AGM

There were about 2o to 25 people in the room, however of these, I estimate that there were only 6 to 8 non-employee shareholders. Everyone else appear to have some connection to the company; auditors, legal counsel, share registry etc

Ian McCubbin, who chaired the meeting and Cliff Lawrenson were the only board members in attendance. Ian indicated that Dick Block the Chairman was very sick and wished him a speedy recovery. He advised that the other directors were overseas and unable to attend. I have mixed feelings about this. One part of me says that this is the one meeting a year that all board members should attend, so that they can get feedback first hand from their shareholders. On the other hand it has saved the company for business class return air fares from the US, UK and Senegal!

Resolutions 11 to 14 inclusive were withdrawn at the commencement of the meeting. These being the issue of options to Dick Block, Ian McCubbin and Christopher Pointon and the issue of performance rights to Cliff Lawrenson. The first three were withdrawn as the directors had decided to take on board the negative sentiment expressed in the against vote on at least two of the resolutions and resolution 14 was withdrawn because Cliff was leaving the company. There was some discussion later in the meeting where a shareholder expressed the view that the results of the proxy vote should have been formally advised to shareholders, in the same way that they had been for the resolutions that remained, before they were withdrawn.

All the remaining resolutions were passed on a show of hands.

Ian McCubbin made it clear at the commencement of the meeting that there would be no presentation. His explanation for this was that given Cliff's imminent departure it was felt inappropriate for him to deliver a presentation that would effectively talk about the future of the company. They did however hold a Q&A session after the formal business of the meeting had been concluded.

First cab off the rank was, looking forward when might be expect positive cash flow and when could we look forward to receiving dividends? Mr McCubbin, said that he couldn't comment on the specifics at this stage as there were too many unknowns such as the final price that the company will receive for its product, once accepted by the market and establishing that acceptance in the marketplace as a new entrant, effectively displacing existing supply.

He did however go on to say that the company was pursuing its strategic plans for the large scale mining permit, establishing itself in the marketplace and pursuing other initiatives (no specifics on this). He also pointed out that agri-products in general had suffered a decrease in pricing of late and that this cut across all sections of the market.

Someone asked about the status of IHP, to which the response was that JDC was still seeking additional funds and AEV was waiting to see the outcome of that financing effort but had taken measures to protect and strengthen its licensing rights. The process itself is technically proven having produced commercial grade acid (in small quantities) but people should be aware that it is long way to go from taking that technical success through to a commercial process. Nonetheless it had passed all internal technical tests.

The question of funding was raised given comments in the quarterly report regarding cost during the ramp up phase and the potential that the operation may run at a loss. Ian McCubbin was specifically asked if the company was intending to undertake a capital raising. Whilst the response was not a categorical no, he did indicate that now that they were in production that it was possible to obtain debt facilities in proportion to their output that would ensure that the operation had sufficient funding until such time as it was profitable. Ian also noted that the project had a 20% shareholder who also has to contribute funds. He also indicated that as a board member, he would not support a capital raising at this time.

He did finish off by saying that this was a good opportunity to state that all is okay with the project and that as some people in the audience would be aware, the ramp up of any mining operation can take time and costs are always higher at the start.

One shareholder observed that the centre of gravity of the board had shifted overseas and asked if the company will be moving headquarters offshore. The short answer was, that there are no current plans, but it was something that the board was constantly reviewing.

Another shareholder asked how the search for Cliff Lawrenson's replacement was going and had they found anyone yet? Mr McCubbin replied that the search was going well, but they had not yet made an appointment.

One person representing her brother asked when that they expected to get the operating costs down below $80 per tonne. Ian McCubbin asked where this figure had come from as it appears to have no basis in fact and is certainly not a number that the company has put out.

Another shareholder asked when the first shipment was scheduled to depart. This led to an explanation that it had proved more difficult to dry the product and achieve the required moisture limit than they had anticipated, due in large part to the weather. They had done a number of things such as increasing the area of the dring pads and had recently installed a hydrocyclone to partially dewater the product prior to discharge to the stockpile, so that there was less water to evaporate during the drying process.

It appears that the first shipment is scheduled to leave in December and the ship will be loaded as soon as the product achieves the 3% moisture limit. Of course if it looks like the moisture content will not be achieved and the shipment will be delayed until January, then that would be a material change and under their continuous disclosure obligations they would make an announcement.

Cliff took the opportunity to point out that the $15 million spent on capital was enormously capital effective.

Someone asked about Wonarah, suggesting that it could be many years before it could be mined and what was doing being done about reducing the holding costs.

In response Mr McCubbin said that the holding costs were being progressively reduced, the fifth anniversary of the agreement with the traditional owners had provided an opportunity to revisit the agreement and as a consequence payments under that agreement had been reduced.

One shareholder expressed their concern at the lack of commentary from the company in response to the plunge in the share price. They, like many other holders had assumed that the plunge was in response to bad news about the project that they were not aware of. They felt that the company should have been more proactive in issuing statements to the effect that everything is okay, as has been stated during the course of the meeting today.

Ian McCubbin said that they were in compliance with their continuous disclosure obligations and had felt that it was not appropriate to make any other statement until the first shipment had sailed. He indicated that once the shipment had left then they would engage in a more active promotion of the company. We can only hope that this is the case!

I hope that this satisfies everyone's thirst for knowledge.