no debt refinancing problem

I have had some very comforting communications with PNA over the last few days and feel very reassured about their debt situation.

There is $185 million dollars of debt that DOES NOT need to be refinanced full stop. Then there is the $80 million debt that does not need to be refinanced until February 2009 at the earliest and July 2009 at the latest.

Copperco got into trouble because there was no supporting asset base for the debt it inherited from Mineral Securities.

Oz Minerals surprised the market with its late announcement and the sheer size of the debt it needs to refinance and is not helped by the fact it merged with what has essentially proved to be a massive loss making operation which is putting a huge drain on resources.

PNA is a different situation entirely and whilst still vulnerable to copper prices the debt issue will not cause any problems. On a positive note surely any survivors of this financial mess will be in a much stronger position when the dust settles...I think PNA is a survivor and I am happy to back them.