As alluded to above, Paddington as an operation has been...

As alluded to above, Paddington as an operation has been scratching around for mill feed for quite some time; toll treating ore for others and at times (during the late 90's in particular) living almost 'hand to mouth' on exploration results to supply the 3MTPA mill.

I think that with a focused smaller company running it as a primary operation (rather than a distraction as it was for the likes of Barrick, Placer and a lesser extent Aurion) Paddinton's best years could well be ahead of it.

Of interest in the longer term is the refractory ore, which to date has never been fully investigated. There's no doubt that the Paddington deposits (and I use this term with reference to the numerous ore sources that have been utilised during the life of the mine to date) have major underlying refractory sulphide resorces which to date haven't been of interest due to the relative availability of oxide and nonrefractory sulphides. As well as not being able to treat it, and gold price constraints.

(Having said that, I note that despite refractory ores never being actively targeted there is a refractory resource stated by Norton of approx 600k at 4+gpt).

In the longer term, I would be keen to see Norton really have a crack at defining some refractory resources and then, once a reserve of say 2moz is defined look at either converting the existing plant to be able to process the ore (BIOX, roasting whatever), or adding a dedicated refractory mill. If things go well and additional oxide tonnes continue to be added to the reserve base, I dont think its out of the question to be looking at a 5Mtpa (3Mtpa CIL, 2Mtpa biox) operation producing in the order of 400kozpa at an average grade of 2.5gpt.

Those are my thoughts anyway. I suppose my main point is that I see tangible upside in the Paddington assets that a dedicated management team can really use to drive increases in shareholder value.

For the record the Mt Morgan stuff doesn't thrill me all that much. Compared to Paddington and the opportunities that it affords; Mt Morgan tailings are little more than a distraction (although given they have the Kundana mill I may end up eating my words!). Suffice to say, I dont think its critical to the future of the company anyway.