company announcement, page-5

Hmmmmm

The worm turns yet again with another unexpected annmnt.

Mr Bligh has just been tied to the keel haul rope and about to go under the ship.Asked to check for the substantial hole in the hull that MF is furiously working on the bilge pump for,as he passes under the ship.

Not a very,lets say,nice departure for Reid and Innis from the sounds of the annmnt.Usually theres some thanks apportioned to contributing exiting Directors.No sign of that in this annmnt.Perhaps they'll get something in the Asx annmnt,IF there is one forthcoming.I wonder if this means they dont get to take advantage of those performance options considering they were linked to production of ore,the last ones anyway.

Like you guys say it certainly sounds as though theres some pushing for restructure in the background.One can only hazzard a guess as to whether or not its North Sound motivated,a lack of performance in getting the debt/c-notes over the line,or simply the basic requirement for the company to change to a more mine production/exploration(Perkoa environs) oriented team of which Reid and Innis have none.Probably a combination of the above.At least its halved the salary bill with Reid going,maybe a North Sound suggestion!!!

These developments can only be positive if it was MF doing all the hard yards as of late,which it sounds like to me.

Production back to late 2008???

Now thats the dissappointing bit and it seems we're slipping back to the original timetable.The mention of the box cut being half way implies they have slipped behind on this timing too.A processing plant will generally take 14 to 16 months to get to a fully ramped up stage,so perhaps we are seeing some realsitic timetable being set in this regard.

Interesting that they are now putting the priority on the offtake/logistics.This intimates that our little recent discussion on the "flexibility" of the debt funding MAY have been on a need basis rather than a want basis.
Sounds PERHAPS like they NEEDED the debt lenders to drop a requirement for an offtake(hedged?) and confirmation of logistics if they were to get the debt prior to an offtake.These are the two biggest aspects of risk to the lenders for this project imho.As I think I mentioned it surprised me from the get-go that the lenders wouldnt want a confirmed stream of revenue during the payback period.In other words a confirmed offtake.

The reference to a start on exploration of the Perkoa environs is interesting when thinking about the time now being taken to production.Is MF after some sp momentum with the hope of upping the resource base.This had to be done anyway and appears to have become a priority prior to the previous finance package being anncd with $10M being put aside for just this purpose.

All in all Im leaning toward a tick of approval with these moves but they were moves that would have had to have happened but it still leaves us up in the air as regards the debt and just what the lenders require of Aim in minising the risk to the lenders to the degree that they will part with the US$80M.

Its certainly taught me a lesson in not to listen to what is said in media items.It appears that the more cautious such as Juqu were correct in their doubts if the underlying transparency(honesty) in this annmnt is anything to go by.

d.