Interview with Patrick Mutz, MD of Image Resources (ASX: IMA)
Image Resources is Australia’s newest mineral sands mining company, operating at its 100%-owned, high-grade, zircon-rich Boonanarring Project, located 80km north of Perth in the infrastructure-rich North Perth Basin.
Image Resources is a successful and profitable mining company and mines and produces a heavy mineral concentrate. Mineral sands are mined from ancient beaches which are buried 10-20m below the surface. These beaches in Australia contain two main minerals used in the concentrate made by Image Resources which are Zircon and Titanium Dioxide. Zircon is primarily used to make floor tiles and ceramics and Titanium Dioxide has a number of uses primarily in paint.
Image Resources was originally keen to start as a small company to keep overheads low and to build the business from there. In 2019 the company made AUS$$21M net profit and in 2020 AUD$25M net profit. Image Resources got into production quickly at a low cost and now the company is talking about the growth strategy going forward.
The company has 12 projects of which they are currently developing the first at the moment and looking to develop the second project from now. These are small projects with low capex and the idea is that the company moves from project to project.
The strategy for Image Resources is to grow into a AUD$500-600M market cap company. Exploration costs for Image Resources are very low and the company is exploring to extend the current footprint using ground magnetics. The company is also actively looking for acquisition opportunities to add to their portfolio.
Image Resources also has 2 gold projects which the company plans to add to the portfolio and aims to get to a mineral resource estimate to decide whether they are feasible in the long term.
The company recognizes that there are many other aspects to focus on in addition to profitability. Image Resources started the ESG process early on with a very strong commitment for a positive relationship with the community and landowners. The company has built a solar plant to off-set electricity requirements and is also working with landowners to look at carbon sequestration testing on the properties. The company also believes in the importance of mine rehabilitation after use.
0:00 - Company Overview
0:42 - Mineral Sand, Composition & Market Environment
3:25 - Starting Production, Dividend, Sustaining Profitability, Operating Parallel Projects
7:15 - Strategy: Equipment Relocation, Gold Prospect, Planning & Efficiency
12:34 - Sovereign Risk, Timing, Scale, Exploration Cost, Acquisition Component
18:42 - Shares: Price, Market Cap, Holding Percentages, Asian Investor Base Connection
21:54 - Background History of Key-Staff
25:09 - King Gold Prospect: Plans, Debt-Free, Cashflows
29:34 - Drilling, Capital & Time Spent
30:33 - Gold Project: Expenses, Interested Investors, Estimates & Tangible Results
32:14 - Focusing on ESG: Solar Plant, Carbon Sequestration Testing, Mind Rehabilitation
35:26 - Approach & Views on Carbon Sequestration Testing
37:07 - Outro
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