Northern Vertex Mining (V:NEE) continues beating the markets expectations since feasibility – all while gold production continues to ramp up. . .
Share Price: C$0.30
Shares Outstanding: 180.31M
Market Capitalization: C$54.093M
Cash: C$7.38M (At Mar 31, 2018)
Key Points:
Financially de-risked
Technically de-risked – the plant’s performing better than expected
Robust project economics – an outstanding after-tax 63% IRR (internal rate of return) and133M NPV (net present value)
First Gold already poured – Q1/2018
Massive exploration upside with potential for over 1M+ Oz
gold-equivalent resource
Northern Vertex is currently ramping up production to full-capacity at their flagship ‘Moss Mine’ project in Arizona.
Month over month, Northern Vertex continues increasing gold production.
As an example: gold production increased from 1,276 oz in May to 1,374 oz in June (8%). And then to 2,067 oz in July (34%). We are still waiting for August’s figures – but expect the month-over-month growth in gold production to continue.
There’s also been a 23% increase of silver production since May.
The Moss Mine’s current resource has 435,000 ounces of gold at a 0.87 g/t (grams-per-ton) average grade.
And with the current resource, annual production is expected to be roughly 50,000 oz of gold once the mine’s at full-capacity. Management plans to increase production to 150,000 oz through further M&A – as well as through further discoveries on their properties.
These numbers have been helped along by the efficiency of the plant and its outstanding team. . .
For instance, 5,000 tonnes per day was projected in the feasibility study – however – NEE has often exceeded that number. And at the end of July achieved a best day record of 11,500 tonnes.
That’s a 130% increase compared to the projected numbers. . .
This increase came from the introduction of 70-ton haul trucks (which replaced the original 40-ton trucks).
This allows the company to move ore and waste rock quicker, cheaper and more efficiently than before.
So – we’ve established that the company’s ahead of schedule for commercial production. This will translate into stronger earnings than what’s currently anticipated by the market.
But here are some key reasons as to why we feel this junior gold producer’s severely undervalued:
1. The Moss Mine’s all-in-sustaining-costs (AISC) of $603 per ounce is cheaper than many competitors – such as Klondex’s $950 per ounce. This also gives the company thick profit margins per gold ounce mined. . .
2. A very attractive after-tax IRR of 63% – compared to, for example. Atlantic Gold’s 35% IRR. . .
3. Outstanding gold and silver recoveries of 82% and the 65% (typical leach recoveries are in the 60% range for gold). . .
4. Exploration upside with more than 60% of the known ‘strike’ still un-explored. . .
5. At least three new exciting targets that are nearby and ready for immediate exploration. . .
6. Installation of district power will drop power costs from $0.20 per kwh to just $0.068 – a 66% decrease. This will make the already low AISC even lower – thus making profit margins thicker. . .
As mentioned above, NEE’s aiming for 50,000 ounce of gold per annum. Companies with this level of production typically have a market cap of over C$100M – double that of NEE.
Due to the financial and technical de-risking, the rapid month-over-month increase in gold production, a relatively low AISC, and a very cheap market cap – we view Northern Vertex as a positively asymmetric (low risk, high reward) opportunity.
Our technical team has recently visited Northern Vertex’s mine site and will release our in-depth report highlighting our experience there in the coming weeks.