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Guest Dazel

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Guest Dazel

 

 

Beer baron,

 

 

I am referring to the work that was done by Jeremy grantham...a link has been posted here before..the thread is getting a little long...it was not due to volatility in their analysis...

 

It was the probability of reversing the iron ore trend...2 million  to one chance of that...they used 100 years of data...

As we know GMO...does their homework.

 

Dazel.

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How did they get it ?

what methods did they use?

how do i know if they are right and how do i get a mental model of what they have done ?

 

 

 

Beer baron,

 

 

I am referring to the work that was done by Jeremy grantham...a link has been posted here before..the thread is getting a little long...it was not due to volatility in their analysis...

 

It was the probability of reversing the iron ore trend...2 million  to one chance of that...they used 100 years of data...

As we know GMO...does their homework.

 

Dazel.

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Beer baron,

 

 

I am referring to the work that was done by Jeremy grantham...a link has been posted here before..the thread is getting a little long...it was not due to volatility in their analysis...

 

It was the probability of reversing the iron ore trend...2 million  to one chance of that...they used 100 years of data...

As we know GMO...does their homework.

 

Dazel.

 

 

 

Beer baron,

 

 

I am referring to the work that was done by Jeremy grantham...a link has been posted here before..the thread is getting a little long...it was not due to volatility in their analysis...

 

It was the probability of reversing the iron ore trend...2 million  to one chance of that...they used 100 years of data...

As we know GMO...does their homework.

 

Dazel.

 

dazel, i own a some altius in an ira account (are they a PFIC for US investors?) because of your ongoing generous & compelling analysis of it on this board (& because its trading at just above book with a nice cash cusion, plus they seem to be thoughthful capital allocators who dont indiscrimately spray tons of share issuance for acqusisitions at every turn), but looking at at chart of iron ore prices for the past 10 yrs presents---for me, at least---argues for some caution:

 

http://www.indexmundi.com/commodities/?commodity=iron-ore&months=180

 

despite what GMO opines iron ore prices look like they might have an air pocket underneath it if the tug of war between inflation & deflation goes the latters way. commodities in general have been a big beneficiary of the worldwide credit boom over the last decades. but then again, so have bonds because of the incrementally slower growth that each dollar of defcit spending has bought, & with it, the prospect of a deflationary slump when the music stops. at that point i'll be looking more aggressively for inflatioanry investing themes.

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After reading some Nassim Taleb I'm now very suspicious of any predictions of "1 chance in 1 million" or whatever, but I do foresee that base metals will benefit from a large portion of the world developing. South-America, Asia, Africa.. Even the US economy going back to normal.

 

And if things don't go well for a while, well, Altius has no debt, lots of cash to deploy, and great capital allocators who own a good number of shares in charge. So I'm not worried. This is what reassures me, rather than quantitative predictions.

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Guest Dazel

 

 

Green king,

 

 

You do not and will not know if they are right...but their analysis is different from Taleb who is always pedi ting a black swan will appear....GMO called the market meltdown on fundamental analysis and think Fairfax got a lot of their information from GMO. I am not saying we could not have a pullback in iron ore quite frankly it would be beneficial to have a pull back.

Why?

Supply demand. GMO's thesis is that there demand will continue will continue to outstrip supply....why? Iron ore was under produced for so long because of it's low price....the opposite happens at these prices...more supply comes on...however, remember 2008? The were a ton (pardon the pun) of projects delayed and shelved during that period...you cannot just bring supply on it takes the better part of a decade to get mine going. If prices were to fall back it would actually help Altius because there iron ore properties are in an iron ore district...infrastructure is already there. That is why Thompson Consolidated were able to plug through 2008 and 2009....low cost is the key. Alderon would benefit from a drop in iron ore prices.

 

Dazel.

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You do not and will not know if they are right...but their analysis is different from Taleb who is always pedi ting a black swan will appear....

 

I was more basing my comment on Fooled by Randomness than on The Black Swan. In it he makes a very good point that people assume that events follow a guassian distribution while in fact that's not the case. The math whizes believe that things are actually more predictable than they are. Hi prescription to survive and thrive in this umpredictable world (where we regularly see events that people once predicted were once-in-a-thousand years events..) is to have robust and resilient systems. I believe that Altius is one such robust and resilient company.

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Guest Dazel

Liberty,

 

 

Thanks for the remarks....

 

I am a value investor. We will leave the predicting to others...we buy a buck for 50 cents. That simple....the macro is not our game. The macro I provide is other people' s analysis...I spend very little time on it....just pass it on. Our best case scenario is that commodities get crushed on the same arguments we are talking about. Altius is in the drivers seat....they can pick bucks all over the place for 50 cents....they are investors...NOT MINERS.

That is why we own them...

