A1M - AIC Mines

[greggles]

I have entered A1M as one of my choices for the CY 2022 competition.
As you can see above @greggles has spent some time researching A1M. I would like to thank him for his research and pass on again how much I appreciate his sharing.
I held A1M for some time only to sell it shortly before a trading halt and the announcement of the Eloise Copper Mine acquisition, buying back in recently.

bux

Not a bad start to the year @bux2000, A1M up 11.43% to 58.5c today and there are almost no sellers with less than 50,000 shares on offer on the sell side of the market depth.

Drilling results from both the Lamil project and the Marymia project are due this month. Fingers crossed they are good. If they are, expect A1M to fly.

 

[greggles]

A1M applies for two large exploration licences in western New South Wales that are prospective for both base and precious metals.

Management is now clearly looking to grow the company's pipeline of projects now that they are cashed up. These applications represent a very large landholding that has obviously been chosen very carefully. Lots of ground to explore and lots of potential.

Commenting on the applications, Managing Director Aaron Colleran said:

“This new project is a valuable addition as we move to expand our exploration portfolio. It is an early-mover opportunity where government investment into unlocking exploration potential is underway. This will allow AIC to leverage off new regional datasets and mineral system knowledge.

We continue to look for new high-quality copper and gold exploration projects, from greenfields through to advanced stage, with the aim of building a balanced project pipeline.”

 

[greggles]

More drilling results from Eloise released today. Resource extension drilling at the Levuka Lens has intersected high-grade
mineralisation 100m outside of the current resource limits.

Looks like there's a lot more gold and copper mineralisation at Eloise. Drilling is ongoing and hopefully there is more good news to come.

 

[Country Lad]

@greggles it is very confusing the way ASX allocates the codes. The report is for A1M - AIC Mines. This thread is for A1C - AIC Resources which no longer exists.

 

[Joe Blow]

@greggles it is very confusing the way ASX allocates the codes. The report is for A1M - AIC Mines. This thread is for A1C - AIC Resources which no longer exists.

A1C is an older incarnation of A1M. I have gone ahead and moved the post across to the correct thread,

 

[greggles]

A1M finished the day up 9.1% to 60c. Decent volume too. Looks to me like people are starting to get set for what will be a busy three months of activity and news flow for the company.

 

[greggles]

Some assay results are back from the Lamil Project and there are signs that they may be onto something. Keep in mind that they are dealing with a huge project area and drilling has been carried out with very wide spacing.

Of four holes drilled at the Goodenia target, two have returned intervals of elevated zinc and lead.

Wide spaced RC drilling has now defined base metal anomalism over a 4km2 halo centred on the deeper gravity-magnetic response which is yet to be intersected by drilling (Figure 4). Encouraged by these results, diamond drilling is planned to reach beyond the depth of RC drilling capabilities to intersect the gravity anomaly in the 2022 field season.

Still very early days and more drilling needs to be done, particularly diamond drilling to explore deeper, but things are looking promising.

 

[greggles]

Slow and steady wins the race. Volume has been increasing this month against a backround of a rising copper price. Very astute, very experienced management behind A1M. Tightly held.

 

[greggles]

A1M is now cash flow positive with an almost $2.5 million profit for the 2021 year.

That profit was only from November and December revenue from the Eloise Copper mine. Can we expect Eloise to produce a profit of $15 million in 2022?

With over $29 million in cash at the end of 2021, A1M have a war chest of cash. Expect further acquisitions this year. No point not putting some of that cash to work.

 

[greggles]

Just a reminder for those interested in copper miners given the soaring copper price. A1M's Eloise copper mine is currently producing copper at an AISC of A$3.05/lb. Spot price is currently A$6.69/lb. That's A$3.64 of profit per pound of copper produced.

 

[peter2]

Market depth is a bit thin on A1M so you may see price shifting +/- 10% quite easily. This applies to shorter term traders only.

 

[greggles]

Good witdths and grades from resource definition drilling at the Eloise Deeps. Lots more copper under the ground to keep the revenue rolling in. Drilling is ongoing.

 

[greggles]

A1M up 11% today. Quarterly due soon and if everything has gone to plan - and there is no reason to think it hasn't - we should be seeing some pretty impressive financial results with a high copper price and the Eloise mine producing at a low AISC.

Some good exploration results would be the cherry on top, but let's not get too excited.

 

[greggles]

Slightly disappointing Quarterly announced after the close yesterday. Copper production is up (not as much as anticipated) but so are costs. AISC up from A$3.05/lb last quarter to A$4.42/lb this quarter. This is the explanation from management:

Blasting issues with slot firings hampered progress in the Levuka 200 block and restarting the Deeps sublevel cave, restricting ore supply. A subsequent change to the long-hole slot pattern appears to have rectified the issue with the Chloe 620 L2 slot fired successfully at the beginning of April 2022.

Unit costs were negatively impacted by lower throughput and higher diesel costs during the Quarter. Reduced concentrate transport costs, negotiated during the Quarter, are expected to offset the higher diesel costs in coming quarters.

Still, the company remains cash flow positive with a closing cash balance at the end of the quarter of $33.9 million, up from $29.3 million at the end of the last quarter. Hopefully a better quarter ahead. Share price down around 10% today.

 

[greggles]

Drilling commences at the Lamil Gold-Copper Project with 3,000m of diamond drilling to test three high priority targets -
Lamil Dome, Goodenia and Firebush.

I still believe there is a lot of potential at Lamil. Whether A1M (& RTR) have something there remains to be seen.

 

[greggles]

Some impressive Eloise Deeps extension drilling results released today. 29.7m at 4.01% Cu is exceptional. Looks like there is enough copper at Eloise for many years beyond the currently expected mine life.

A1M finished the day at 56c up 10.9%.

A recent tweet from the CEO after an Eloise site visit.

 

[greggles]

A1M smashed today because of the collapsing copper price. Share price down 15%. A1M will bounce back when copper does, but at the moment it is definitely out of favour. Small cap miners generally copped a bit of a hiding today. Not much appetite for risk right now with rising interest rates and talk of a recession.

 

[peter2]

Very thinly traded stock and this makes it vulnerable to price spikes (up and down). AIC has been holding up much better than most copper producers. I'm holding (at a loss) but the parcel is small and I'll look to add once POC starts to rise.

Currently Dr Copper has Covid.

 

[greggles]

Very thinly traded stock and this makes it vulnerable to price spikes (up and down). AIC has been holding up much better than most copper producers. I'm holding (at a loss) but the parcel is small and I'll look to add once POC starts to rise.

Currently Dr Copper has Covid.

Yes, it's tightly held and goes up and down fast. But I have confidence in A1M's management to grow this company over time. They have done extremely well so far. The Eloise copper mine acquisition was a brilliant move and I have no doubt they will continue to produce value for shareholders. That ~$30 million in cash should come in handy too. Another acquisition in the current economic climate would not surprise me at all.

 

[greggles]

Great results returned from resource definition drilling at the Macy Deposit at the Eloise Copper Mine. Wide intersections and high grades.

Management are determined to extend the mine life well beyond 2030 and my personal view is that they will also eventually acquire further tenements in the Cloncurry region and process any ore mined at those tenements at Eloise. All the infrastructure is in place at Eloise and there is plenty of copper under the ground in the Cloncurry area.