production starting in late 2010, page-4

I can say cetegorically that I highly doubt they will be digging stuff out of hte ground in 12 months time unless they already have their approvals from relevant state and federal agencies.

Having a plan to get a mine up and going is all great - I have a plan to build a pyramid in my backyard by the end of February, I've been telling everyone about it - but I haven't got any approvals to do it yet....

I work in the development industry, gaining approvals for large clients including a number of large quarry/mine operators!

In most cases, the process of gaining relevant approvals far exceeds 12 months (best case scenario).

As an example, I am working on an extension to an existing quarry (relatively small, given the size of the existing quarry) and we have been battling away for more than 18 months already. My guess is that approval for that project is still 12 months away. This is a relatively simple project from my point of view.

I would have thought that the gov't would be keen to get these things up and going - we all know how important these extractive industries are to our economy at the moment and in the case I am dealing with the resource has been identified by the relevant gov't agencies for more than 30 years as a resource of strategic importance - needed to allow growth in the construction industry to continue.

Ain't gonna happen.

Rant over!

AtM