Ann: Ngualla Rare Earth Project Update , page-10

Valid points, osr1986.

There are two serious options that I can see for funding.

Option one: debt. If Peak can find a buyer for the minerals, and get them to sign on the dotted line, that gives a solid future revenue stream. I would imagine that there would be banks happy to loan the money to get the mine on stream in that circumstance. I would be comfortable with this scenario; it means that once the debt is paid off, Peak owns the mine, free and clear.

Option two: a stake in the project. This is problematic for the reasons you highlighted; but it is plausible that somebody might be willing to stump up the cash in return for a percentage ownership in the project. The hard part there is figuring out what a fair percentage would be; granted that Peak can't do it without the funding, but the funding wouldn't be forthcoming if Peak hadn't already spent the money on the exploration and development.

The third option is as you say: go into hibernation mode until the market sentiment improves. Unfortunately, this also has drawbacks; most countries - and I'm fairly sure Tanzania is no exception - have a "use it or lose it" attitude towards mining licenses. This means Peak must spend a certain amount of money each year to maintain the license, or lose it to somebody else who will do the necessary work. Means that we'd face a continual stream of capital raisings to keep the company afloat until the dust settles. (To be fair, I don't know what that minimum spend is, and I'm really not in the mood for trawling through Tanzanian mining law to figure it out.)

The more I think about it, the more I can't help but feel that hibernation isn't really an option at this point. Which bothers me, because I'm not comfortable about the state of affairs vis-a-vis funding, either.