I think it's never been better-looking than where we are now,...

I think it's never been better-looking than where we are now, despite the price. Who'd want to sell at 60c anyway?

Once we know it's commercially viable, there's a huge reward to be had. Clearly it's much better to land a few patents, and I see absolutely no reason why we won’t. But even in the worst case, we can carefully licence the technology to MIN and others, knowing our innovation lead puts us a good way ahead of competitors.

I think it's mainly Swami who casts this much doubt over the patent process, as he casts doubt over everything Hazer does. Sadly it becomes infectious. And so it's really necessary to flag that he's now been proved wrong on the PPP, which does indeed work. What’s next?

Hazer, so far, has delivered on the technology. For me, continuous looked like the biggest hurdle, and it’s now behind us. I’m pretty impressed this week. As long as this run continues, which seems quite likely, there’s little reason why deals won’t come through, even if news on Primetals is slower than we’d hoped.

When fully proven, the technology could well be worth its weight in diamonds, so that will put Hazer very much in the driver’s seat.