AGM summary

A couple of things I took away from the AGM. WIM 150 sale is just the shot in the arm needed to get the plant finished. Kronos terms for funding the additional spend of around $6M not acceptable to APG which meant funding needed from other sources. Commissioning to take 3 months and assuming the funding from WIM150 is available in January which is dependent on Victorian Govt approving sale prior to Xmas, construction can start early next year as 90% of parts have been ordered and/or delivered . I sought confirmation there would be no more plant redesigns that could potentially cause further delays and cost overruns. JW responded saying the plant design was finalised. It will take a while for plant to be fully operational because of EPA restrictions and the uncertain supply of quantities of pickle liquor and mill scale due to steel industry production. JW thought the supply issue unlikely to be a problem. So I think from that that the cashflows of $7m highly unlikely next year. Labour costs for running the plant are a significant % of operational costs so cashburn may exceed revenue in short term. The lottery in all of this was the work being done on base metal exploration in Victoria . For a relatively small outlay drilling for base metals may strike it lucky but this is highly speculative and an added bonus and in no way the main focus. Drilling won't commence until at least January (after crop harvest.) What was not mentioned was the excuse of a research report recently released although not necessarily that important. Did I feel warm and fuzzy.... No but a little less frustrated about the lack of real progress as they seem to have a better than average chance of achieving plant operation on or before the next AGM. It was good to catch up with many of the HC posters. See you all again next year.