number of shares on issue (757,267,813 shares), so they are now a reasonably large ship that may be hard to turn around, especially as they're tethered to these JVs, including the major one with Tianqi, the Chinese lithium "major" who can't get their lithium hydroxide plant to run @ Kwinana. AND they want to do more deals like that, except in copper. Hopefully not with a Chinese company this time.

Not a company I'm following now, but I did have another look at them based on the MoM coverage of IGO's strategy day, and... yeah, nah, not for me now. Not this year anyway.

17-July-2023: Impairment-of-Western-Areas-Assets.PDF

I sold out of IGO today on the back of that announcement. I reinvested that money into MinRes (ASX: MIN), who are Iron Ore and Lithium instead of IGO's Nickel and Lithium.

This smacks of a reset to me. Peter Bradford, IGO's highly regarded CEO and MD passed away suddenly in October (2022) - see here: https://thewest.com.au/business/mining/igo-boss-peter-bradford-dies-suddenly-c-8561534 and here: https://www.swtimes.com.au/business/mining/ceo-of-miner-igo-peter-bradford-has-died-c-8567054 ...and IGO have had their chief operating officer (COO) Matt Dusci also performing the role of acting chief executive (CEO) while they searched for a more permanent replacement for Peter.

On 13th June, IGO announced that Ivan Vella - who has worked for RIO (Rio Tinto) in Mongolia (at Oyu Tolgoi) and within their Aluminium business globally - would be IGO's next CEO and MD: Ivan-Vella-appointed-as-CEO-and-Managing-Director.PDF

Today, Matt Dusci has announced that IGO intend to write down the carrying value of the Western Areas nickel assets by almost $1 billion (a non-cash pre-tax impairment expense of between A$880M and A$980M), which is a BIG write-down considering that IGO paid A$1,263 million ($1.26 billion) for all of WSA last year - see here: https://themarketherald.com.au/igo-asxigo-increases-takeover-offer-of-western-areas-asxwsa-2022-04-11/

They are writing down somewhere between 70% and 77.6% of the purchase price only a year after they acquired the business.

And the previous head (MD and CEO) of nickel miner Western Areas (WSA), Dan Lougher, turned up as the CEO and MD of gold miner St Barbara (SBM) after IGO acquired WSA, only to quickly sell off Gwalia and all of their WA assets to Genesis Minerals and then retire on June 30th. He was originally slated to retain a director position on the SBM Board, but it appears he has left completely and SBM are renewing their Board (details not yet announced other than the Chairwoman, Kerry Gleeson and the MD, Andrew Strelein, who was an internal promotion). I've now sold all of my SBM and IGO shares.

The following paragraph from today's "Impairment" announcement also has me concerned:

"IGO’s Board and Management team acknowledge the quantum of this impairment is significant and have engaged a group of leading independent consultants to assist with a comprehensive review of the Cosmos Project to better understand risks and opportunities to the current life of mine plan, capital cost estimates and schedule. This review is underway and expected to be completed in the December Quarter and will result in a revised plan which will detail how IGO will drive optimum value from Cosmos. The Company expects to be in a position to provide further detail of this review in the June Quarterly Results, scheduled to be released on 31 July 2023."

It seems like they are resetting valuations and expectations lower, i.e. clearing the decks for the incoming new CEO/MD (Ivan Vella) so he can earn his incentives in future years. And such "reset" periods can be rough for shareholders in my experience.

I had invested in IGO assuming that their nickel assets (Nova and the WSA assets they recently acquired) were solid, and my main interest was in their lithium assets, because they are vertically integrated and value adding. IGO own 49% of their JV with Tianqi Lithium Corporation (51%) whose WA lithium assets comprise of a 51% stake in the Greenbushes Lithium Mine (49% owned by Albermarle Corporation) and 100% ownership of the Kwinana Lithium Hydroxide Refinery.

IGO could still play out well for investors from here, but I'm sensing there could be more bad news coming in the near term, as in this calendar year. That update with the June Quarter results (due late July) will perhaps make things a little clearer.

