I’ve been a reader of hotcopper posts for several years now, and...

I’ve been a reader of hotcopper posts for several years now, and hold some shares in MHM. I am also a Tasmanian. Thus Premier GIDDINGS recent and continuing comments about a possible silica plant in Tasmania certainly got my attention. If I remember rightly, it was MHM’s initial involvement in possible high-purity silica mining for such a plant that really sent MHM’s shares sky-high some years ago.

I believe Papertigger is correct in what he says. Premier GIDDINGS also mentioned silica areas in the NW of Tasmania, and I believe these areas were also investigated by MHM. What Premier GIDDINGS has mentioned seems to have been based pretty closely on what I understood MHM was looking at, including her mention of the possible involvement of a German company for the smelting side of things.

Wasn’t MHM at one stage thinking of spinning off the silica investigation into a separate company, wholly owned by MHM? I thought it was, and thus I was a bit surprised last year to learn they had just closed down all silica involvement. Does anyone know why they did this?

I know there is a heck of a lot more involved in silicon manufacture than just digging up the silica and using a lot of energy to convert it to silicon metal, so I wonder how far along the track MHM really got before they gave up.

And could it be revived with such a promised financial incentive, - and the MHM share price along with it?