Goyder says markets should ‘get real’ about Chalice’s long-term value

afr.com:

Tim Goyder, Chalice Mining’s largest shareholder, says a slump in the critical minerals explorer’s share price is an overreaction by a market that wants “a bed of roses” and needs to “get real” about long-term value.

Chalice shares fell more than 25 per cent to $3.77 on Wednesday – the price has more than halved in four months – after investors were disappointed at the results of a long-awaited scoping study into its Gonneville project.

Tim Goyder is a major Chalice Mining shareholder, and a large investor in lithium hopeful Liontown Resources. Trevor Collens

Gonneville has been touted as one of Australia’s best critical minerals discoveries for its platinum group elements, nickel and copper, but investors were underwhelmed by Chalice’s promise of a two-year payback on a mine costing between $1.6 billion and $2.3 billion.

Investor concerns were focused on the lower-than-expected rate of nickel recovery forecast by the study, capital spending that was higher than some estimates, and the fact Chalice has based its economic forecasts on commodity prices well above current levels.

But Mr Goyder, who is also chairman of lithium hopeful Liontown Resources, said he expected Chalice shares to recover within six months.

Chalice does not expect to be selling metals from Gonneville until 2029, and Mr Goyder said in that context, the company’s adoption of high commodity price assumptions was a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”.

“If you believed consensus everywhere, you wouldn’t start anything. You wouldn’t even start exploration,” he said, adding that like Liontown, Chalice shares endured extreme volatility every time there was a market update.

Chalice has a market capitalisation of $1.5 billion; Liontown, where Mr