Sovereign Precious Metals Investment Research | Sovereign Precious Metals Ltd P.O.Box 12-648 Auckland Tel: +64-9-5264490 Fax: +64-9-5250132 Email: psargent@sovereignpm.com |
10 May 2005
Summit Resources Limited (SMM)
An Outstanding opportunity in the Uranium sector
Current price A33 cents - Exceptional returns possible over the next year
Summit Resources Limited (SMM) is an Australian based junior mining stock. The company has no operating earnings and its future prospects are dependent on the ability of management to realise value from its mineral deposits, and to add to its resource bank in the mineral rich Mount Isa region. The next twelve months look set to be the most exciting in SMM’s history. With the company now well funded, the prospect of significant new resources being added and the likelihood of the Queensland state ban on uranium mining being lifted, shareholders stand to be handsomely rewarded.
ASX Code | SMM |
12 month price range | 4.6 - 49cents |
Average daily volume (6 mth) | 1,020,000 shares |
NZX Code | SMM |
Shares on Issue | 176,474,810 |
Options* on Issue | 8,455,211 |
* Exercisable at 10c & 15c by 31 August 2005 |
www.summitresources.com.au | Top 10 Shareholders |
Directors | Acorn Capital | 9.33% | PN Finlay, RN M | artin 3.05% |
Chairman | John A.G. Seton | Firebird Capital | 9.0% | Nikam Investments | 1.88% |
Managing Director | Alan J. Eggers | Resource Inv Trust | 4.81% | A J Eggers | 1.19% |
Director | Lindsay A. Colless | Minvest Securities | 4.67% | Forty Traders | 1.13% |
Company Secretary | Karen E.V. Brown | Mr N P Olissoff | 3.07% | R Lockwood | 1.05% |
SMM shares have risen strongly over the past few months as investors have bid up companies with exposure to uranium. Despite its strong performance, SMM has significantly underperformed uranium stocks generally, due to the fact its resources are in Queensland Australia, where the current Labor state governments have a policy of not granting licences for new uranium mines. There is now a range of reasons why this policy may change or, in fact, be overridden by Australia’s conservative Federal government within the next twelve months. The SMM price will respond dramatically if/when it does.
In the meantime management firmly believes the major drilling programme that has just commenced will add considerable value to SMM as further significant resources are added.
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Even if the uranium resources are assigned no value, the current price of A33 cents can be easily justified by SMM’s other assets. There is considerable upside over the next 12 months from the 2005 drilling programme, with a substantial boost likely if/when the Queensland ban on uranium mining is lifted.
As a mineral explorer the company has no operating earnings. But with A$7m in cash reserves, around A$1.0 million due from options to be exercised by August 2005, and an effective cash burn of only $1.2m over the next 12 months, SMM is in a strong position.
Company Description
SMM is an active mineral explorer. Over the past decade management have assembled an attractive portfolio of tenements in the resource rich Mount Isa region and the company is now well placed to develop a substantial resource base as a result of its exploration programme for gold, base metals and uranium.
SMM’s major assets include:
- a) An attributable resource of 76 million lb of U3O8 (uranium oxide, used in power generation) across three deposits in Queensland, including the third largest undeveloped uranium deposit in Australia. The deposits also contain significant quantities of copper and V2O5 (vanadium pentoxide, used in steel manufacture). There is potential to significantly increase resources in all three deposits, as each remains open along strike and at depth. Drilling aimed at doubling the uranium resource is commencing shortly.
- b) 200 million tonne plus iron ore deposits in the Constance Range, of similar grade to those currently in export production in Australia. The original project was drilled by BHP, however they abandoned the area in favour of northwest Western Australia in the late sixties due to the isolated location and lack of infrastructure. With the development of the massive Century zinc mine nearby and the planned establishment of a railway from Mount Isa to the new Alice Springs to Darwin line (the line would be
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- located within 50km of Summit’s deposits) these limitations to the project’s development have been largely overcome.
These Constance Range tenements also host 50 million tonnes of exportable phosphate rock in two drilled deposits, that would also find a ready export market in southeast Asia, should the railway be established.
c) Exploration Permits of around 6,200 square kilometers of highly prospective ground around Mount Isa, including a number of very exciting copper, gold and base metal targets. SMM is now one of the largest tenement holders in the Mount Isa region, host to a number of world class copper, lead, zinc and silver ore bodies. SMM holds permits over ground both to the north and south of three of the largest mines in the area – Mount Isa, Hilton and George Fisher, and has had a number of approaches from large mining companies keen to participate in exploration of the area.
