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Hi FERGUS,

I'll try to answer that.
You are 100 % correct about program and BFS dates

BHP will test the technology to the "n" degree.

They will not abort the testing half way through and say "gee this is all going well there is obviously no need to test any further"

That is what gave the laterite nickel industry the $400 million Murrin Murrin exploding fiasco......and Tewks observation in real life of some $100 m ? industrial junkyard...for the want of not going through the process of upscaling development.

There will undoubtedly be be some unexpected hiccups.....and this production campaign will I expect have a time allowance in there to overcome them.

From what I hear the materials used in the NZ steel campaign for example were found wanting in the specified grades of stainless steel used under the continuous use conditions.
The steel buckled....the process worked but the materials failed.
This has been rectified in the current reactor vessels.
In fact many new concepts have been incorporated to increase the efficiency of the process.We are probably not at the final, fine tuned design yet.

Nevertheless I think there is a desire by BHP for a successful outcome..........what a great partner to have !

Look at the deep pockets that are aligned with us.

Look by way of example at the RIO Hismelt plant in WA.
RIO + others have been pouring money into the development for 25 + years.The plant opened recently.

It is said in the industry that RIO never has a failure.

"They just keep on spending money till the process works " when the need is great enough.

Now it just happens that the APG process of agglomoration is an ideal first stage conditioner for Hismelt.

The APG technology is the simplest of all the currently available...it is low pressure , low temperature.

The test programme has a defined time...the BFS should be simple enough......it has been done time and time again by APG over the last 10 years.

I think we APG shareholders will have fair idea of the outcome by mid Feb after the first batch has gone through.

Under continuous disclosure rules I think that would be worth an announcement.

Then there is the continuous roast to prove up all incorporated updated concepts....

Once we have first batch success I think all the rest will fall into place !