Investigator Resources (ASX:IVR) - Paris Silver Project Advancing Towards DFS

[Music] good evening my name's Andrew mcne I'm the managing director of investigator resources ASX listed company the ticker is ivr uh investigator's primary asset is the Paris silver project which is located in Central South Australia uh project done unique in Australia in terms in that it's a primary silver project has a small amount of lead but our focus is on the silver recovery a resource update we provided this year 57 million ounces of silver so today's terms that's about $2 billion do2 billion Australian dollars value in the ground and we're in a position where we've completed the pre feasibility study and we're advancing and completing the definity feasibility study Andre good to see you thanks for joining us on a Friday night from Australia so I do appreciate it really do um you just ra some money they'll get you through to what the end of the DFS will it oh absolutely yeah we probably had enough cash we had about 2.9 at the end of October and that would have seen us able to complete the DFS but we would have been pretty lean on some other other things that we were looking at um what it does is it means 2024 is a clear runway for us we're not starting the year wanting to raise funds to complete anything we complete the DFS first half next year and uh we've got plenty of cash in the bank so I mean obviously you've got a lot of the DFS work done when what what's left to do look uh We've we've done some relatively exciting things on the ground that add no sort of news to the project we've completed environmental surveys we've done hydrological drilling uh those things are done uh what we're completing now is in fact lad recovery test work um when we put the PFS together it was silver only project what can we make this work on Silver knowing that we've got about $300 million worth of lead in the resource how do we recover that first to admit it's a challenging lead to recovery but we to to recover but we had a pretty comprehensive program running now in the lab and we're just starting to pull those results together trying to understand what lead we can get out and any revenue from lead go straight to the bottom line because all that cost will be covered by silver just just I know you the the DFS will be at sort of first half next year but just remind people what the PFS numbers threw up just give a sense of you know what we're heading towards well and then we can add the lay to it yeah sure so we uh in the PFS it was released in November 2021 and I'll actually come back and touch based on why it's taken a while to get to where we at but in 2021 we put a PFS together that was based on a 30 for Australian dollar silver price um reminding everyone it's 36 today so a little ahead 130 million cap aurus produced about four or five million ounces of silver perom for about seven years really simple open pit about 70% of its RI and dig rather than having to drill and Blaster that's only the bottom part average recoveries of silver about 75% npv of the project then was in excess of $200 million IR of 42% so quite a robust project falling sustaining cost was 1745 it was half margin of 50% it was half the prevailing price at the time right okay so like given the given the capex I think if I remember I think it was about 130 million right um you and and and it's a sort of I say a very decent very healthy irr um in there but the the next phase is about um not just once you've delivered the divest you could to be having an eye towards how do I get this thing funded the capex is not big that's the good needs what are you thinking how does this how does this thing get funded sure so look um I'm I'm pretty comfortable we we'll bring in a capex number in spite of some inflation over the last 18 months uh close to or less than that the reason for that is we've got a pretty lean team uh a very hungry Engineering Group who are doing drafting in Vietnam sourcing uh sourcing steel offshore and things like that which we think uh and not forgetting this is not a 20e project so we can to put things together not paint them so don't you we don't have to have a Rolls R um you know Scottish by backgrounds or by Heritage so uh you know we're going to we'll have a pretty lean approach the thing that changes as we if we can bring some lead Revenue to the table we'll be we expect to expand the resource increase the Mind life there are a couple of things we'll be looking for out of the DFS and when we put the PFS together it was certainly robust enough that could carry in principle half debt half Equity how we find the equity compon I suppose there's a few opportunities in the silver space whether it be silver streaming Ford sales or any number of those sort of instruments so uh we have a period of time between completing the DFS and whilst we're going through the regulatory approval that we'll work through that financing uh opportunity or options right okay so I guess we'll hear more about that as you kind of go go through the phases that um with regard to some of the long calls in the tent the things that could holds you up you talk about reg regulatory approvals uh what else is sort of outstanding from that that point of view yeah so look uh what the South Strain department requires to do is complete the DFS demonstrate a robust project and from then we apply for a mining lease once we get the mining lease we apply for an environmental pay very straightforward process