proactive investors seminar - syd weds 2/2/11 , page-20

Yes it was very encouraging. According to Simon, the current President has sacked 70 judges for corruption, and in the latest court hearing (in which the judge found against Talas ICT) there was a group of government officials sitting in the court and watching to make sure there was no funny business with the judgment. The Andash mining operation is meant to be the "pet project" of the current government, and they will do everything to see it goes ahead. He pointed out that Talas ICT is claiming damages from KGL, when in fact they bought their 10% interest from Aurum for $1,000 and then sold it back to Aurum for $1.2 million- where is their damage??? The reason they lost their interest is that under Kyrg law they were obliged to offer to sell their interest to the Govt before they could sell it back to Aurum. This all happened before KGL were in the picture, and it was a documented matter on public record, so KGL did not disclose anything confidential at all.

Due in part to the micro-financing loans (is this a great euphemism for a bribe??) and the promise of many jobs, the villagers have gotten 1500 signatures and taken them to Bishkek to ask the govt to sack the Village Council, which they say is slowing down the process of approving the project. In other words, 80% of the local residents want the project to start immediately so they can work. I asked Simon about the approval required of the Village Council, and he said in reality KGL do not even need the approval to go ahead. He said in no uncertain terms the project will go ahead.