For now, I'm out of IGO. I did not own them here on SM, just in my largest RL portfolio, and I've swapped that capital into MinRes (MIN) now. Mineral Resources has come back about 22% from just over $90/share to just over $70/share over the past 6 months, and while I usually wait for the trend to change, as MIN can trend the same way for quite a while and then change direction and trend in the opposite direction for quite a while too, I reckon Chris Ellison is management worth backing right now, with the FY23 full year results not too far away. As MIN's largest shareholder (with 22.3 million of their 194.5 million shares on issue, or around 11.5% of the company) Chris tends to make decisions from the POV of a business owner, not just a business manager. He is usually on the better side of the deals he makes, even when the other side is a massive global corporation like Albemarle. Chris Ellison usually gets the better of all of them in the end. In my SMSF I've helf MIN now for a few years, and done very well out of them, and they're now back in my other RL portfolio as well. I'll have to add them back in to my SM portfolio as well at some point, once I sell something to make way for them.

But happy to step out of IGO and watch from the sidelines for a little while.

20-May-2022: Tianqi Lithium delivers first battery-grade product - Australian Mining

The Kwinana lithium plant in Western Australia. Image: Tianqi Lithium

Tianqi Lithium delivers first battery-grade product

[20-May-2022, AustralianMining.com.au]

The first batch of battery-grade lithium has been produced by Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia (TLEA) from its plant in Kwinana, Western Australia, the first time the material has been produced in Australia in commercial quantities.

TLEA said it was a significant milestone for Australian mining as the sector expands to meet rapidly growing demand for rechargeable batteries, primarily from the electric vehicle and energy storage system industries.

TLEA’s Kwinana plant has successfully met internal certification processes, with the onsite laboratory confirming that battery-grade specification has been met on 10 tonnes of lithium hydroxide, produced consistently over several days. Samples have been sent for independent verification.

The next step in the plant’s ramp-up process is customer qualification, which will be completed over the next four to eight months. During this time, the plant will continue to focus on stable, consistent, and reliable production of battery-grade lithium.

Chief operating officer Raj Surendran said the company was pround to demonstrate that Australia could value add to its minerals onshore, enhancing its reputation as a critical contributor to the production of batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage.

“This is an exciting time for our shareholders, suppliers and service providers who have contributed to the construction and ramp-up of the Kwinana plant, and our employees who have worked so hard to turn the dream of producing battery-grade lithium hydroxide in Australia into a reality,” he said.

TLEA is a joint venture between one of the world’s top producers of lithium chemicals for electric vehicle batteries, Tianqi Lithium Corporation (51 per cent), and Australian miner IGO Limited (49 per cent).

TLEA owns the first lithium hydroxide plant in Australia and the largest in the world to be built and operated outside of China.

“More than 900 jobs were created during the construction phase of the plant, which is now being operated by about 200 people, as well as providing business opportunities for our numerous suppliers, many of whom are locally based,” Surendran said.

Lithium hydroxide produced at the Kwinana plant will be containerised and exported from the Port of Fremantle to customers around the globe.

Surendran said the first train will now continue its ramp up towards its nameplate capacity of 24,000 tonnes of battery grade lithium hydroxide per annum.

Lithium hydroxide is a lithium-based compound derived from spodumene, a lithium-bearing pegmatite mineral. Spodumene is sourced directly from the Greenbushes mine 250km south-west of Kwinana (Albemarle 50 per cent, Tianqi Corporation 25 per cent, IGO Ltd 25 per cent).

--- --- ---

Disclosure: I have held IGO in the past. I am not currently holding IGO shares. So far today, IGO is up 61cps (+5.5%) to $11.70 on the back of this news and a sharp rise in the nickel price overnight of almost 9%. IGO's revenue is still mostly from nickel sales at this point (from production out of their Nova mine in WA), but they have recently moved into lithium as well.

09-Dec-2020:  IGO invests in Global Lithium JV with Tianqi

plus:  IGO / Tianqi Lithium JV Presentation

[I hold IGO shares, but not for lithium exposure.  I will be reviewing my IT (Investment Thesis) in the light of this move.  I note that MIN (MinRes, Mineral Resources) have gone gangbusters since they offloaded the majority of their lithium assets and shut down Wodgina.  They seemed to get into lithium at just the right time, and they also moved on at just the right time.  I'm not sure if this acquisition is a net positive or negative for IGO yet.]

