30c forget it. stop speculating., page-4

Hi 7 of 9,

I think you have to rethink.

APG just has to have a partner in order to move forward with any speed.(it's called street cred)

For years we true believers have been unable to fathom why any Ti O2 suppliers have failed to allign with us.

After the agm I went to my clippings file.

Trevor Sykes wrote in 4/02 that "when Corridor Sands hits the market, there won't be any room for any more players for a long long time".

This has positives and negatives for us...and raises questions !!

The Corridor Sands deposits have a 17 % slimes content.
How does APG handle slimes ? The deposit can be mined dry...and it seemes to me intuitively that the slimes should only be a problem I there is water somewhere...what happens when you burn coal?

So up till now I think that all the pigment purchasers have said to themselves.....in an oversupply situation we should just wait till the producers have invested and then drive down the cost of our inputs by pitching the sellers against each other ...just as Japan did years ago with their steel industry.

The fact that APG makes better widgets at a cheaper price is irrelevant from their point of view.

It may also mean that the ilmenite in WIM 150 is worth zero once Corridor Sands comes on stream.

It looks like BHP is serious about Corridor Sands.......They are big enough to become a price maker....not price taker (witness iron ore prices )

As the APG technology has useful co-products it will put them lower down the cost curve....(goodbye Iluka ? )

But with a potential output that is so huge that on its own will kill the market you have to ask yourself what is the BHP hidden agenda.

What can APG do that others can not ?

It can recycle its Ti O2 till it gets to 99 % purity.

What are the opions for the powder then ?

Pigment plant...or sell to dupont to make titanium metal ?........Or process it some how to make titanium sheet ? Tewks where are you ?

All in all it may be a way to reduce the glut...and I think BHP knows it .........Airbus has a huge demand for the metal for its planes.

I'll sign off now...I'm out of my depth.