A lot of interesting points in that announcement, arguably one...

A lot of interesting points in that announcement, arguably one of the most promising since the JV was announced. Been waiting a long time to get a report on Rio's progress, still lighter on details that I'd like.

Firstly, the JV deal is now technically a little more favourable for RDN, with getting Donje Nevlje back as well as the exploration results by Rio at no cost, as Rio fully focus on Majdanpek West. Remains to be seen why they opted to focus on Majdanpek, but either way seems safe to assume that they view it as a much more promising site after conducting exploration.

Also have the announcement of Rio targeting an initial drilling campaign in Q2 (April), where they'll target 1000m of diamond drilling (but the amount may change depending on the results of the initial hole(s)), drilling the most promising target first up, so the hope is at least that if there is anything they'll be trying to get a good strike early on.

Looks like RDN were as disappointed as some of us where at the drill strikes last year at Stara and Gradiste, and will conduct further exploration and trenching to try define some better targets before they decide about further drilling, which stuttered and stalled amidst the mining license debacle late last year. Also what intentions they have regarding Donje Nevlje, and whether they think it is worth drilling or not now that Rio have passed on it.

You also have the announcement of setting up a Bulgarian subsidiary as they try to look for more opportunities over in Bulgaria, which may or may not be an ace up the sleeve if they can find a positive opportunity there.

Still well funded with 2.5m in the bank at the start of the year. After a pretty dire newsless few months where things were seeming a bit rudderless, it's good to see some potentially positive news catalysts in the near-ish future, and a sense of direction back.