I recently read some LinkedIn posts from junior mining executives and IR staff asking for ideas about new ways to engage with investors. The commonly used ways rely on PowerPoints, webinars, and trade show booths. However during this Covid-19 crisis, trade shows are no longer an option. Therefore these face to face discussions with investors will now be missing. This will impact on the ability of a company to connect with and establish trust with those people.
What else can be done?
Perhaps with technology, like Zoom, one can replicate the personal feel of a trade show booth. One can still have back and forth conversations with investors rather than just doing lecture style webinars.
Free discussion is good in most cases. Letting investors feel they are sitting around a table will give them a better understanding of how management thinks and how decisions are being made. It will also help them get to know the personality of the management team.
I’m not an IR person but I admire the job they have to do, especially in today’s business environment. I have recently sat in on several junior mining online webinars. When listening to the Q&A’s afterwards, it is apparent that many attendees enjoyed understanding the technical aspects of a project. However they will only get that understanding by asking questions. Trade show booths gave them that opportunity.
Technology gives some options. Like what?
Set up regularly scheduled Zoom meetings, enabling investors to have interactive back and forth conversations with management. Try to avoid long presentations with questions only at the end. Have a moderator review and ask questions as they come in.
Management teams should introduce more than just the CEO or COO. Include VP’s of geology, engineering, corporate development, from time to time. Don’t hesitate to let the public meet more of your team. Trade show booths are often manned by different team members.
Pick different topics for discussion on each conference call to avoid repeating the same PowerPoint over and over again.
Avoid being too scripted.
For example one call could be a fly-around of the property using Google Earth. Another call could focus on the ore body and resource model. Another call might discuss metallurgy and the thought process behind the flow sheet. Perhaps discuss the development options you have considered.
None of this information is likely confidential if it has been presented in your 43-101 report.
Companies file highly technical 43-101 reports on SEDAR, but then let the investors fend for themselves. One could take some online time for high level walk through of the report. Clearly explain technical issues and how they have been addressed or will be addressed in the future. This is an opportunity to explain things in plain English, and field questions.
One downside to such calls is if there are significant flaws with a project. Open discussions may help expose them. One needs to know your own project well, be aware of all the issues, and have them under control in one way or another.
Conclusion
Better communication with investors can increase confidence in a management team. Although some investors may not enjoy technical discussions, I think there is a subset that will find them very helpful and interesting. There will likely be an audience out there.
Mining projects are complex with many moving parts and many uncertainties. Trust and confidence will come if a company is transparent in what they are doing and explain why they are doing it.
The mining industry is looking for new ways to reach out, so it shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Some management teams will be great at it, others not so much. Figure out where you fit in.
Unfortunately one of the aspects of trade shows that cannot be replicated is the ability for investors to wander around aimlessly, take a quick glance at a lot of companies, and then decide which ones they want to learn more about.
Warning: zoom bombing
As an aside, if you are using Zoom make sure the host has configured the right settings. There are instances where anonymous participants can suddenly share their own computer screen, i.e. with questionable videos, to the group. It’s been referred to as “zoom bombing”.
The number of independent mining consultants is increasing daily as more people reach retirement age or are made redundant.
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We often see junior mining companies benchmarking themselves against others. Sometimes corporate presentations provide graphs of enterprise value per gold ounce to demonstrate that a company might be undervalued.
Lenders may have observers at site monitoring both construction progress and cash expenditures. Shareholders and analysts are watching for news releases that update the capital spending. Their concern is well founded due to several significant cost over-run instances.
It would be a good thing if the mining industry (or other concerned parties) work together to create open source project databases. These would incorporate summary information and cost information for global mining projects. The information is already out there, it just needs to be compiled.
Benchmarking can be a great tool when done correctly. Benchmarking capital costs might bring more transparency to the project development process. It may help convince nervous investors that the proposed costs are reasonable.
Reading it further, it was apparent that their study consultant, Ausenco, was being paid in company stock in lieu of cash. The arrangement included an initial financing of $750k with a further $375k to follow once the pre-feasibility study was 75% complete. Upon completion of the study another share payment was due.
I have never been in a situation where I was consulting with company shares as my compensation. Neither have I ever managed a study where outside consultants were being paid in shares. However I can see the possibility of interesting dynamics at play.
