Dear Mr Finch,I am holder of both Trafford Resources and...

Dear Mr Finch,
I am holder of both Trafford Resources and Ironclad mining, having held both stocks since January 2010. I did my research, assessed the risks as they were known and presented and I believed your good news story.

Since this time I have continued to monitor the progress of both companies closely through forums such as this (thanks to the insightful Thadius), company announcements and your investor presentations. While I continue to belive the story, I've seen both production, cost and shipping forcasts pushed out considerably and the value of my investment more than halve.

These are tough economic times and many companies are still recovering from the GFC and are further being impacted by world currency markets and the Euro crisis. That, in part, explains TRF's and IFE's share price performance and production delays and I don't doubt you and all TRF / IFE employees are working overtime to get to production.

However that is only part of the explanation, and it is here (with the greatest of respect) that I do not agree with you that the market is wary of the floating harbour technology and some of IFE's other innovations and that it these factors are impacting on the share prices of both companies.

Both IFE and TRF are trading at a huge discount to (current) fair value based on the constant missed timelines and market surprises and will continue to do so regardless of production, shipping and money in the bank. Yes, there will be a re-rating, a market cap of $50m is not sustainable for a company generating revenues of $80m a year. However the re-rating will be discounted and the share prices of both companies will continue to trade below fair market value based on history.

If there is a cap raising (having previously stated not), if full finance is not secured until late in the Q1 (after your team was running the ruler over the final 2 shortlisted proposals in November), if 'full phase 1 capital requirements are $40m, after advising the market they were $26m and if you advise the markiet you are 'on track' to ship first IO in Q2 after previously advising Q1 (and earlier), the market will not believe the phase 2 and 3 timelines, costs and production estimates and thus will trade at a discount to fair market value.

Moving forward, please treat your shareholders with the respect they deserve. We are entitled to both accurate and timely information and an explanation when timelines slip and / or costs increase. I believe HC is a good gauge of shareholder sentiment and reading through the recent TRF and IFE posts there are clearly a lot of loyal shareholders who, like me, are not happy with the lack of transparency.

I wish you and the TRF / IFE team the best of luck moving to production, and I look forward to recieving accurate and timely news from both companies (both good and bad) in 2012.

Thanks Ian,

Andrew from Melbourne