What WAK does is going to vary over time. In the long run it...

What WAK does is going to vary over time. In the long run it would want to systematically extract the optimum value in a holistic sense, rather than pick out the eyes, and leave areas of stranded value. In the immediate term, management is likely to focus on the quality pits, and generate cash flow, and also win a few friends who desperately need high-quality K99 product in East Asia, plus wet-processed variation of K99 as a paper filler.

There will alway be lower value kaolin suitable for cement and building board products, and WAK can sell that locally. Any new field that makes sense, including HPA, can and will be addressed in the fullness of time. But there is not much purpose thinking about agricultural, horticultural and other markets now, because supply is the problem, not market development. Even the waste silica, potentially has a market.

Running a kaolin business is a bit like running a beef abattoir – the prime focus is the beef, graded to cuts to maximise profit, but even hoofs, horns, bones, blood and offal join the value chain. I used to export foetal calf skins from an abattoir in Botswana to buyers in Hong Kong, and the hair from the tips of cattle ears to a specialist dealer in hair based in Germany. I was frequently asked to supply bovine gallstones to Hong Kong, but I never uncovered a supply. A firm who made enzymes asked me to help them buy huge quantities of horses hearts, which I recall looking for in Argentina. The most difficult side of exporting is finding reliable suppliers at world prices, not finding buyers.

Did you get a warm and fuzzy feeling for WAK from your meeting with Andrew?