One thing that's always bothered me about LOM is that I thought...

One thing that's always bothered me about LOM is that I thought we could never quite understand where we sit with SML.

So I had a bit of a sift through the annual report to have another crack at figuring it out. I think I am a lot closer.

As of Dec 31 last year, according to the table on page 37, 'current' borrowings (i.e. debt) - with note 7 - was sitting at $US 22.581M Looks like some of that has been paid down since, and is about to be restructured.

Non Current Financial assets are $US 23.933M, - also with Note 7 - and an 'investment in associate' - with note 10 - of $US 4.741M

Now, note 7 takes up 10 pages...
Note 7c on page 52 shows the non current financial assets as 'receivable in respect of SML' with the starting value and some adjustments totalling $US 23.933M. So it would seem that's how much SML owes us.

Note 10 is a summarised financial position of SML, which includes a non-current liability of - you guessed it - $US 23.933M.

Comprehending LOM's interest in SML at $4.7M is a little trickier, because somehow it takes into account the unpaid dividend of US$ 1.6M.

But in short, our total debt is less than what is owed to us from SML, and before the pessimists jump on me, yes, I know that repayments of this are ad-hoc, and most of SML profit is being literally ploughed back into the Big Kimbo Hunt.

Interesting to note that 40% of an OMFG diamond at Lulo or 70% of a 'Wow!" diamond at Mothae could wipe out our debt.