I'm from the government and I'm here to help you ... (And I'll still love you in the morning ...) hahaha
If the ABU ML application has been submitted, and it's my understanding that it has now been submitted in full (yes, there was a holdup with the EIS submimssion and, again, my understanding is that there was a legitimate reason for that), then ABU has absolutely no control over the timeframe for a response from the government.
It may well be that to satisfy ASIC requirements ABU management was required to make a statement about the likely timeframe for ML approval and has had to amend those statements as it became obvious that ABU's timeframe and the government's timeframe were not in alignment. More importantly, having worked in and for government for over 30 years (including preparing EIS for development companies), I believe it would be in ABU's best interests to not make too many public statements about the timeframe for ML approval, lest it be construed by those responsible within government for processing the approval, to be applying undue pressure to get it done or, conversely, inferring criticism that the process is too slow.
I attended the AGM, and had later conversations about timeframes with both Darren and Mike (Chairman), and the impression I got from both was that while ABU would do all it could to expedite the ML application, once in, it's approval was totally in the hands of government.
Bottom line is that you either trust ABU management to act in the best interests of the company, or you don't. If you don't, then there's little point in buying/holding its stock.
I disagree that the ML approval has already been factored into the SP. ML is a big deal (vastly different from exploration leases) and the institutions will start to take more notice when it is granted. Then, when SP increases, relisting on S&P/ASX 300 will also move it along.
Patience is a virtue, possess it if you can ... But if you can't, sell out and trade/invest in other stocks - there are plenty of them!
ABU Price at posting:
2.2¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Held
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