chart - maybe time to go long?, page-12

I don't think its Ni or the price of Ni that is holding the SP back. I think it is production and production costs, but I wouldn't mind seeing some positive results on the exploration front in areas other than Ni.

I'm not sure is you noticed that the output and costs were not so grand in the September quarter. There was a drop from 3487 Ni in concentrate sold in June quarter to 2790 in September. Cash costs also increased from $4/lb to $4.94/lb.

They reported these to be related and one off occurances so hopefully when they report the December quarter there will be much better numbers.

It wouldn't take much to pull the SP back up. When the production at Miitel begins, then we'll see the last of the sub $2 prices and hopefully something closer to $3. I think the conditions are right for it, so hopefully we'll get the announcement in the next few weeks.

This decision, though, brings up some an interesting idea in terms of share holder value and optimal levels of production. I don't think many of use would mind seeing a SP of $3 right now (and the dividends that would go along with it), but what would we say about production if we knew the Ni price would be $12-13 is two years' time? Given that there is a finite amount of Ni in the ground here, how long would we want to wait before we sell it?

In any case, I though long and hard about picking up some more MCR last week and earlier this week when it was sub $1.80. I've been fully invested for most of the last year so I'd have to sell something first to do so, and haven't quite figured out what to part with yet.