Further Reading:

https://www.igo.com.au/site/investor-center/our-value-proposition

https://www.igo.com.au/site/investor-center/presentations-and-speeches

https://www.igo.com.au/site/our-business/about-igo

24-Nov-2020:  IGO inclusion in the DJSI Australia

IGO INCLUSION IN THE DOW JONES SUSTAINABILITY INDEX AUSTRALIA

IGO Limited (ASX:IGO) is pleased to announce that it has been included as an index component of the 2020 Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) Australia. This inclusion ranks IGO amongst the top performing Australian mining companies for corporate sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.

IGO is ranked in the 84th percentile of all Metals and Mining industry participants and is assessed as being among the top 30 per cent of sustainable businesses within the ASX200 listed companies. The Company achieved scores in the 90th percentile or higher in a range of categories, including environmental reporting, social reporting, mineral waste management, operational eco-efficiency and occupational health and safety.

IGO Managing Director & CEO Peter Bradford, said:

“IGO’s continued inclusion in the DJSI Australia reflects the Company’s continued commitment to sustainability in line with our purpose of Making a Difference and our strategic imperative to be Proactively Green. Our alignment to the clean energy future is complemented and driven by our Proactively Green sustainability framework, as we continue to integrate consideration of ESG and economic aspects across our business. We are committed to voluntary ESG and sustainability disclosure – disclosure that sees us transparently speak to what we have done well but what we could have done differently – and are proud of being recognised as a sustainability leader and included in the DJSI Australia.”

Manjit Jus, Global Head of ESG Research and Data, S&P Global, said:

"We congratulate IGO Limited for being included in the DJSI Australia. A DJSI distinction is a reflection of being a sustainability leader in your industry. With a record number of companies participating in the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Assessment and more stringent rules for inclusion this year, this sets your company apart and rewards your continued commitment to people and planet."

--- ends ---

[I hold IGO shares.]

19-Nov-2020:  2020 AGM Presentation and CEO's Address

plus:  Chairman's Address to Shareholders at 2020 AGM   and   IGO Commences Exploration Activities on BOA's Fraser Range tenements

I also note that all resolutions put to shareholders at the AGM today were carried almost unanimously.  The "against" votes in all cases (including for the remuneration report) were less than 1% - see here.

[I hold IGO shares.]

14-Oct-2020:  IGO 2020 Diggers and Dealers Mining Forum Presentation

[I hold IGO shares.]

06-Oct-2020:  Australian Nickel Conference Presentation

Also:  RTR: 16m at 6.69 g/t Gold Intersected at Fraser Range   [concerning Thunderstorm JV Project, Fraser Range - 70% IGO / 30% RTR]

I hold IGO.  The two best quality nickel plays on the ASX currently are IGO and WSA and IGO has the added benefit of owning 30% of the Tropicana Gold Mine, and they are likely to sell that 30% in the next 6 months which will provide an additional positive catalyst for the share price.  Nickel is currently unloved, but it is a vital ingredient in batteries and the world needs quality nickel.  IGO is looking cheap at current levels.  I bought some more yesterday after offloading a LIC (WLE) now that the NTA discount has evaporated.

17-Sep-2020:  Commercial Production Declared at Boston Shaker Underground

Also:  AGG: Boston Shaker achieves commercial production

The Tropicana Gold Mine is owned 70/30 by AGG/IGO, and Boston Shaker is their new underground mine development.  Macmahon (MAH) are the LOM (life-of-mine) mining contractors for Tropicana, including Boston Shaker.

Also, recently:  Tropicana Strategic Review

[I hold IGO and MAH, but not AGG who are South African based with a secondary listing on the ASX.]

