alls well in mauritania

See below for an article in todays financial review.

Also, for all you Macquarie fans - they've issued some more warrants. They're 65c December call warrants, trading at around 8c atm. I can see them being in the money by Dec, which is good because Macq will have to pick up a bunch of HDR on market for conversion. That might have been them buying up big this morning. Good to see some action with the price again though........

All's well in Mauritania, investors told
Author: Yvonne Ball
Date: 03/07/2003 00:42:00
Words: 344
Publication: The Australian Financial Review
Section: Companies
Page: 16
Source: AFR
An attempted coup in Mauritania last month should not dissuade foreign investors from doing business in the poor African nation, according to its ambassador to Australia, the United States and Brazil.
Mohamedou Ould Michel said yesterday it was "business as usual" in Mauritania, three weeks after an attempted coup against pro-Israel leader President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya in the capital Nouakchott.
"Everything is under control. I think in the first hours places in the market have been scared. There is no reason to be scared," Mr Michel said.
The ambassador met with Woodside Petroleum yesterday. The Perth-based company is developing the Chinguetti oilfields off the Mauritanian coast, a project that requires an investment of $1 billion, two-thirds as much as the country's $1.5 billion GDP.
Woodside and its joint-venture partners, which include other Australian companies Roc Oil and Hardman Resources, are expected to make a formal investment decision early next year which should lead to first production by 2006.
The head of Woodside's African business unit, Ian Jackson, said yesterday the project had not been affected by the recent political turmoil.
The ambassador said the fact that the coup was quashed so quickly - within 36 hours - was proof of Mauritania's political stability.
"That is the proof, the structure is very solid . . . you have loyalty of the army and you have the eagerness of the people to preserve its democracy."
He said a further assurance to nervous investors was the president's decision to immediately preserve the date of the country's November elections. "He is very confident everything is under control."
Mauritania moved to encourage mining sector investment in 1999 with laws that gave tax incentives and exemptions to the private sector and foreign investors .