 

http://www.google.com/finance?q=TSE%3ALIF.UN

 

Labrador iron ore royalty is an example of what is possible at Altius..the market has priced this in at a value of 0...after 9 years of developing their iron ore properties from scratch.

 

 

Most importantly our upside is Free....there inventory of assets are priced at close to zero.

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Guest Dazel

 

They will not be selling here...if it were to triple like the article suggested they would be sellers...the more likely scenario is they sell at the $6 level to a producer that assures them the quickest production.

 

As I have said the royalty is worth more than all Altius right now. The market does not care right now...and we are fine with that...it is coming together as we expected.

 

Dazel

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I've been pouring over Altius trying to get more comfortable with them before I increase the size of my position. I found an interesting blog that discussed Altius's involvement with the Lower Churchill Hydro Royalty, and the NLRC. The post draws a lot of connections showing Altius's government connections. The post concludes with the author buying shares in Altius, so don't let the author's tone get to you too early.

 

http://rocksolidpolitics.blogspot.com/search/label/Altius

 

I am trying to invert and find a reason to short Altius before buying any more. Has anyone else tried this. Have you come up with anything? Was the NLRC blowup the reason the stock price fell? I'm looking for anything that could derail this investment. Right now, it seems the company is riding on Alderon. Are they being discounted because half their market cap is invested in a junior miner?

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Guest Dazel

 

 

Ross182,

 

 

I would love to see a short thesis but more importantly I would love to see a large short percentage literally...an illiquid stock sometimes acts strangely. A short would have had it's way with Altius shares as they would have been able to move the price at will. I know you are doing an exercise...just saying a squeeze would be deadly for a short...

 

Altius position in Alderon is $32mx $3.50...$112m.  A little over one third market cap...

 

Dazel.

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Dazel,

 

I've owned Altius since August of 2010 after I read your posts and ran the numbers. It has stayed about a 5% position which is pretty typical if I haven't spent the time to become really comfortable with it. I've just kept up with your commentary and read reports from the company. I'm about 20% cash right now and have another 20% coming if Jef stays above 17 on options expiration.

I really need a place to put the cash and Altius looks to be the cheapest thing I'm watching right now. It seems to be a great place to put some money, but I need to understand it better. Thus, getting to know it from the other side of the trade. I'll post if I find anything else interesting. So far, other that macro problems, I haven't turned up anything.

 

You're right on the Alderon position. I was typing faster than I was thinking. Alderon makes up a huge portion of the Altius market cap. If Alderon was backed out, Altius seems fairly valued in an ideal liquidation situation. So the margin of safety is Alderon, which seems to be a great investment so far. 

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Guest Dazel

 

Ross182,

 

It is a very important exercise you are doing...I would look at all assets individually...negatively...remeber that Alderon stock and Alderon 3% royalty are different assets...they do not effect each other unless Altius uses it's control position to secure that Alderon comes to production.

 

So what is Alderon stock worth?

What is the 3% royalty worth on their own?

 

In a negative analysis (what the market is pricing) the royalty is worth 0. You do not have to do much math in inversion because the market has already done it.

 

 

 

So the billion dollar question is when do you add the royalty to the value of the stock?

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Guest Dazel

 

 

The world resource sector will now take notice of Altius....This is the biggest steel producer in China. Global news will have companies looking at Altius' assets and value.

 

What exactly is that 3% kami royalty worth now? This is a game changer absolutely huge for Altius.

 

Dazel.

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How many tons of iron can Alderon produce? The release this morning suggested 8 million tonnes? 4.8 million tones purchased by Hebei for 95% the market cost. Lets assume $100/ton so Alderon is now making at least grosses 456 million. Altius gets 13.7 million? ($100*95%*4.8*3%) DCF discounted at 11%, 0% growth. The 3% royalty is worth 124 million on the extreme low end...

At $140 per ton 8 million per year the royalty is worth 305 million...

 

Either way you could put a conservative and say the Alderon Royalty and shares are worth 230 million.

 

Millrock 7.93 million shares worth $2.06 million

3.45 million warrants worth $.24 million

 

NLRC

0

 

Voisey .3% Royalty, 2.25 million per year

0% growth, 11% discount 20 million

 

CMB

2% uranium ?

2% smelter ?

 

Viking Gold 2-4% sliding royalty ?

 

Rambler

12 million shares worth 7.2 million

 

Labrador Iron Ore

I think this one is huge. Rio Tinto agreement for 3% or 10 million + 2%

Ill go really conservative here and say all 4 projects are only worth the Rio Royalty -$30 million

 

Cash and Income Tax Receivable - $58 million

 

What I consider a very, very conservative of the cuff valuation-

347.5 million

 

Very conservative, not even considering:

Viking gold royalty

Alberta Oil Shale holdings

CMB Royalty

NLRC loan recovery

 

Any one of those is easily worth 5-10 million...

 

 

The market is saying 348 right now...

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