Spoke today with Ronald McGregor, VP of Operations and Development.
A very pleasant guy. Came across as very sincere.
1. They're waiting with "baited breath" to work on financing, etc. for the bolivian project, which should work when gold reaches the $325 per ounce or so range. They don't want to spend much money or effort on it until they can be sure of good economics (i.e. the right POG). The economics of that project, including reserves, may look very attractive soon.
2. Hycroft had record first Q (as predicted in March 20 press release which I didn't see). I asked whether Vista has made money in the 1st Q, excluding any one time charges or one time gains (e.g. like the liquidation of forward position). They had a good Q and he was all but sure Vista was profitable, but they don't have the numbers yet. Press release coming soon.
3. Paid of lots of debt with liquidation of forward position as well as further exploration in bolivia. Money left over in the bank. Plan to pay off all long term debt, and do further exploration.
4. I mentioned with production rate Hycroft, the mine only has 500,000 or so PP ounces. That won't last too long. He said they can probably find another 100,000 ounces or so at Hycroft, (but of course don't quote him on that). Perhaps more importantly, they are very optimistic about bolivia.
5. I mentioned seeming lack of interest in this one. I asked whether they had someone talking to analysts (who I joked drive stocks more than fundamentals). He said like most miners they've been in survival mode since 2nd half of last year and they no longer had a person that does that type of thing.
6. For what it's worth, he said the insiders are very bullish. Expectations are that POG will rise, and when it does, they intend to pounce as quickly as possible with the right press releases and "get this thing to fly.". Investor relations will again take on geater focus.
7. He mentioned some positive developments or potential developments with regard to Bolivia exploration, but I forget what. Oh well. |
