LON:SXX | Sirius Minerals - The Victorians Would’ve Been Proud ....

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3rd Mar '18 by gus 1065

7 comments 5076 reads

Not necessarily plugging this as an investment, but fascinating to follow the development of this polyhalite mine up in the North Yorkshire moors by Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) . Very much a “ jam tomorrow” story stock (already a decade in the making and no production expected until 2021) but the logistics behind the development read like something from a long gone period of British industrial enterprise.

http://siriusminerals.com/downloads/shaft-sinking-factsheet/

So far barely a hole in the ground but who knows, maybe in 20 years’ time a world leader.

Gus.

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About the Author

Gus 1065

Premium Member

Ex investment banker specialising in ABS/RMBS and Principal Finance. Now a slightly less stressed house husband, dog walker, long distance cyclist and scuba diving PI.

7 comments

JohnEustace

3rd Mar '18

It's taken a lot of Australian can do spirit to get it to this stage.

gus 1065

30th Apr '19

Significant milestone in the development of this “wannabe hole in the ground polyhalite miner” Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) with the launch of its fully underwritten US$3.8 billion Stage 2 financing this morning. For insomniacs amongst us, take a read through the RNS which should see you off to sleep in no time.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sirius-minerals-plc--sxx-/rns/launch-of-stage-2-financing/201904300701035217X/

This latest round of financing should secure construction of the mine and surrounding infrastructure to completion and beyond, significantly de-risking the project (although plenty of risks still to overcome) that has looked dead in the water on several occasions in the past few years. Unusual beast in that it’s a FTSE 250 “Sucker Stock” and the share price may well take a hit today given a substantial US$400m chunk of the package is in the form of a heavily discounted equity placement, but in the long term (accepting we’re all dead in the long term) I believe today will be seen as a significant event in the project’s development. Holding an investment as much out of enthusiasm for the project’s positive impact on the local community as its underlying business case but happily so.

Gus.

23jez

30th Apr '19

Hi Gus
Long time without communicating. Been to hell and back 2 or three times I have now managed to crawl back from (Dante's) circle 9 back to circle1 with the help of good medical care especially by one of my surgeons. who indubitably saved my life. It is commonly believed that doctors are more susceptable to serious complications than patient X. It was certainly true in my case. In late August 2018 I thought I should pay some attention to my portfolio. Unfortunately I pressed the buy not the sell button. I decided I was not fit to make serious decisions as most days my brain felt like scambled eggs.

I was discharged from hospital in November and to my relief, my portfolio was virtually unchanged in, value, inspite of then being one third cash. I felt that having made, for me, a considerable amount of money over the last two and a half years, and the demise of the ii bullitin boards in the form we knew and loved, I needed a change ofdirecton. i know you think highly of Stockopedia so I decided to indulge myself and get a subscription. I have just started to use it. It has already influenced my decision making. What an amazing site!!!

I hold Sirius for the long term. I was hoping to arrange a vist with my eldest grandson, who is crazy about chemistry, last summer. He knows the periodic table by heart and has been collecting minerals since he was 4 years old.

Best wishes

23jez

gus 1065

1st May '19

Hi 23jez.

Nice to hear from you and pleased that your recent health issues appear to be behind you. I departed the II boards a few years ago. Having gone on a long trip abroad, when I returned I found that they’d changed all of the formats making the site unnavigable so I moved on.

Welcome to Stocko - as you say lots of good information available and a healthy discussion forum. I’ve been using a more “factor” based approach for about 4 years now. Jury still out on this for me. Results were initially much better than previous strategies but in the past 8 months or so a number of my apparent “Super Stocks” have tanked on the back of unexpected profit warnings/corporate governance issues or just simple market malaise. My overall returns in the past year have been well behind those of my investments in ETF’s, Investment Trusts and managed OEICs so while it’s been interesting I’m clearly not adding much value!

Re. Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) , I see they’ve published details of the equity and convertible bond placement this morning.

https://www.investegate.co.uk/sirius-minerals-plc--sxx-/rns/results-of-firm-placing-and-placing/201905010700136993X/

While it’s good that JPM have got the issues away, the equity placement at the 15p bottom of the indicated range is not great and even with the opportunity to buy shares at 1:22 held, it’s very dilutive to existing holders and will hang over the share price for a while. I’ll probably take up the offer and apply for surplus shares as I’m still prepared to take a long term view on this even if it’s the children, (or possibly the grand children!) that will be benefitting from the eventual dividend stream.

Look forward to seeing your future posts here. Always well thought through and keenly observed.

Best,

Gus.

Paul Robinson

2nd May '19

That’s all l need another bloody Ameriser to tie money up forever

Talygarn Tom

2nd May '19

This is the last project Chris Fraser (CEO) and Russell Scrimshaw (Non-executive Chairman) worked on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HCYurojx6Q&t=110s&fbclid=IwAR3540S01nVShp5xDr2B3K73k6-hm7W01eEw9uFs8Cuvf4EgfhsV82SMdlo

https://equity.guru/2018/07/02/looking-back-2008-fortescue-metals-group-fmg-asx-10-years/?fbclid=IwAR3kAdNNcHbLW2IxqrfireYas-SF51gsTfdk5JZanRznCrYmLeDOVONmgXU

Jim Steel

26th Nov '19

Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) is now a Sucker Stock. For those of us who were suckered in it is a useful lesson in investing. It is, primarily, a story stock. The story was of a great deal of asset cheaply accessible (comparatively) with a compelling worth in a world running out of resource since fertiliser is what they mine. Beautifully marketed, but there was never a reason to get in to the stock whilst all the risk was present. If you don't understand every bit of an industry, or don't at least try to have specialist areas to invest in to (and I'm no miner) it is brave bordering on foolish to go where others think is unwise. Whilst Buffet might have said that you buy when others are afraid to do so, and sell whilst everyone is happy (or similar), Buffet would have had nothing to do with an asset with so much mining risk, so much technical difficulty, and such a huge need for finance. OK, all is not lost. OK, the economic environment was poor for fundraising, but in one large chunk of an investment I kicked the wind out of years of more prudent purchases. Don't be me. DYOR, but don't stop working at it until you've got to the end of a longish checklist, or have a system you know works well. Don't want to do the work? Buy a tracker and stay back. Whatever you do, don't fall victim to story-tellers.

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Sirius Minerals - The Victorians would’ve been proud ....

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Gus 1065

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