" P.S. My personal view was that the CSIRO release would likely...

" P.S. My personal view was that the CSIRO release would likely expedite any forward sales or a possible JV partner coming on board. Do you concur or otherwise? "

Absolutely ! CSIRO is a world class research organization and they know what their stuff. I'm sure their findings - especially acting remarkably similar to Synthetic Graphite would raise interest amongst manufacturers looking to lower their costs. From what I believe, Archers preference is to sell High Grade Graphite direct to the manufacturer, by doing all the work themselves purifying and getting the Graphite to the grade required by that manufacturer. Of course the production price will be higher but at the same time selling without the middle man should bring a better price.

I'm not a fan of off take announcements, not saying their bad at all and it is good if a company negotiates one or several, but there's no money given upfront to the graphite companies. A real plus would be for a company to secure a JV partner otherwise it's up to the graphite company to make it to mining on their own money. Off takes are not a guarantee that the company will make it to mining but certainly helps.

You ask my gut feeling Reichman about timing for a sale. Personally, I do feel all their hard work is starting to bear fruit and it may not be long now. Remember the company announced and initiated the divestment plan late last year knowing the BHP deal took approx 8 months to negotiate and knowing their cash balance would be getting low. As stated in a recent announcement they claim to have multiple parties interested - so who knows if a deal could be done this week or in a couple of months but I have a gut feeling it may not be not that far away. I do ring HQ every so often but hopefully not that often that I become a pain. I have a sizable investment with the company and am interested on how their progressing. I'm here for the longer term and of course I only know what is already in the public domain but chatting and getting a feel for the optimism and confidence through just talking just makes me feel a little better about where my money is sitting

I always say, it's the quite one's you have to watch

Cheers
Tonza