27-Aug-2020:  FY20 Financial Results   and   FY20 Results Presentation

plus  2020 Annual Report to Shareholders   and   Appendix 4E

Highlights

• Record underlying free cash flow(*) of A$311M for the year, bringing cash to A$510M along with investments of A$108M and debt of A$57M at 30 June 2020.
• Record revenue and other income for the year of A$892M, generating underlying EBITDA* of A$460M at an improved margin of 52% for the Group.
• Record net profit after tax (NPAT) for the year of A$155M, a 104% improvement over FY19.
• Nova production for FY20 above guidance for all metals, at a cash cost of A$2.41 per payable pound of nickel.  FY20 nickel production at 30,436t.
• Tropicana (gold mine) delivered within guidance while development of Boston Shaker Underground progressed toward completion.
• Continued focus on generating organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Exploration activity focused on drill test targets on the Fraser Range, while the greenfields copper portfolio expanded in the Paterson province through new joint ventures.
• Final unfranked dividend declared of 5c per share in line with capital management policy.  [Bear77 note: Interim Div was 6c, making a total of 11c unfranked for the year, vs. 10c almost fully franked the previous year]

Peter Bradford, IGO’s Managing Director & CEO said: “FY20 was a highly successful year for IGO, in which our track record of outstanding operational performance continued, leading to record financial results and strong cash returns for shareholders. Group revenue and other income of A$892M, and underlying EBITDA of A$460M resulted in a record net profit after tax of A$155M. Our performance was primarily driven by the continued strength of the Nova Operation which exceeded production guidance for FY20, while Tropicana also consistently generated strong free cash flow for the business.

We achieved these results despite the many challenges which arose throughout the year, including bushfires in early 2020 followed by the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic. While these situations tested and challenged our people, I am proud that our team was able to demonstrate their resilience, adaptability and professionalism, and benefit from the strength of our unique culture.

Our strong financial performance and continued free cash flow generation has enabled the Board to declare a A$0.05 per share final unfranked dividend for FY20. Along with the A$0.06 per share interim unfranked dividend paid in February brings total returns to shareholders to A$0.11 per share or A$65M for FY20.

Our focus into FY21 is firmly on growing the business through both exploration and disciplined mergers and acquisitions. We have committed A$65M to exploration and discovery in FY21 to unlock the mines of the future. Our established, belt-scale land positions have been strategically selected to maximise success and we have clear and defined work programs for the coming year. Our M&A strategy remains focused on growing the business by identifying and securing interests in high quality, long life mineral assets which meet our investment criteria. Both of these growth strategies prioritise commodities which are aligned to our strategy focused on the metals required to enable a green energy future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our people for their continued dedication to the business, and their persistence throughout the year. I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of all of our suppliers, local communities, contractors and customers for the role that they have played, and will continue to play, in IGO’s success.”

* Refer to page 2 of this FY20 Results Announcement document for a description of underlying adjustments. These adjustments, including underlying measures of EBITDA and free cash flow are nonIFRS financial measures. They should not be considered as alternatives to an IFRS measure of profitability, financial performance or liquidity.

--- click on links above for more ---

[I hold IGO shares.]

29-7-2020:  June 2020 Quarterly Activities Report

and:  June 2020 Quarter Presentation

NOVA AND TROPICANA DELIVER ON PRODUCTION AND COST GUIDANCE FOR THE FULL YEAR

Key Points

• Underlying free cash flow1 of A$56M for the Quarter and A$311M for the year, bringing cash to A$510M along with investments of A$108M and debt of A$57M at 30 June 2020.
• Revenue and other income for the Group of A$231M and underlying EBITDA of A$113M, generating a Group EBITDA margin of 49%.
• Nova production for FY20 above guidance for all metals, at a cash cost of A$2.41 per payable pound of nickel. FY20 nickel production at 30,436t.
• Tropicana gold production was in line with the prior quarter at 102,007 ounces, with the FY20 full year gold production within guidance at 463,118 ounces.
• Tropicana Cash Costs and All-in Sustaining Costs for the Quarter were A$953 per ounce and A$1,440 per ounce respectively, with an EBITDA margin of 56%.
• Nova and Tropicana achieved underlying free cash flow of A$65M and A$15M for the Quarter and A$321M and A$85M for FY20, respectively.
• Strategic exploration joint venture and partnership agreements finalised with Metals X and Antipa, consolidating our belt scale land position in the Paterson Province.
• COVID-19 effectively managed through Quarter to safeguard our people and the community while maintaining business continuity. Although we have scaled back restrictions in line with State Government advice our response readiness remains at a heightened level.

