maybe monday, page-35

IF AVB is sitting down with the smelter guys from Paranapanema (I can spell it, just don't know when to stop) it would be useful to discuss the Direct Ship Ore first.

Poor Simon Mottram has an exciting suite of exploration targets, plus an infill program BUT an ever-diminishing bank account. He could be out of work in a year and on the dole... unless money is found.

Smelter deal is all about mine capital and off-take, not exploration funding. Vale cash is in the never-never.

The word was always that the ore at Antas South is so rich it could be shipped direct to smelter.... no concentration, for what amounts to an indicated profit of $13m.... or more.

Here are two quotes from Feb 2010 Scoping Study...

"proposal of scheduling production from early mining of "out-of-pit" direct ship saleable ores"

"..the above intersections contain +25% copper which is believed to be associated with predominantly chacocite mineralisation. By adopting a selective mining method the company believes that approx 20,000t of ore at 25%Cu can be mined out of pit and direct shipped for sales."

FURTHER...

1. the chart shows this is only 12 months of actual physical digging.. a mere 20,000t of ORE.. that is nothing.

2. The ore is very shallow at 15-20m below surface.

3. AVB is over-endowed with managers and experts.. a whole list, and now two new guys coming on strength so managing a small nearby digging operation should not raise a sweat surely.

4. Lead time is shown as six months to start. It could be shortened, but at least it SHOULD be scheduled to start immediately after the wet season.

5. This would exercise the Trial Mining Licence and ensure its currency.

6. This will put money also into the hands of the local landowner, and the government... all things that create goodwill... as well as employing some local labour. A great start.

7. Although on a small scale, it allows AVB to be a Producer.

So it appears $13m is sitting just under the surface and all AVB has to do is dig it up, and arrange for their MATE the smelter to accept it. That money will allow SM to discover the next Pedra Branca.

Yes it is a bit of extra work to organise, but not too onerous a task surely..... !

If the current talks are about off-take, then how about off-taking a bit of easy Direct Ship Ore from us.... and not just leave the stuff there. Fire up AVB!!