Sorry Harlee, that $300 per hour rate is only quoting a very...

Sorry Harlee, that $300 per hour rate is only quoting a very reliable executive we both know and trust. It is acknowledged this would be top end of course and $120 per hr might be more the common level for employee "coal face" miners. But at the height of the nickel price boom a while back and shortage of experience operators a company was having to pay that rate to get someone.

Denglish also is on the ball as $120 an hour basic rate for a worker employed by a third party contract underground operator could easily well and truely translate to a charge of $300 per hour to the mine operator by the time the contractor adds on all an employee's "significant on costs" and their own margins.

Needless to say world-wide fixed and variable operating costs have skyrocketed. This is one of the reasons the big operators will control supply to make a certainty of establishing a new higher cost base for the gold price. This will help the industry generally and contribute to higher highs (when the time comes possibly sooner than later) than we saw 30 years ago.

Nice to see EXT showing some good signs for you Harlee.