westmoon, page-12

As H/C readers will know I am not one to post often. I will comment further on this one though.
I have a feeling that these guys must be a lot further down the road than they are saying.
Over the years having managed successfullya few of these greenfield major projects there are aspects about CMR's stated targets that , in spite of Rod Elvish's reply to me, continue to be cause for wonder. They include:
Program to production. Starting from where they appear to be now - a brown paddock prone to flooding during the wet - and aiming to be producing within 12 months and with relatively little cash in hand and big bills to pay would seem to be extremely ambitious. It therefore contains doubt.
Execution. It seems to me that the only way such a target could be considered feasible would be to transfer an existing redundant plant (in good condition) and relocate it on to identical plan footings at Browns. And therein may be the answer to Oly's constant complaint of "a piddling 1 million tonnes per annum" So, on reflection CMR MAY have already located a plant of this size and somehow "reserved" it.
For future production expansion, intelligent design could allow for duplication with a much larger parallel process line once the initial cash flow was coming in. -supposition I know, but it does answer some things and as I said before without being close to the action we can only surmise.
Financing. I can also only surmise that somehow money has been made available to them to pay for the costly activities that MUST begin now if there is to be any hope of a 12 month start up.
It therefore follows that some serious commitment gambles must be made well ahead of the bureaucratic green lights. You cant delay theses thing until the end of the year and expect to start up in June.
Contracts. There are also contracts to be stitched up well in advance. Civil, Mechanical, Electrical DISTRIBUTION and Instrumentation contracts, possible electrical power generation contracts etc, etc.( Remember these mining operations use big dollups of power)
In the face of lack of certainty and finality how does one handle these things.?
The next 12 months make for interesting sideline viewing. They are going to need all the help from those Greek gods they can get.