Break out happening, page-380

I think it was the same kind of promise as the one Power gave in April last year: "There will be a steady stream of results flowing until the end of the year." Clearly he and I have different definitions of "steady"; I thought it meant more than half a dozen, delivered sporadically over the course of a year.

I know that delays in getting results can occur, but not the delivery of the information promised on a specific date (in this case "the end of March". To make such statements is just plain wrong, both morally and in the corporate sense, if not legally. You go with the figures that you have on the date that you declared they would be made public. Can you imagine the furore if the Treasurer delayed the Budget until the price of iron ore went up to make the figures look better?

I don't know if the MRE will be good or not, but generally good news travels fast, while people sit on bad news as long as they can, in the hope that there will be a turnaround in the interim. I'm left with the assumption that the results of the MRE are not good, otherwise why not release them on the stated date?

This adds to my increasingly low opinion of Power. I remember last year, after delivery of the first big results that lifted the share price 80% for a day or two. We were seeing statements like: "We've got 100,000 metres of drilling to come this year, so if you think this is big, just wait!". Then, after more results came in and did nothing: "Don't worry, there's another 40,000 metres to come!". Now: "There's still 6000 metres of results pending, so something big is still possible." It's strange to see so many people continuing to regard Power's comments as a kind of guidance.

I don't regret my decision to start selling down on this one with a view to selling out, and won't even if the updated MRE is great. If it's mediocre, as I'm expecting, there'll be a new set of claims about how the next year will be wonderful.