Each of the above have the potential to provide exceptional returns to SMM shareholders over time, and there is a strong likelihood that at least one of SMM’s existing uranium, iron ore and phosphate resources will be developed into an operating mine. Furthermore, the chances of a new gold, copper, zinc or uranium discovery on Summit’s tenements in the 2005 drilling programme are good. But the most exciting immediate potential for SMM may well come from political changes in Australia, rather than further success in mineral exploration. It seems the end is nigh for the Australian Labor Party’s policy not to permit new uranium mines. As all Labor state governments are bound by this policy, Queensland’s uranium mining ban will be lifted once the ALP policy is changed. SMM shares are currently trading at A33 cents and if/when the mining ban is removed the price is likely to rise several-fold.
Nuclear Energy Coming in from the Cold
After many years of being viewed negatively by much of the world, nuclear power generation is now coming back into favour as energy planners are beginning to recognise the huge benefits it can offer in providing environmentally friendly and cost efficient power generation on a large scale. Key reasons for its renaissance include:
- Nuclear is the lowest cost large scale electricity generation option
- It is the only mass electricity generation alternative with no greenhouse gas emissions
- There are abundant sources of fuel to supply power stations
- Nuclear provides very stable and reliable base load electricity generation
Although there have been issues in the past surrounding its safety following the Three Mile Island and Chernobyl accidents, the plants now being built are generations ahead of the older facilities and the likelihood of similar accidents happening again are remote. Disposal of nuclear waste is still an issue, (even though all waste has so far been managed and stored safely), but it needs to be put into perspective against the vast benefits nuclear generation can offer.
With rising global energy demand, coal fired and nuclear power generation appear to be the only realistic sources to provide the massive additional electricity generation that the world requires. There is research being done into more environmentally friendly alternatives and in due course there are likely to be superior mass energy sources available. But the reality is that such developments are probably 30 or 40 years away from providing practical alternatives to coal and nuclear.
Although hydrogen, wind and solar energy hold promise, their ability to provide power on the scale the world requires is still in doubt. Only uranium and coal have a history of being reasonably cheap and
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abundant fuels. Coal and nuclear plants are reliable (important for base load power generation) and can be implemented on a large scale – vital features that alternative energy sources have yet to demonstrate.
There are good reasons to be excited about the long-term potential for hydrogen as an environmentally friendly fuel source. But hydrogen requires the hydrolysis of water for its production and this is a very energy intensive process. Nuclear power would seem to be the logical solution for providing the power required as it can supply the vast quantities needed with minimal environmental impact. (At the World Nuclear Association’s annual symposium in 2004 Paul Kruger, a Stanford University Professor, claimed that 3,500 new nuclear reactors would need to be built in order to provide the energy to make the hydrogen to fuel the world’s 1.5 billion vehicles by 2050).
Because of the emissions produced by coal in the generation of electricity, nuclear power will increasingly be seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative. Coal-fired plants release over nine billion tonnes of greenhouse gases each year – representing more than 80% of global greenhouse emissions. In stark contrast, nuclear power generation releases little other than steam.
There is a sea change occurring in the United States and a number of Western European countries. Having shunned nuclear power for many years, they are now seriously considering revisiting the nuclear option. Great Britain, Italy and Belgium are reviewing their earlier decisions to phase out their nuclear power plants. The attraction of nuclear power for these countries is two-fold: a) they are beginning to recognise the difficulty of meeting the Kyoto targets for greenhouse emissions without a significant increase in nuclear power, and b) they are experiencing dramatic increases in the cost of producing electricity from oil (in the case of Italy) and natural gas (in the case of Britain). The United States has not built a nuclear power plant for more than 20 years, but the Bush Administration is now moving towards nuclear energy playing a larger part in its energy policy.
A number of rapidly growing developing countries – China and India in particular – are seeing nuclear energy as an important part of the solution to providing the vast amounts of extra energy they require. Of the 31 nuclear reactors commissioned or under construction, 22 are in Asia (there are currently 440 reactors in operation world-wide). China plans to build two nuclear reactors a year until 2020 (even then nuclear will only account for 4% of its power generation). For nuclear to provide 20% of China’s total power generation (a similar proportion to a number of Western countries) they would need to build 200 nuclear reactors, or 45% of today’s global installed base. India has adopted a similar policy with plans to increase its nuclear generation by building one reactor per year until 2020. Whilst China and India are by far the largest developing countries, a number of others, such as Brazil, have similar plans.
Uranium Supply
Because of the depressed uranium price in recent years there has been little exploration undertaken. Even though exploration has picked up recently as the price has risen, shortages will remain for a number of years and drive the price considerably higher.
