from spectacular potential to ???

I invested in CTO because the company appeared to indicate spectacular potential.

Here are some extracts that caught my eye. Please don't make decisions based on anything I say here. Its your money, so please do your own research. Also I may have errors.

NOV 2007 Melbourne Mining Club Presentation
10m oz reserve and Extraction Plant and mining machinery in place.
Forward Goals:
100,000oz per quarter
Cash Cost: Less than $350 per ton
Average head grade: 14g/ton

July 2008 MD Presentation
300,000 oz per year (2012) 100,000oz (2009)
10m Oz deposit 14g/ton
30 year production mine
Bonanza Grade Ore at Warrior Reef 840 level 2 m at 75g/ton (amazing to say the least)
Cost $488/oz for lower grade development ore

Feb 2009 Road Show Presentation
Mine rate 16,000 oz/year
Grade 11.7g/ton
Growth Plan 16,000oz to 300,000oz per year
Bonanza Grade Ore at Warrior Reef 840 level 2 m at 75g/ton

May 2009 SPP
This was supposed to be the last chance to buy shares from an SPP. Mine was supposed be self funding with the ramp up in production.

So far so good... or so I thought and I bought shares (just before the May SPP announcement).

Dec 2009 Quarterly production target now set at 5,000oz
Jan 2010 5,563 oz production for quarter reported together with an "its up 110%" statement.
Jan 2010 Another SPP announced.

With those fantastic grades and reserves reported I thought that this was a easy choice and that the shares were an absolute gift at around 15c per share. To put things in perspective I worked for mining companies in South Africa in the 1970s. A mine in the Free Sate Gold Fields was producing 1,000,000 oz per year from grades of around 7g/ton and seam widths of about 15cm at a depth of 1,500 to 2,000m. I thought that a child with a pick and wheelbarrow could make money from the Warrior Reef. OK, its an exaggeration, but I still thought that Charter Towers had to be an stroll in the park to mine at a substantial profit.

Slowly it dawned on me that maybe something was wrong. Why did it take so long to get news that the May SPP funds were not going to render CTO self-sufficient and why was it taking so long to turn fantastic resources into a positive cash flow?

The SPP announcement in Jan 2010 was the last straw. I sold out at a loss, soon after the announcement. Still, the questions linger. Is this really a super gold mine with unusually long growing pains for what appears to be a fantastic resource, or is it doomed? I would buy again if I had some confidence that the answer was the former, but right now I need some evidence, that its not the later.