emperor coming under pressure, page-4

but whats it mean Im buying every month.

-6 week shaft closure due to skip failure. irrelevant. this is a one off item only

-4 week shaft closure due to seismic activity. irrelevant as it is a one time item only.

-West wall remedial work, this will reduce production and increase costs significantly for the period however this is also a one off item and thus is of no significance

-Reduction in the cash cost. Personally I would be inclined to ignore a stat from such a short period of time. I know for example I could comfortably reduce the cash cost at my mine by one third....but one for about 6 months. this can be done by high grading or reducing the amount of infrastructure completed in this period of time.

In this instance I do think they have been high grading in order to try to maintain their productivity. This is generally a result of idi0t managers overruling the planners who look at the big picture. do I think it's a problem, nope only if they do it for too long, you can high grade without too much expense for a while but sooner or later you'll have to cover the expense. Its no big deal its just the way it's done.

My overall position is that we will probably do it tough for a little longer yet then we will have a sustained recovery back by a moderate rise in the POG.

Opinions are welcome.

cheers,
michael.