arafura agm results and future

Hello all, well here goes, my perspective of the AGM yesterday. Sat with P&B Crossland, in top 20 and Numbat@ representing German holders with some 9 mil shares. Behind me was Barry Court.

Mick Muir hosted the meeting indicating he was standing down and handing over the chairman's position to Mr. Ian laurance, he will remain a director. Ian is a very well connected guy, being a Liberal Minister in the recent Richard Court days, still very well connected, mentioned Sir Charles and the Court Dynasty. Ian will be a HUGE asset to this company, very well presented, speaks very well, will prove to be a bonus for Arafura.

Resolutions 1 to 4 all passed, no problem. Resolution 5 on the facility with YA Global, was a long discussion between Pirra, several other shareholders, the chairman and GL. The board indicated that the facility was in today's volatile financial/credit turmoil, very necessary as a reserve fund, because the company has to remain liquid at all times [ in financial terms " solvent " and able to meet its debts as and when due } The discussions led to a POLL which as some comments were made, a first for Arafura. You all know the result, Pirra pointed out to Numbat, that on the board alone, 3 holders have over 10 million votes so the result was really a done deal.

The Rights Issue, the meeting was told that as some 68% of rights were not taken, they will look to institutions for a placement. They will also look at the possibility of applications from existing shareholders to take up more Rights. Some existing holders have indicated an interest in taking more at the 28c issue price. AS was confident of placing the shortfall reasonably quickly.

AS then gave his address on the companies past performance and the future program. This is well documented as shown in the ASX announcement, my comments follow

IPL, connection with this company will be great, and a partnership should/will evolve. This is a very important association, as we all know because of the Phospates

Batou, AS advised the meeting that the fact is, we need Batou for their expertise, they need us for the REE product. Batou will actually help us with the production, some based in China. They have the know how, the marketing skills, the why for and where for, and as you know supply the most of the world needs. They actually need us to help them supply others. At the recent HK conference, the ASIAN community actually made comments " you in with the Chinese, very good very good " This is not an easy thing to do, the work done by AS and his people is now showing.

Upgrade of the resource is well documented, and ensures a 30 year life of the mine, one of the main asset here is the surface material that will supply the first few years at minimum strip cost.

Trial plant results keep coming in better than expected, a huge bonus. Results are shown in recent notices to ASX. Plant design etc are well under way, and BFS Definitive study will be complete late in 2009. This will enable the company to proceed to construction. 2011 is still the aim for start of production.

Capex and Opex costs are coming down, see the Operations Report 2008. Pirra really likes the fact that Capex can be repayed in the 1st 3 years of full operation, that is a huge bonus. NPV now well above the PFS statement October 2007 and estimated resource revenues are VERY LARGE, see pages in Chairmans Address on Operating Costs, Capital Expenditure and Financial Analysis.

Queried directors after the meeting on why the small take on the RI by the board, short answer was lack of means, hard to borrow in todays world, in Muir's case he had just paid off a mortgage and did not want another. Asked as to why small holdings of some members, answer was they have only a small window of opportunity because of ASX and ASIC rules { inside trading a typical reason }

Have increased holdings, Pirra is still a very firm believer of this company, am sure they will make the big time. Bring on Production before i get too old. As have stated many MANY times PATIENCE is a VIRTUE. You must have PATIENCE to survive in this type of investment world.

Time will tell. Always does