Uranium is very abundant in the Earth and the world is unlikely to ever run out of it – in contrast with oil, gas and, eventually, coal. But a price of at least US$40 per pound is probably required to make many of the world’s known uranium resources economic to develop.
Morgan Stanley are forecasting the spot price to average $US45 in 2006, Casey Research say it will reach US$100 by the end of the decade and Thomas Neff, an MIT researcher, says the looming uranium shortage may be so severe the price could reach US$110 within five years. Whilst that represents a 360% increase over the current spot price of US$24, in real terms (i.e. after adjusting for the effects of inflation) it would still only be equivalent to the all-time peak price of US$40 reached in 1979.
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The Uranium Market Outlook
- The price for U3O8 is rising due to a massive supply deficit. For the last few years the deficit between supply and demand has been met from uranium stockpiles and reprocessing of higher grade uranium from decommissioned nuclear weapons (the source of up to 45% of recent global supply). But these stockpiles are nearing exhaustion and further significant increases in the U3O8 price are forecast as the market reacts to the severe supply deficit.
- Cameco (the world’s largest uranium miner) forecasts global demand to average 194 million pounds per year over the period to 2012.
- Current mine production of around 80 million pounds per year accounts for only 53-55% of demand.
- Total supply is about 135 million pounds per year, with the balance coming from nuclear weapon decommissioning, utility stockpiles and mixed oxide fuel (a combination of uranium and plutonium) and the by-product of breeder reactors (in converting U238 to U235 they actually create more fissionable material than they use). It should be noted that mixed oxide fuel and breeder reactors are not likely to provide much additional nuclear fuel because they both vastly increase access to weapons grade material, so are politically unacceptable.
- Nuclear power plants have traditionally held large fuel stockpiles as security against supply disruptions. Having been as high as five years’ supply in the past these stock piles are currently at historically low levels of around one year’s supply.
- Demand is growing rapidly. There is a growing realisation the Kyoto Protocol targets for reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will not be met without a significant increase in nuclear power generation.
- The spot price for U3O8 is currently $US24 per pound and Morgan Stanley are forecasting an average of $US45 for 2006, with long-term contract prices in the range of $US46-$US49 in 2006 (power generators prefer to enter long-term supply contracts to ensure security of supply). Demand for U3O8 from power plants is relatively price inelastic, as the fuel only makes up around 5% of the current total cost of generation. This means a doubling or tripling of the price won’t have a dramatic impact on demand.
- Although the Australian Federal Government supports uranium mining the Australian Labor Party has a policy of not permitting new uranium mines. Because the state Labor Parties have to comply with this policy, the Queensland State Government adopted a policy of not permitting new uranium mines a number of years ago. But it seems likely this situation will change within the next 12 months, with the ALP’s policy appearing increasingly illogical and out of step with global trends and thinking.
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Reasons SMM management and directors believe the doors will be opened to the development of their Uranium project within 12 months include:
- Global warming and greenhouse gas issues. There is growing awareness and concern worldwide on this front. Nuclear power plants have the attraction of being very efficient, low cost producers of electricity that produce no greenhouse gases.
- Kyoto Protocol – An increasing number of experts believe the Kyoto targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions cannot be met without a significant increase in nuclear power generation.
- There is a serious supply deficit in the U3O8 market. The large inventories that existed for a number of years have now been largely exhausted.
- Australia is negotiating a free-trade agreement with China, and as part of that Australia will have to "free up its uranium resources" as a source of supply. China will have to sign the non-proliferation agreement on nuclear fuel to enable imports of Australian U3O8 for its nuclear power industry. China is building 40 new reactors over the next 20 years, with effectively no source of U3O8.
- Due to pressure for supplies of U3O8 for the US nuclear power industry (generator of one-third of the world’s nuclear power), George Bush has also indicated that Australia needs to free up its uranium resources.
- The Australian Federal Government supports uranium mining and export – and they will face enormous pressure from China and the USA to open up the Australian states to uranium mining. If the Federal Government wants the China Free Trade deal, it will have to be sorted out.
- Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer now has a select committee operating that is paving the way for uranium sales to China.
- The Australian parliament is conducting an enquiry into the development of the non-fossil fuel energy industry in Australia. The enquiry will commence with a case study into the strategic importance of Australia’s uranium resources. It will specifically consider: - the global demand for Australia’s uranium resources and associated supply issues - the strategic importance of Australia’s uranium resources and any relevant industry developments - the potential implications for global greenhouse gas emission reductions from the further development and export of Australia’s uranium resources - the current structure and regulatory environment of the uranium mining sector.
