Before one goes running for the hills when hearing Eagle Bay plans to juggle an oil and gas play, a graphite mine and an Olympic Dam sized copper/gold project in South Australia, there's one thing that should be remembered. Rechner has done it all before.
He has found, developed and sold three gold mines to date and has had a successful petroleum exploration career spanning the globe. This is probably the key to Eagle Bay's chances of successfully carrying out its business plan – Rechner's proven ability to manage projects across different commodity sectors.
He's picked up a few marketing skills along the way, and his pitch is that with the price of oil and gold being up, and with the volatility affecting the Australian Stock Exchange top 100, investors should look at a multi-commodity investment. Hence the Wesfarmers analogy.
"The usual criticism of conglomerates is that they either don’t have enough depth of managerial experience to be able to handle a variety of projects -- with the resultant requirement for a variety of disciplines -- or they don't have the cash to meet their varied obligations," Rechner said.
"If any one of these projects were to prove successful, Eagle Bay would be more like 60c than the current 6c and you would not get that sort of return from blue chips in today’s market."
Eagle Bay's activities over the past few years have been primarily oil and gas focused. That said, it has farmed out its activities in the offshore Gippsland Basin in Victoria to prospective IPO and minnow, Bass Strait Oil Company. Led by a highly respected team of industry bluebloods, BSO is paying around $5 million in costs to earn its equity, meaning Eagle Bay will spend minimal time and money managing its exploration commitments.
It is almost impossible for a hard rock miner to successfully make the transition into the hydrocarbons sector. However, the reverse – going from petroleum to mineral mining – while not straightforward, is not nearly as much of a paradigm shift.
If Rechner retired tomorrow he would still have a mineral exploration record that would be the envy of many, putting aside his petroleum career which has included stints as operations manager for WAPET in Western Australia and Chevron Oil in North Africa.
Rechner, 55, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and physics from the University of Adelaide, SA. He is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy with over 30 years' experience in Australia and overseas working in petroleum exploration, mineral exploration and mining.
As chairman and managing director of Windsor Resources NL he developed and sold the Mt Percy mine in WA's goldfields. In a similar board capacity at Brunswick NL and Geographe Resources, he proved up and helped bring on line the Galtee More and Chalice gold mines respectively. So there's probably a few thousand happy shareholders as proof he knows how to find and market his metals.
So to the first question about Eagle Bay as an investment – does the management have the experience and capability to manage its portfolio? – the answer is an emphatic yes if history is any indication.
Second, does Eagle Bay have the cash to pay for its obligations? Yes again, given that by farming out the cash-burning oil and gas exploration activities, the company continues to be able to look at other opportunities. Having won 100% of the Bass Strait blocks some years back, the company will still hold sizable 25% stakes after farming out their highly prospective acreage.
Two separate 3D seismic surveys have now been completed within their permit area, VIC/P47. Bass Strait Oil Company's option over the permit requires them to interpret one of the surveys, estimated to cost $250,000.
BSO can then elect to drill the North Kipper prospect, estimated to cost $6 million, to earn their 75% interest in the permit. The BSO option expires on October 31 this year.
The same company, led by Bernard Wheelahan, Geoff Albers and Henry Askin, is also obliged to shoot and interpret seismic over a second permit, VIC/P41, and drill a well by February next year to earn 75% -- all this without cost to the Eagle Bay shareholders.
Eagle Bay is not going to spend any more of its own money on its second project – refurbishing the now-closed Uley graphite mine in SA. Uley contains a world-class resource of high-grade flake graphite.
The reserves and resources are sufficient to support a mine life in excess of 100 years, according to the company. In the early 1990s, Eagle Bay's former partners spent $14 million developing the plant.
The closure of two overseas graphite mines and a water shortage in China has restricted the supply of high-grade graphite.
Now that the graphite outlook has improved, a major international commodity trading house has agreed to purchase Uley’s production on a long-term contract.
"It's a good area to work in and is well served by existing infrastructure including an established deep water port," Rechner said.
He is now advertising worldwide for a partner to stump up the last $2 million required to re-open the mine, once again at no cost to Eagle Bay.
