Do you think it would be prudent to separate the 2 projects Desert Fox and Copper Fox prior to announcing any results from the Arizona properties?
You mean with a spinoff?
I can't figure this out really. If we assume, for the sake of the argument, that both projects are valued the same--and that's something that Elmer has also told someone and this comparison with Pinto Valley might agree with that roughly. (That makes about $600M to $700M value per project to us, speaking very roughly. Actually I thought Elmer said AZ might be worth more eventually....whatever.)
The trouble is our stock price is so low relative to the overall value that if you did a spinoff it's hard to see how much each entity would be worth. I don't have much experience with these things but wouldn't it be better to have at least a PEA before you attempt to float an IPO of Desert Fox? Otherwise, you're selling shares in nothing but a story, and those days seem to be behind us.
What about an acquisition though? If they've managed to find a good acquisition then it might make sense to have that ready for the spinoff as well. I don't know the proper order of these things, whether you want the stock price to go up before the spinoff or right at the time of the spinoff, or modestly first and then hit the market with a series of announcements.
Ideally SC would sell then the spinoff would be announced. I think they have to just plod along with their plan regardless of what the timing is from Teck or mystery buyer.
I think I would try and maximize the stock price before the spinoff but have some sort of activity with near-term reveal in the wings post-spinoff to keep the momentum.