- The Australian Labor Party itself is realising it needs to drop the discriminatory and illogical policy and has several of its prominent leaders in favour of uranium mining. All the South Australian Federal Labor politicians are calling for the Labor policy to be abolished.
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What is the Uranium resource worth to SMM once the mining ban is lifted?
Following are two approaches to estimating "ball park" values for Summit’s existing uranium resources. The first method estimates a range of Net Present Value (NPV) figures for the uranium project based on various assumptions. The second method is a crude valuation of the resource based on 5% of the value of resource in the ground.
Mine valuation
SMM management believes the mine will be operating within 3 years of a change to Queensland’s uranium mining policy giving it the green light.
Current plans are to commence production at a mining rate of 2.5 million tonnes per annum producing around 6 million pounds of U3O8. From year 3 the mine expansion will enable processing of 4 million tonnes per annum for production of 9 million pounds.
Due to the very robust cashflows the project will produce, it will be possible for the initial capital expenditure required to be largely debt funded, with a payback period of less than two years. The second phase capital expenditure for the expansion would be easily self funded from the strong cash flows, but in their modeling management have conservatively allowed for debt funding of this as well.
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Assumptions
Management believes the following assumptions for mining operations are conservative:
Total U3O8 Reserves (including only the resources already defined by drilling) | 76m lb |
Ore throughput first 3 years | 2.5mtpa | Initial Capital Expenditure | $140m |
Ore throughput post expansion | 4.0mtpa | Summit’s interest in the project | 65% |
Implied mine life | 7 years | New SMM shares to be issued | 15m |
Plant recovery of U3O8 and V2O5 | 75% | Discount rate | 10% pa |
U3O8 headgrade | 3.2 lb/tonne | Interest rate on debt | 10% pa |
V2O5 headgrade | 2.5 lb/tonne | Tax rate | 30% |
Operating Expenditure per tonne | A$35/tonne | V2O5 price for life of project | US$7/lb |
The following table shows values for NPV per share (just for the uranium project) at the time the initial capital expenditure is undertaken, incorporating the above assumptions and based on various U3O8 prices and A$/US$ exchange rates. These values are extremely conservative as they assume no increase whatsoever in the resource size (it is known that all three existing deposits continue further than the areas so far drilled). No mine expansion has been incorporated in these calculations as no expansion would be undertaken without a significant increase in the quantity of defined resources.
Exchange Rate | A$1=US0.70 | A$1=US0.75 | A$1=US0.80 |
U3O8 price assumption | NPV/share | NPV/share | NPV/share |
US$30 throughout | A$1.47 | A$1.24 | A$1.04 |
US$45 throughout | A$2.94 | A$2.61 | A$2.33 |
US$45 increasing to US$60 from year 3 | A$3.86 | A$3.47 | A$3.13 |
Rationale for including these U3O8 prices in NPV calculations
- • US$30 is seen as a very conservative forecast for future prices – it is US$3 above the price of long-term contracts currently being negotiated, but US$15 below Morgan Stanley’s forecast for the average spot price in 2006.
- • US$45 is Morgan Stanley’s forecast for the average spot price in 2006.
There is obviously uncertainty about when the regulatory impediments to mine development will be removed. However, the current market capitalisation of SMM incorporates negligible value for the uranium project, even though the chances of it proceeding are looking increasingly good.
Because the NPV estimates are so far above the current share price, debating whether A$1 or A$3 is more reasonable is rather pointless. The key factors to keep in mind are that these figures are very conservatively calculated, and even the most conservative of the NPV estimates is multiples of the current share price. There will be plenty of time for firming up the NPV estimate once more drilling has been done, the mining ban has been lifted and mining plans announced.
In the meantime the most important point is for investors who want exposure to this project to buy now – before the excitement starts – and while the share price is just a small fraction of the ultimate value per share once the development commences. As the share price can be justified by the company’s other assets, investors are paying virtually nothing for their interest in the uranium project.
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Why SMM’s project assumptions are seen as conservative
- 1. Total U3O8 resource of 76 million lb has already been defined. The deposits to be mined initially all remain open along strike and at depth, and SMM believe the drilling to commence shortly will more than double the resource. There are numerous other prospective uranium targets in the area (SMM will drill seven of these during 2005) and the chances of finding further deposits are very good.
- 2. SMM’s interest in the project is assumed to remain at the current level of 65%. But it will increase as further resources are found because the new drilling targets are on ground controlled 100% by SMM. Management believes SMM’s eventual interest in the project may be as high as 80%.
