Bugger .... you people are hard markers!! Kalenn's post has pretty much identified the fundamental reason for grabbing the opportunity to raise these funds last week.
I was not going to respond and state the bloody obvious that the company wants the drill permit as much as all the shareholders. However it is beyond our capacity to do anything about this at the moment . We have provided all information to the Peruvian department and they have to sort out their stuff up. We can be too belligerent as we need to keep good will going forward.
I keep telling everyone that exploration is a slow game and a process of elimination. There are things the company can control and things that we can't. Happy to be held fully responsible for things that in our control but give us a break on the other stuff !!!
Part of the problem I suspect is we have shareholders who are watching the share price on an hourly basis. Understandable, I suppose, now that we have seen a good recovery over the past week and a bit, after such a long time with the share price going nowhere. Also, don't forget that barely 6 months ago a CR was done at 5.5c and it would not surprise me if some of those investors have sold some shares to lock in some profits, in light of the recent and pretty rapid share price. Also don't forget barely two weeks ago the share price was less than 10 c so to be concerned that we have dropped back to these levels is really short term, even myopic, thinking!!
In terms of the complaints about the recent CR and its pricing. I will only make the following points:
* It was done at the market rate/price. Not many companies can say that is the norm. It is the company strategy now, as you will all remember from the last CR; and
* It is money in the bank and buys the company more time to do the things it needs to do to get the share price up (and the options in the money) including value adding exploration (including now allowing us to fast track work on the exciting Australian projects), progressing discussions to try and secure JV's and waiting for a bloody drill permit.
You all also need to remember that drilling at Riqueza will not be cheap. We have 14 large targets and recommended drilling of plus 30,000 m At a cost of $US 250/m, the money raised in the last CR would not cover that, let along start to progress work on the Australian projects. You have to be flexible and adjust your strategy according to circumstances and that is what we are doing. The recently released NDI drill hole data for the East Tennant area has been a game changer. It has clearly demonstrated that this is prime IOCG territory and a new greenfields exploration province. Inca has some of the best ground in this new province and the stand out result of NDI hole 4, effectively in the middle of our Frewena Far East tenement, shows that. It is also a no-brainer for us to try and fast track work here, including drilling and hence the reason to take full advantage of the opportunity that the recent CR provided. This way we are likely to have drilling at not just Riqueza this year and that significantly reduces risks of over dependence on just one project delivering.
So my advice is to be patient (we will eventually get our Riqueza drilling permit) and try not to lose sight of the fact that this has been and still is a marathon and not a 50 m sprint. There will be short term ups and downs, but if the fundamentals are good and every box is being ticked (which I believe it is) then we will have serious success. It might take more than a few days, which seems to be some peoples focus at the moment, but it will happen.
