Great to see NMR alive and kicking in market and on...

Great to see NMR alive and kicking in market and on HC!

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From my other post (thought I'd put it here to see if anyone had any feedback!)

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I can't see where NMR will not have assay results in front of them, much past the end of the month (all going to plan).

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MY REASONING?

They have a few advantages...

1) A near-by (Pretoria) assay lab that now knows, to some degree, the trends in the coal seams, and no doubt have a plan to analyze the samples more efficiently because of that.

2) NMR have a resident geologist (Peter Batten) who now has a much better idea what he is dealing with, and can relate new data to the existing data more efficiently (as the structure of the seams was new territory - given that the southern parts of Botswana have not been drilled much in the past it seems - see OPTIRO reprt). He will be able to guide the process more efficiently one would imagine.

3) NMR now have a JORC/resource model that can be added to - not created from scratch - again a saving of time when it is required.

4) A drill plan that would have been added to and planned as the very first Phase 1 drilling commenced. The drill plan would have been well under way some weeks ago - as initial and then final results came back from the rig crews. This will allow them to concentrate more fully on on other work.

5) No lengthy holiday season in Botswana to slow the processing of assays a great deal.

6) A series of samples (27 holes) that were drilled by three rigs running at the same time - as opposed to the initial Northern drilling that was pretty much done by one rig. This means that the chance that the samples have hit the lab faster and in bigger batches is higher - so the process would not have been dragged out as much as before.

7) All the incentive one can imagine from holders/directors/TRIPROP/etc, to push this thing thru.

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Also interesting to note the difference in NMR reporting style. Up until the the initial JORC report of Nov 16th - there were regular updates as to the quality, intersections, hole depth etc (though not quite as regular say as TVN/MOU).

NMR now appear to be quite tight-lipped as to what they have - yet at the same very, very positive about it all (see previous quotes/posts).

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I believe the feeling at NMR is...

"We don't need to tell our mates every juicy detail every minute - that is a waste of our limited resources, with just a handful of staff... and ASX do not require it...

We have already told them we found 4.23 billion tonnes of thermal coal...

We have told them that we have found more very encouraging results worthy of continuing drilling and a further step into the JV/Farm-in...

We gave them a cracker of a brokers report...

Scoping study is due soon...

Let's just hook into this task, and get the resource defined and drilled - detailed announcements can wait!"

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ANOTHER BASIC ESTIMATE AS FOLLOWS....

(I was only a few days out on completion of drilling - these guys seem to be going like clockwork - so there is some chance to judge quite accurately when things will happen???)

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Conclusion of drilling in initial North tenement, till NMR receiving all drilling assay results back from Pretoria was about 40 days (including having sorted out the mass of Homeland data/assays).

Mid December 2011 completion of Phase 1 Southern drilling till now - does not leave much of "another 40 days" - if that is any guide.

They announced drilling completion 27th/DEC - but seem to announce completion, quite some time after finishing drilling - judging by past announcements, OPTIRO report and my timeline. I stand by my estimate!

May well be a shorter span of time. We have burned up at least about 21 days by my calcs.

When is the best time to buy...??!!!

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Yes, a few more assays to process this round, and with the new year break - but a surprise announcement with any good news, would cause quite a stir.

Given factors listed above, and others posted by may others (big thanks to TA guys - I cannot compete on that front!) - I will sit tight.

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Much better to buy in the limited time before a positive announcement is due - than trying to scramble in, if it runs away - as in Nov 16th! (Unless you got the time/gumption to trade it daily - or make a million on something else meantime!)

DYOR blah blah blah..... blah

And all the best!

bsh