I would imagine that the 2012 (end of the Mayan calendar?)...

I would imagine that the 2012 (end of the Mayan calendar?) options would trade with current prices at about 1 cent, meaning that conversion would see you with:

Option coversion:

3 cents conversion cost
2 cent current option cost

3.6 share
1 cent option

So - in the worst case you would be .4 cents worse off (I cannot see the SP crumbling further unless news is bad or significant market effects).

If the price reaches 6 cents in the short term, the sum would look more like this:

Option alone would be worth 4.5 - 5 cents.

You would have a share worth 6 cents and an option probably worth 3 cents.

So without conversion, you would be up 125-150% on current values.

With conversion, your 5 cent outlay would be worth 9 cents - so up less than 100%.

The clear advantage is when you are looking at a longer term view - the 2012 options are more attractive as they management obviously believe that they can build the company into a lot more than a 6 cent share, which is why they are converting - they will stick around with their options for several years.

So - if you are looking in the short to medium term (weeks to months), the 2009 options are the way to go. If you are looking at EXM as an investment, then conversion is the way to go.