Peter Bradford, IGO’s Managing Director & CEO said:

“I am proud to report that despite the ongoing challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, our teams have continued to deliver in a way that has shown resilience, professionalism and most of all, care for one another. Our unique culture continues to be one of our greatest strengths and has been a key enabler for the strong operational and financial performance during the Quarter, and indeed the entire 2020 financial year.

“At Nova, full year production of all metals exceeded the top end of guidance for the second year in a row. This was achieved within our guided cost range and has underpinned the generation of A$311M of free cash flow for shareholders over FY20.

“Tropicana performed consistently during the Quarter, resulting in a full year production result which was within guidance range. The focus for the AngloGold Ashanti team is on the successful commissioning of the Boston Shaker Underground Mine, which is expected to reach commercial production in the September 2020 quarter.

“On the growth front, our exploration teams have been busy drill testing high priority targets in the Fraser Range and preparing a work program for the newly consolidated Paterson Project where we are targeting Tier-1 copper discoveries. We maintain our strong conviction that our exploration strategy will deliver significant organic growth opportunities for shareholders and we look forward to what our FY21 program of work will deliver.”

--- click on link above for the full report - and the associated presentation ---

[I hold IGO shares]

08-July-2020:  Nova Operation Delivers Metal Production Above FY20 Guidance

IGO Limited (ASX: IGO) is pleased to report preliminary metal production for the June 2020 Quarter (4Q20) and the 2020 Financial Year (FY20) for the Nova and Tropicana operations. Full year production for FY20 from Nova exceeded guidance for all metals, while Tropicana FY20 gold production was within the guidance range.

[click on link above for the table that is positioned here and contains all of the production numbers]

IGO’s Managing Director & CEO Peter Bradford said: “FY20 was a year of unique challenges including devastating bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout, the Company has demonstrated outstanding resilience and adaptability while achieving excellent operational performance. I am incredibly proud of this performance and our teams.”

“At Nova, production of all metals exceeded guidance, with nickel production slightly higher than the top end of guidance, while copper and cobalt production were ~10% and ~20% higher, respectively.

“Tropicana production ended the year below the mid-point of guidance as we transitioned into the treatment of stockpiled ore with consequential lower milled grades. Stockpiled ore will continue to be a significant source of ore through FY21, supplementing run of mine ore from the Boston Shaker open pit and the new underground mine (which remains on schedule to reach commercial production during the September 2020 quarter) along with the Havana open pit as the Stage 2 cutback is developed.”

“Our consistent operational performance is a credit to the quality of our assets and competence of our operational teams. This forms an outstanding platform from which IGO can pursue growth opportunities through both exploration and disciplined M&A.”

Detailed operational and financial results for these periods, as well as production and cost guidance for the 2021 financial year, will be reported as part of the June 2020 Quarterly Report scheduled to be released on 29 July 2020.

30-Apr-2020:  March 2020 Quarterly Activities Report

Also:  March 2020 Quarter Presentation

IGO is one of my two preferred nickel plays.  The other one is WSA - Western Areas.  I don't currently hold either of them.  I tend to trade them, and I feel that copper is going to rise before nickel will coming out of this economic downturn, so I'm holding off on nickel exposure right now.  I do have shares in South32 (S32) however, which do produce nickel as well as other metals. Unfortunately, by the time the metal price moves, it can sometimes be too late to jump on the producers of that metal, because the market is foward looking and often the price of the producers actually rises before the metal prices rise, based on what the market is predicting is going to happen rather than what has already occurred.  However I'm just not currently that bullish on nickel that I want to invest in nickel producers over other opportunities I see today in the market - coz I see LOTS of opportunities, far more than I have dollars to invest in all of them actually...

21-Apr-2020:  NCZ: LAUNCHES A$51.1 MILLION CAPITAL RAISING

IGO will invest up to A$27 million in NCZ, taking up to an 18.4% stake, and entering a strategic relationship for ongoing collaborative assessment of Century exploration potential & other resource assets within the clean energy metals sector.  That is part of a $51m cap raising that NCZ is undertaking at 15cps.

