Ann: O'Callaghans Mineral Resource - Competen, page-5

re: Ann: O'Callaghans Mineral Resource - ... Interesting comments there Syd.

That 4th paragraph was just saying ...if they meet guidance for the year, how much production will that mean and what might it be worth.

I'd be interested if you had another read of page 3 of the Dec 09 half year report and gave some feedback. Seems to me to be pretty much under control at the present and plenty of good growth options in the medium horizon (few years).

Positives I take from their page 3 are:

1. Production was down ut this was planned and due to
- lower grades at Cadia.
- work to finish a new cutback in the open pit at Cadia.
- lower grades at Gosowong, which will be higher in the 2nd half.

2. Lower sales of gold and copper are partly a result of building inventories (+$82M see page 14), which I assume means ore stockpiled and ready to process in the 2nd half. The mining part of some of the 2nd half production has already been done in the 1st half.

3. Margins have increased with lower costs.

4. In the first half $440m was spent on developments at Ridgeway deeps, Gosowong expansion & Hidden Valley. All three will become operation in the 2nd half and contribute to production and profitability.

5. O'Callaghan's as I recall (from some broker research a while back) has not really been factored into the value of NCM.

So I guess I'm an optimist as usual. But as we all know the market is a different beast. Gold heading up today in both US$ and A$ but NCM down. Can't grumble, that's how it is. We just try to understand what's going on enough to make some money!