- 3. Mining costs have been assumed at $20 tonne throughout. Actual costs are likely to be much lower than this. The figure of A$20/t reflects costs for underground mining, but ore is likely to be sourced for several years from a series of open pits at around 25% of the cost of underground mining ($4-5/t).
- 4. Head grade – The U3O8 head grade is likely to be around 3.5lb/tonne initially, and rise as mining of a series of satellite open pits (where grades are known to be higher) takes place and as Valhalla gets deeper (where grades also improve). The V2O5 head grade appears to be above 3.0lb/tonne, but because of a paucity of data a more conservative figure of 2.5lb/tonne has been used.
- 5. V2O5 price – the price can be very volatile and is currently around US$25/lb, but prices at that level are thought to be unsustainable. The assumption of a price of US$7/lb long-term is very conservative.
- 6. Copper – There are significant amounts of copper in the Andersons and Skal deposits, and in other targets. No revenue from copper sales has been included in the NPV calculations.
- 7. Issue of 15 million new shares to fund SMM’s equity in the project. SMM believe fewer shares will be issued, as the project will be largely debt funded. Once the mining ban is lifted the shares are likely to move significantly above $1 - a placement of 15 million shares at A$1.50 would raise A$22.5m.
- 8. Plant recovery of U3O8 and V2O5 of 75%. This recovery rate was based on a U3O8 price of US$10/lb. A higher uranium price means the cut-off grade can be lowered, raising the recovered percentage.
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Crude In-Ground Resource Valuation
A conservative yardstick for valuing the deposit is 5% of the in-ground resource value.
Based on SMM’s current attributable resources of 76m lb of U3O8, and taking the current spot price for uranium of $US24 per lb, the resource is valued at $US1.82Billion. Taking 5% of this gives $US91.2m, or around $A117m. SMM’s 65% share of this equates to A41cents per existing Summit share (assuming all options are converted).
Taking Morgan Stanley’s forecast average price for 2006 of around $US45/lb, the resource is valued at $US3.42Billion and SMM shareholders’ effective share equates to A77cents per share.
These figures take no account of the value of the V2O5 and copper contained in the deposits. Furthermore, SMM believe the 2005 drilling programme will at least double the size of the known resources.
Other Assets
In addition to its uranium resources SMM has other assets with enormous potential. The current share price can be justified on the basis of these other assets alone. In other words, investors buying into SMM at the current level of 33 cents are effectively getting the uranium resource for nothing.
Whilst the timing for the Australian Labor Party’s (and therefore Queensland’s) uranium mining policy being changed is uncertain, it seems increasingly likely the situation will be resolved within 12 months.
The drilling SMM is undertaking during 2005 should add considerably to the resources of the company. Management believe the size of the attributable uranium resources will be more than doubled as a result of the drill programme, and they are optimistic of success in a number of copper and gold targets.
Progress with the iron ore and phosphate deposits at Constance Range also has potential to add enormously to Summit’s resource base and generate wealth for investors.
Don’t be put off by the fact the SMM share price is trading at about 5 times the level of twelve months ago. The shares were seriously undervalued then, and it needs to be remembered they have significantly underperformed the universe of uranium stocks over the past couple of years due to the Queensland government’s policy on uranium mining.
It should also be noted that, as Labor governments govern all States and Territories in Australia, all stake holders in the uranium industry in Australia are on the same footing as far as developing new mines goes. SMM is no further disadvantaged than the existing producers (WMC and Riotinto) or all other Australian uranium exploration companies and new players entering the field.
Outside of the two existing producers, SMM controls the largest undeveloped uranium resources in Australia. When the Labor policy does change SMM will be the largest beneficiary. As a small company the leverage for shareholders is very high.
Hold on to your hat!
10 May 2005
Peter Sargent BCom BSc CSAP
Director
Sovereign Precious Metals Ltd
Disclosure of Interest: Peter Sargent owns shares in Summit Resources
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Disclaimer |
This material was prepared by Sovereign Precious Metals Ltd. It is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security or other financial instrument. While based on information believed to be reliable, no guarantee is given that it is accurate or complete. Investments discussed may not be suitable for the specific investment objectives, financial situation or individual needs of recipients and this material should not be relied upon in substitution for the exercise of independent judgment. Neither Sovereign Precious Metals Ltd nor other persons shall be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, consequential, punitive or exemplary damages, including lost profits arising in any way from the information contained in this material. This material is for the use of intended recipients only and the contents may not be reproduced, redistributed, or copied in whole or in part for any purpose without the prior express written consent of Sovereign Precious Metals Ltd. |