Arhidas, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I have...

Arhidas, Sorry for the delay in getting back to you but I have been away for a few days.
I do not know how to cut and post but in essence here is an extract from "Mining News" of 27/5/03.

The Bulong laterite nickel project east of Kalgoorlie appears to be teetering on the brink after receivers were appointed to asses the troubled operation on behalf of creditors.

KPMG were sent in on the same day the board of Bulong Operations placed the company in voluntary administration.

Bulong is 49.9% owned by Barclays Bank, 46.1% by a syndicate of bondholders, and 5% by Preston Resources.

Bulong Operations, CEO Peter Rowe told Mining News the plan was to carry on trading.
He said great progress had been made on the operational front, particularly in terms of throughput, de-bottlenecking and the scaling problems that plagued the project early on.
However, equipment reliability issues , the stronger Australian dollar- which takes $1 million off Bulong's bottom line for every 1 cent appreciation - and the uncertainty of the supply and cost of sulphuric acid needed in the processing contributed to the decision to call in administrators.

"You don't get quick fixes on maintenance management and (while ) we are turning things around, it does take time."
"If we look at good daily througputs then we're champions- it's just the consistency."
"So some months we're quite strongly EBITDA positve and other months not."

Asked whether the project was making profits, Rowes replied: "With our amount of debt?"

A significant consideration for any potential acquirers of the project could be the confirmation by Rowe that Bulong has been high-grading its deposit,with ore grading 1.7% fed into the autoclave.

Ian Buchhorn, managing director of the Western Australian junior with the largest laterite nickel resources, Heron Resources, said he would be watching developments at Bulong with interest.

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Other small articles also appear in Mining News in relation to Bulong and higher nickel prices predicted over the next few months due to several factors.

Hope this is of interest to you and yet another permutation for Heron? Perhaps!!

Sally.