me sense the company is in play, page-16

agree with your comments sydneyguy:

"IMO NCM is the target and should not be a buyer. Why buy high cost producers that are highly geared. NCM has it all in this market, strong balance sheet with very low gearing, unhedged product which is trending up and forecast to rocket, low cost production and solid reserves.."

newcrest stated a couple months ago that it is being regularly approached by cash strapped juniors looking for 'partnerships' with ncm.... but nothing has happened yet. one can only assuem that ncm management are very stringent in running the ruler over any potential acquisitions, jv partners, etc - which is very good imo.

if anything i would like to see ncm makes deals to grow its resources/reserves, but in manner that minimises the cost per oz. any deal must also provides for further gold reserve/resource growth potential through further exploration, and not have a big impact on debt/gearing levels. the problem is that ncm would/should be expecting high grade or low cost oz's without paying full price.... and on a scale that suits ncm - no point buying into a 10oz per year asset.... ncm should be seeking 100's of oz per year...

ncm is in the box seat here, and it seems to be acting accordingly.