Ann: Makuutu Demonstration Plant Approved to Proceed, page-45

Hi all
Just one further comment on the announcement today that I find very reassuring is the work or experimentation that will be done on various heights of the heap leach columns. This process is used for extracting metals in a liquid form and is very commonly used in some copper processing sites. The payoff comes when the final investment decision is made that the processing of the heap leach should be very close to the ultimate size and height, prior to building the heap leach pads and overall processing and storage areas.

Commissioning a new mine or plant is always fraught with challenges but the last one that you want to be experimenting with at the commissioning stage is in the processing and other infrastructure. Therefore it is highly desirable that when processing infrastructure is designed (in this case heap leach pads) that they get it right so that they dont have to redesign or modify it later on. Getting it right from an early stage will result in speed to market and higher levels of customer satisfaction of the product we sell them. Getting it right will improve the probability of early cash flows which are very important during the early stages of commissioning the plant. For anyone who has not been through a commissioning programme, it is all too often a time of enormous difficulty and frustration when all the assumptions and designs around the plant rear are tested and inevitably some are often found to be not quite fit or not at all fit for purpose. This demonstration plant is therefore a very good idea IMHO.

Cheers W2