update, page-28

meerkat,

you wrote " it also looks like they've had a lot of false starts, lots of starts and a few finishes".

Sounds a bit of a down ramp about FNT, but its not at all.
You are absolutely right with that statement and its a sign of a very successful exploration company.

A good exploration company like FNT has lots of prospects so they have to prioritise exploration and money spend. No pure exploration company is swimming in lots of cash so they have to run as effeciently as possible like FNT have. For example FNT have saved lots of money investing in there own drill rigs, trained personnel for the field and have built a cost effective bases in PNG and Tassie.

False starts in exploration programs are common. They have to let the share holders know about there plans, ASX rules and for raising more money, but as all good small exploration campanies should do in the event of finding mineralisation in early exploration from prospect 1, they re prioritise there plans and spend more time and money on prospect 1 thereby causing false starts on prospects 2-5. The company increases shareholder value by doing that and that is what we want.

Lots of starts on the side of developing prospect 1 is a smart move for an exploration company. Mapping, soils and other geochemistry work like trench sampling is not that expensive on propects 2-5 while proving up resources on prospect 1. Its enough work to keep the tenements in the hands of the company ( money has to be spent on each tenement otherwise the company loses the rights), its adding value to the company if new mineralisation is found and its vitally important for a small exploration company to have a back up plan if prospect 1 proves uneconomical or is for unknown reasons is deemed unminable like Kodu.

Add to this delays in weather, seasons, materials availability and waiting for results. The biggest impact was world markets which had a meltdown 3 years ago and raising extra money was almost impossible for over a year. There are big fluctuations in prices of different metals, and there have been government interventions. Some of these came suddenly without warning and a small company like FNT really had to think quickly and re prioritise everything very quickly and firmly. A sign of very good management that FNT were able to get through all the termoil and come out with the best groung IMO in PNG.

Lastly the part about few finishes. I'm very happy that they have had a few finishes. I'd regard the Kodu project a complete finish. FNT did everything right. They found the mineralisation and proved it to be economical. Only govt intervention put and end to the project.

I would also regard the JV with Ok tedi on Bulargo and the other prospects in the few finishes. The JV already has added considerably to FNT's market cap. The terms of the JV's are excellent and in the event of proving successful will provide shareholders with more profits.

Finishes are rare with exploration companies and that is the reason why they all are highly speculative. All you have to do is look up all the exploration companies in the last 10 years and see how many have had successes. Not many compared to ones which have crashed and burned or are minnows holding onto bits of mostly useless land, trying to raise enough cash to justify the existence.

This is the area where FNT has shined above most and would have to be ranked as one of the best. Exploration done properly doesn't work well at break neck pace and is never black or white. Drilling 800m holes without proper planning in Andewa is stupid. FNT has already provided some investors who got onboard early, some nice profits along the way and on paper. FNT's starts in Andewa and Tasmania are stacked in our favour going by the early exploration results. They both have massive potential to become finishes, but that still is just speculation and will be for a while longer.

Good luck holders