many have done it in South Australia you it's a tier one jurisdiction but importantly we're actually in the middle of nowhere we have no impact there's no conflicting land use there's no Community nearby there's no Watershed weo parched environment which is why the hydrological study is quite important for us to be able to demonstrate we could find water to run the process plant next few steps for us are in fact optimizing the pit and then uh and then we'll do the financial evaluation but I didn't mention I'd Circle back we took a little bit of time last year we W quiet um I'd say stealth mode but we were quiet because we had an area that was important or had been flagged by the local uh Native title owners that we they asked us to take no take awareness of it wasn't restricted access and we didn't want to impact that took us about 18 months to gain access and approval to that and that allowed us to step the resource out by 250 M final part of the puzzle is we need to have a production mining agreement with the native toilet holders and we'll do that also whil we're in that regulatory phase nothing nothing new nothing unusual uh we're not uh trying to change uh you know known practices this pretty straightforward project right okay and and I you sh want T night get look it's a very tight environment out there it's been a difficult year for pre a diff couple years of precious metals for sure um you you're going into this phase now which you're kind of obviously one got to complete the DFS and then two kind of get into that all that kind of funding stuff it's it's what I refer to as the boring phase right so not a lot going on but your cheryls want you focused but at the same time want to hear from you in terms of what is there further upside Is there further blue sky so how do you get that balance right yeah sure look um the once we completed the DFS that that project's relatively finite um that said we do have cash and what we'll be applying that to its original expiration opportunities we we we keep challenging ourselves that Paris can't be the only resource in the district so next year we'll be doing some seismic work we're doing a uh study with the CSI to understand the the metal Genesis we uh we'll also do some other Drilling and soil sampling to try and Vector in on another resource we've got a couple of silver Curren they're not the same as Paris but we're going to be Pro working them up to see if they can add to Paris right okay so um but you're not you're not going to be you know um I guess Distributing cash you're going to stay focused get this thing over the line that's number one priority right oh look absolutely um and look we we're in a unique position in Us in the ASX we are the only primary silver project in Australia there's a couple of others that have led base metals projects that uh have got high silver grade high silver components where the highest grade with certainly the only primary one so actually if you want to be exposed to Silver you want to have investigator in your portfolio right okay and then let's just talk about share price markets Etc obviously silver I think expectation as PR pedals actually starts Mooring again next year um unfortunately a lot of commentators saying that a lot of a lot of um certainly the fund managers are expecting that how do you how do you move from where you are now to actually get get this get one get notice but two get a kind of head of the crowd because it's it's going to be a very very competitive space a lot of desperate people out there chasing Capital what makes your project so special yeah so look it doesn't have the impediment to uh to construction and completion that many other projects do and as I said the issue of no conflicting land use and Watershed and those sorts of things U said we provide a unique exposure to the silver promps and uh one of the one of the things that we'll be looking at is potentially streaming uh as uh funding model and that'll take us into the North American market and uh certainly the North American Market understands silver better so we haven't tapped that yet but we expect to start to increase our exposure okay um was so would that mean an OTC listing so what you're thinking we we've we've contemplated that and uh and I suppose one of the things that we've takeen The View that if we do that we need to be in in the North American say you every quarter to be able to uh to promote that we haven't seen the benefit of but it may well be we've certainly been down the path and looked at the the opportunity and we have that in the in our back pocket it's kind of interesting actually because a a lot of the mass silver companies you know struggling at the moment um partly because that's the politics of of the moment um and partly because of the market but NE nevertheless I think silver projects Elsewhere on the world seem to be gaining traction um off the back of that so be interesting to see how you play that um will Andre I know it's Friday night got to get on with it um appreciate the update it's been a good year so far look forward to hearing from you next year look M thanks very much and it has been a great year tough tough Market but having raised money in fact just this week puts us in a great position for next year and we've got plenty of news to come out investigate

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Id: ihgKraBaMkk

Length: 10min 23sec (623 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 18 2023