with only 2 quarters yet a raise had to occur. It is also very...

with only 2 quarters yet a raise had to occur. It is also very necessary to do now. In February the hearing with the local community and final approvals will hopefully go ahead. But should they fail, it could be a long wait to contest and make changes to try again. Raising the capital now ensures that we can survive into that process and I fully expected a raise this week because of that.

The bigger issue in terms of raising money will be project capex. It has been nearly 4.5 years since the initial study was done. Capex was estimated at 250million. I reckon it is at least 50% higher than that and would not be suprised to see it at 400m+ in this environment. Labour is also likely to make their operating costs much higher than originally estimated.

I like that SVL are drilling and expanding but the "16 year mine life" has not changed in presentations since that study, despite non stop drilling and millions of dollars spent. I would like to see that number at 30 years or more given 5 years of drilling and pretty much every drill hitting good targets. With that sort of a mine life we can afford to trade away project equity to partner up with someone like S32 who have demonstrated skill at ensuring Cannington was run well or an overseas company with skill in silver recoveries and processing. Otherwise it will be one hell of a raise.