Deltra,If it was a JV I think forecast earnings would decide the...

Deltra,

If it was a JV I think forecast earnings would decide the EXT share price when the market was convinced the earnings would eventuate. I did a silly "what-if" a while ago where I was working off 2 mill lbs pa and the contract price at $60 I think. In that scenario I think I came up with $10 per EXT share but I can't remember the exact price.

It was based on no capital expenditure on EXT's behalf and RIO paying all those costs, plus all ongoing processing costs in exchange for a siezable percentage of revenue generated from the deposit.

Basically EXT would be getting a percentage from RIO who would do all the work and put up all the capital.

This is wildly speculative because I don't know what the U price at the time would be, what RIO's cut would be, what the operating costs would be etc.

It was basically what I call a "testicular" estimate.

However, a takeover price would be largely based on what the price is at the time of the takeover attempt. The Canadian firm XE went three fold from such an attempt.

If the takeover was attempted now it would not be very profitable for us as it may triple from here but that's about it I think.

If rumours leaked out well ahead of the attempt and EXT was already at $3 when the takeover offer was announced then you could see $5 or $6 as the final figure. This would be more likely if other parties jumped in, but as I have said before, no one will pay as much as RIO.

All of this talk means nothing. The best thing is to gird your loins and be prepared for a long wait. I don't think RIO management are the gambling type and I think any formal announcement would only come when a JORC compliant resource was proven at Rossing South.

How long before that JORC compliant resource can be proven? Now we are back to the lab and the drill results.

How about you Perth based people stop sniffing seats all the time and get yourselves over to the lab with some bottles of scotch to get EXT's samples processed a bit sooner.