Next shipment, page-218

The people running the company are experienced mining company operators who would see that whilst the first shipment from any new operation by any company is a milestone and worthy of being heralded, subsequent shipments, whether for 5000 tonnes of Li or 200,000 tonnes of coal are what everyone hopes becomes routine and thus humdrum. If every shipment from this mine becomes a significant event that the BOD felt the shareholders needed to be kept informed about then I would start to be worried about it's long term prospects.

I worked with these people on a project where the first shipment was a really big deal even though it was of moderate tonnage. Once the operation settled down and the output continually grew, as did the size of the shipments, the ships came and went so frequently I couldn't even recall the names of the ships one day to the next.

All that mattered, and was the focus of attention, was what output was planned for the coming 12 months and would we be in a position to handle the throughput and meet the target.