good article on ph, page-15

Sardonic look at the PH opening by Highgrade magaizine:

Prominent opening
18 May 2009

DESPITE Oxiana’s Sepon history and mining tentatively moving positively into mainstream culture via the ABC’s recent drama Dirt Game, celebrities were as thick on the ground as trees at the opening of the Prominent Hill mine in South Australia on the weekend.
The low key affair under leaden skies – apologies to some shareholders of the old Oxiana who won’t take kindly to any hints of lead (or, especially, zinc) – formally introduced one of Australia’s very best discoveries this decade to the mining world.
However, unlike when the mighty Ox opened its last (and first) mine, there wasn’t even an AFL legend to be seen. Nor was Owen Hegarty there, though no-one should think Owen is persona non grata after the reversal in fortunes and controversies last year at Oxiana. No, guests at the opening were told that Hegarty was in London.
Mike Rann was the highest profile of those to have made the trek north from Adelaide on a Sunday morning, with the South Australian premier formally opening the project with OZ chairman Barry Cusack.
There were enough local television cameras following Rann to reassure a B grader, while the resources hack from the Melbourne bureau of Bloomberg was the only wire representation. (And no, Bloomberg wasn’t mentioned in a cash-for-comment context for the pass into the Qantas Club at Adelaide airport).
Rann babbled on about how great South Australia was in the manner you’d expect all parochial state premiers too, though in fairness his claim (if true) about how much exploration money has come into the state on the back of the PACE initiative ($A31 million spent has reportedly led to a ten-fold increase in exploration in SA), was rhetoric worth hearing.
Both Cusack and outgoing OZ CEO Andrew Michelmore had their say, with Cusack pointing out mining is a risky business – OZ shareholders of both persuasions may have suspected this – and Michelmore dodging and weaving a question about when OZ would move its corporate office to Adelaide. He also gave short shrift to a question about his brief with Minmetals, though on this you probably wouldn’t have to be a brain surgeon to guess he will be charged with further growing the offshore China Minmetals business.
For the dealmaker historians, the Minotaur-Oxiana tie up at Prominent Hill/Mt Woods happened after Minotaur’s Derek Carter ran into Oxiana executives Peter Lester and Tony Manini at Toronto’s PDAC in 2003. The deal was then wrapped up later that year in Kalgoorlie’s Diggers & Dealers conference. When all was said and done though, congratulations is definitely in order to OZ and all involved with Prominent Hill, and best of luck with the mining and exploration.