chart, page-154

I know that many won't like the view that I am about to express. However, it is a sincerely held view, and I think needs to be said.

Like some other companies, I think that ABU needs to focus its funding and technical resources on expanding the resource base - hopefully by finding extenstions to known deposits, and particularly by finding whole new deposits.

I would rather spend available funds on doing that than concentrating on JORC drilling, project development work etc. Yes, I understand that the big end of town instos want you to do the JORC drilling to derisk the situation. But they aren't the only investors or potential investors that we want to impress. Corporates won't care about JORC numbers - they will want to know how many million ounces might eventually be found on these tenements, and when might they be found. The companies have the capacity to make their own estimates of resources from published information (which is very good generally these days).

As well, there are many share market punters and investors who recognise that the main thing that drives the share price of gold stocks is the rapid addition of ounces (delta ounces). They understand that more ounces of the right grade will be turned into cash flow some time, and it might be by way of a lucrative takeover bid which some of us see as not a bad outcome.

The market gets excited about discoveries, not the long slow grind to production. Which is why companies often see their best prices during the exploration phase, slumping during the development phase, and finally resurging when production commences.