Hi @tropic Et al.
Thankfull for your thought provoking posts.
As you know, I fully agree with the need for greater transparency and less ambiguity.
Although I had estimated commissioning by Sept earlier, I then revised my estimation as I thought I was being too pessimistic.
The interpretation by @PThomas , @jasp and @tropic of the half year financial report was correct and I was wrong.
I had a look back and collated information on the schedule of the demonstration plant. Today I sent an email to David Paterson and have included his response, with permission.
The following is the full extract from the email response:
Quote
"In the HalfYearly accounts, page 7, we reported –
“Thecurrent project schedule indicates that most if not all the equipment will beon site before 30 June 2023 and it all being dry commissioned. Thecurrent budget is $41.7 million with $31.3 million having been contracted orcommitted and the remaining $10.4 million, mainly relating to construction andcommissioning services. The bulk of these services will be finalisedbefore 30 June 2023”.
Asyou can see with only $10M, which mainly is construction will be completed by30 June 2023, there is no significant delays. Given COVID, supply chaindisruptions and reduced manufacturing capacity, this is an excellent resultfrom our management team.
Drycommissioning is Stage 2 of a 5 stage commissioning process. You then doStage 3 Wet Commissioning, Stage 4 Load Commissioning and then Stage 5 FullCommissioning. These stages will be taking place in the 3rdquarter finished by the end of September.
Itrust this explains our progress more clearly. Thank you for yourcontinued support of LMG."
End quote.
.........
Again, I completely agree with @tropic that there are some very serious reporting and communication concerns and errors.
Delays were expected and still are but nonetheless, to omit the discloseure of the following is a major error imo. "Drycommissioning is Stage 2 of a 5 stage commissioning process. You then doStage 3 Wet Commissioning, Stage 4 Load Commissioning and then Stage 5 FullCommissioning. These stages will be taking place in the 3rdquarter finished by the end of September."
There are other matters which I am concerned about that could still cause issues.
For example, I think the tenders for the spray roaster and the reduction furnaces went around the world in 80 days...
If you take a long time to tender and award long lead time items, you have a compounding delay being firmly established.
I am not a downramper, at the end of the day I am holding tight and have my own convictions for my investment. Project progress is being made and there are a great deal of known facts regarding that progress, I have listed them many times before. The last 18 months have been massive and a game changer. I believe the fundametals have not changed at all.
As always, dyor
Regards
Ken
(20min delay)