Regarding the first item “impartiality”, in the past there have been questions raised about the impartiality of engineering firms. I first recall reading this claim many years ago in a public response to a mining EIA application. Unfortunately I cannot find the exact source now.
It would be interesting to know how many consulting firms would be willing to accept compensation solely in shares. Stock prices move up and down and the outcome of the study itself can have an impact on share performance.
In general to get financing and investor interest, development projects must demonstrate a high NPV, high IRR, and short payback period. This requirement tends to apply more to the small and mid tiered companies than to the major companies. The majors normally have different access to financing.
There are several scenarios where NPV analysis decision making may conflict with the objectives of sustainable mining. Here are a few examples.
4. Low grade ore stockpiling can help to increase early revenue and profit, thereby improving the project NPV and payback. Stockpiling of low grade and prioritization of high grade means that lower grade ore will be processed in the later stages of the project life. Who hasn’t been happy to develop a mine schedule with the grade profile shown on the right?
7. Accelerated depreciation, tax and royalty holidays are types of economic factors that will improve NPV and early payback. They are one tool governments use to promote economic activity. These tax holidays will greatly enhance the NPV when combined with high grading and waste stripping deferral.
NPV is one of the standard metrics used to make project decisions. The deferral of upfront costs in lieu of future costs is favorable for cashflow and investor returns. Similarly, increasing early revenue at the expense of future revenue does the same. Both approaches will help satisfy the financing concerns. However they may not be advantageous for creating long term sustainable projects.
We hear a lot about the need for the mining industry to adopt sustainable mining practices. Is everyone certain what that actually means? Ask a group of people for their opinions on this and you’ll probably get a range of answers. It appears to me that there are two general perspectives on the issue.
The solutions proposed to foster sustainable mining depend on which perspective is considered.
There are teams of smart people representing mining companies working with the local communities. These sustainability teams will ultimately be the key players in making or breaking the sustainability of mining industry. They will build and maintain the perception of the industry.
It’s always open to debate who these 43-101 technical reports are intended for. Generally we can assume correctly that they are not being written mainly for geologists. However if they are intended for a wider audience of future investors, shareholders, engineers, and C-suite management, then (in my view) greater focus needs to be put on the physical orebody description.
I would like to suggest that every technical report includes more focus on the operational aspects of the orebody.
Improving the quality of information presented to investors is one key way of maintaining trust with investors. Accordingly we should look to improve the description of the mineable ore body for everyone. In many cases it is the key to the entire project.
Electrostatic separation is a dry processing technique in which a mixture of minerals may be separated according to their electrical conductivity. The potash industry has studied this technology for decades.
The recovery of non-ferrous metals is the economic basis of every metal recycling system. There is worldwide use of eddy separators.
Given the contentious nature of water supply and slurried solids at many mining operations, industry research into dry processing might be money well spent.
In the past there would be binders with detailed calculations and backup for the different parts of the study. Typically there was a binder for the Executive Summary and separate sections (i.e. binders) for Geology, Mining, Processing, Infrastructure, Capital Cost, Operating Cost, Environmental, Project Execution, and Economic Analysis, etc.
The original intent of the 43-101 Technical Report was for it to be a summary document, only about 80-150 pages in length. The intent was to simplify all the technical work for the benefit of non-technical investors. Currently I have noticed that in many cases the 43-101 report is now the entire feasibility study document.
My recommendation is that, where budgets permit, mining companies return to the days of preparing the comprehensive feasibility study document. It’s the right thing to do.
If any mining industry credibility has been lost, re-establishing it should be important. One way to start doing this is to focus on creating the type of reports that best serve the needs of the industry stakeholders.
The technology consists of a floating LNG (liquefied natural gas) turbine power plant combined with high capacity seawater desalinization capabilities. MODEC is offering the FSRWP® (Floating Storage Regasification Water-Desalination & Power-Generation) system.
From a green mining perspective, the FSRWP produces clean power with the highest thermal efficiency and lowest carbon foot-print.
Currently there are three mooring options for the floating system that should fit most any tidewater situation.
The bottom line is that if your mining project is near shore, and has both water supply and power issues, take a look at the FSRWP technology. One might say it is greener technology by using LNG (rather than coal, heavy fuel oil, or diesel) to generate power. At the same time it avoids competition with locals for access to fresh water.