02-Aug-2019:  Nova Site Visit Presentation

02-Aug-2019:  Tropicana Gold Mine Site Visit Presentation

June 2018:  Independence Group (IGO) is a smaller miner who currently mine nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, zinc and lead.  IGO own 30% of the high grade Tropicana gold mine that is 70% owned by (and operated by) AngloGold Ashanti (AGG), but the main game for IGO is their 100% owned Nova nickel/copper mine (which also produces cobalt).  All of IGO's 100% owned assets (which excludes the 30%-owned Tropicana gold mine) produce battery metals.  Nova is a world-class, low-cost nickel mine, and there is enormous exploration potential throughout the Nova-Bollinger system and surrounding area (IGO's tenements), which could extend the life of the Nova mine even further.  Nova was constructed and commissioned in the past couple of years, so is a very new mine that is only just hitting their straps now.

Good management, paying down their construction-related debt fast, just sold their aging Jaguar copper-zinc-silver mine to CopperChem, a wholy owned subsidiary of Washington H Soul Pattinson (SOL) for $73.2m, heaps of further potential upside at Nova-Bollinger, producing battery metals: nickel, copper, cobalt.

http://www.igo.com.au/IRM/content/default.aspx

AMEC Convention 2018 Presentation by Independence Group (IGO) 14-June-2018

Disclosure:  I hold IGO shares.

02-May-2019:  Yawn... Let's play spot the differences.  This presentation that IGO gave today at the Macquarie Australia (2019) Conference bears more than a passing resemblance to the other 937 presentations they've made recently (I have been known to occasionally exagerate), but they all (almost all) have subtle (and not so subtle) differences.  This one HAS to be different to the presentation they released two days ago with their Quarterly Activities Report, right?  Well, yes, this one has 8 extra slides for a start.  If you're just discovering IGO, perhaps this presentation will tell you everything you need to know.  It does cover off the whole company, all of their main assets, their value proposition, and why they view the clear global trend towards clean energy to reduce emissions as a definite tailwind for them.

Disclosure:  I hold IGO shares.

30-Apr-2019:  IGO released their March 2019 Quarter Report and Presentation this morning.  The following is what MNN (MiningNews.Net) had to say about it:

IGO's Nova to exceed guidance

THE Nova copper-gold mine in Western Australia’s Fraser Range smashed another record in the March quarter, with Independence Group managing director Peter Bradford praising an “outstanding and exceptional” performance, despite the loss of several days production to a bushfire near the mine.

The miner's revenue was up A$232 million, an increase of 23%, underlying EBITDA was up 72% to $116.6 million lifted by an 18% increase in nickel metal sold and a 59% increase in copper metal sold, and profit after tax was up a staggering 6300% to $45.1 million.

Production at Nova, now claimed to be one of the lowest cost nickel mines in the world, was 8375t nickel and 3,731t copper with improved cash costs of $1.50 per pound for increased revenue to $165.8 million.

The miner's 30% owned Tropicana joint venture with AngloGold Ashanti (70%) produced marginally lower at 123,200 ounces gold due to an expected fall in grade despite a record quarterly mill throughput of 2.1Mt and a small increase in recovery to 89.6%. All-in sustaining costs were $900/oz.

Bradford said he was "highly confident" of reaching Tropicana guidance and exceeding guidance at Nova, although at both operations costs will be at the upper end of guidance - though he stressed that was no cause for alarm.

Tropicana costs have been higher because fuel has been considerably more expensive than budgeted due to the surge in the global oil price, while at Nova the team has a good handle on the costs it can control.

"Our team at site have outperformed, but that has been diluted by the pricing of our by-products, which is out of our control," he said, noting the cobalt price was down 45% from the previous quarter.

The recent approval of the first underground mine at Tropicana, the 450,000-500,000ozpa Boston Shaker, has freed up the team to start assessing the potential for underground mines at Havana and Havana South, with Bradford saying that despite IGO's focus on metals to support clean energy and battery metals, its commitment was to Tropicana in the long-term.

