West Wits - Latest thoughts (Oct 26)

I have had a chance to meet with West Wits during the gold conference. Also just listened to this interview with the CEO.

This YouTube is worth a listen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QOwPzv1xiA

Here are my take aways:

1. The banks tracked West Wits closely before releasing the second tranche of the loan. There are two task masters holding West Wits accountable so to speak.

2. So far so good..... The development/production ramp is progressing in line with its expectation all along. It will connect to the grid in early 2027. Feb 27 is when it will formally commence production..

3. Also CEO mentioned that what it is seeing underground so far is not different from its expectation or what it knows of the geology in the area. Again, it sounds like it stands a reasonable chance to hit its production targets in 2027/2028/2029.

4. Project 200 is being re-worked. We will see the scoping study some day in the future I would think. An important point is Qala Shallows is expected to have mine life of over 30 years at >70K oz production.

5. It won't hit 200k oz for quite some time. Say steady state production in 2029.... It will then take a few years to ramp up production to 200k oz (say 4-5 years). It hasn't decide if it wants to build its own processing plant for Project 200.

6. Bird Reef Central is upside to Project 200. Will be another few years before it is up and running.

7. In 2029, it will look to pay down its borrowings before thinking about shareholder return. But management is conscious of what shareholders want as well.

8. Potential upside when it lifts its stake in Qala Shallows (from 76% to over 80%) in the future.

9. The CEO repeatedly mentioned West Wits is under valued. See Pic 2 and 3. In the video, he mentioned West Wits earning power of US$200M (?) in a few years' time.

Overall, I would say as a junior gold company West Wits stacks up well vs. many junior gold companies I can think of. See Pic 1. It is NOT an explorer. It has been developing its mine for over 1 year. It is funded. Of course, folks may not be comfortable about WWI being a South African company. The SA discount will only narrow once it generates consistent cash flow and being serious on shareholder return (my personal opinion).

Still think in a few years' time, West Wits (the stock) will do very well even if gold only stays around current level of US$4k or so. Stock price has been tough without a doubt but MV of A$140M is valuing WWI for a song (in my opinion).

PS... Not advice. Do your own research. Personal opinion.