He had seen too many companies walk away from good projects for the wrong strategic reasons, such as finding gold while looking for nickel, and that was not a mistake IGO expected to make, and he could see no reason to give up on a "fantastic" asset like Tropicana.

"Tropicana is a great asset, and we continue to peel back the layers of the onion (and) expect to be there participating in value enhancement," he said.

Its recently announced downstream nickel sulphate assessment was looking good for producing battery grade materials of nickel, cobalt and copper, but he stressed it was not a sure thing, and if the nickel price rises as some forecast it may make no sense to go ahead with the project - but it was worth doing the studies to be sure, and the early results were promising.

In terms of the exploration for the large-scale mines of the future IGO is looking for, the miner is spending $51 million on exploration this calendar year, with nine rigs testings dozens of targets across multiple projects.

While it is far too early to declare it has found IGO's next big thing, Bradford was particularly pleased with the company's Fraser Range and Lake Mackay projects.

In the Nova area, it is particularly pleased with the first hole at Elara with thick intercepts of Nova-style rocks with an off-hole EM conductor at 1200m, in an area that coincides with the contact zone between the sulphide-bearing mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex and the underlying footwall Snowys Dam meta-sediments, the same host sequence to the Nova-Bollinger deposit.

Further afield, it has 40-odd mafic/ultramafic targets to test, which "validates our commitment to region". Of note is the Kaon target, 5km from Nova, which is "particularly interesting" given it is a 4km by 2km mafic-ultramafic intrusive complex associated with anomalous nickel-copper-cobalt geochemistry, Bradford said.

A massive regional aircore program continued with 26,133m drilled during the quarter.

In the Northern Territory the company has been so pleased with the work at Lake Mackay to date it has increased the scale of the project area by 33% to around 19,200sq.km. Its focus has shifted to belt-scale exploration where it has defined three types of mineralisation: copper-gold, nickel-cobalt laterites, and gold anomalies.

The company has also elected to use its option over its Frontier project in Greenland, where it is looking for sediment-hosted copper-cobalt deposits in geological settings analogous to the Central African Copper Belt in Zambia/DRC, and the Zechstein Basin in Poland/Germany, host to the Kupferschiefer deposits.

The company closed the quarter with $172 million in net cash.

-- ends --

Haydn Black, MiningNews.Net:  http://www.miningnews.net/profit-loss/news/1361841/igo’s-nova-to-exceed-guidance

MiningNews.Net: IGO Excited by Creasy Find

http://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/breaking-news-creasy-confirms-major-base-metals-discovery-in-wa

3rd July: IGO acquires JV interest in Creasy Group Southern Hills tenements

Legend Mining (ASX: LEG) tenements.

IGO's 100%-owned Nova nickel-copper-cobalt mine and their 30%-owned Tropicana gold mine are shown.

That map shows the southern end of the Fraser Range and how much of it is covered by IGO, IGO JV's (light brown / tan colour), and Mark Creasy's private companies (green).  I own shares in IGO as well as a small holding in Legend (LEG) whose tenements are shown there in pink.

Mark Creasy, one of the most prolific prospectors in Australia's hostory, is still finding the good stuff, as the article linked to at the top of this straw explains.

Mark owns a number of private companies, as well as 16.29% of IGO (which alone is worth $460 million), 28.43% of LEG (Legend Mining), 31% of GAL (Galileo Mining) - who Mark founded, and 29.75% of S2R (S2 Resources - the company Mark founded after he sold his Sirius Resources - formerly SIR - to IGO for $1.8 billion- along with the Nova-Bollinger deposit that he discovered a few years back).  

http://www.proactiveinvestors.com.au/companies/news/194912/legend-mining-hunts-for-next-nova-bollinger-with-show-of-confidence-from-mark-creasy-194912.html

http://www.australianmining.com.au/news/mark-creasy-founded-galileo-list-asx/

The lowest risk way to play all of this is via IGO, who are in production already and own a lot of tenements themselves, as well as having interests in many more via JVs (Joint Ventures) with other companies.  They can fund their exploration from their production revenue.  LEG or GAL might 10-bag (IGO is less likely to), but LEG or GAL can also go to zero.  There's not much chance of that happening with a diversified producer like IGO.