who went to the perth meeting, page-18

G'day Westcott,

in refernce to proving up extra resource the question was posed from a shareholder why don't they inject more capital into the ground now before they sign up a partner and turn the 2.5 billion into 5 billion?
GJ was very confident in his reply, he said they have enough data spread around that they basically know what will come back, they basically know theres alot more there in ground but they don't see the value in proving it up yet. he said its very much on their mind and has been discussed many times but they don't thik they need to waste the dollars yet. He was very confident stating the 600m drill depth remained open.

he did though mention they wanted to get some further results from mt Nabeba because its DSO ore and the DSO is whats going to provide the quick early term dollars to fund/set up the long term itabrite extraction. He was very focused on the immediate potential of proving up DSO.


as far as the rail etc he mentioned there were several companies including in nearby congo/gabon. I can't recall if he named anyone but you would probably have a better idea of who's situated in that area than i do.



Klob,
they made it quite clear they don't want a partner.. YET.. they have many options and GJ eluded to his success with ansteel/gbg back in november but stated the time was not right back then for SDL and its only just getting better now. He seemed so confident that i truly believe if they wanted they could sign up tomorrow but that may mean selling the farm and he isn't interested in doing that. and why should he?
He retorted to a shareholder statement on Rio/China basically eluding that Rio got into a corner and they don't have the upper hand which is precisely why SDL went to holders for dollars. Again this ties in with Talbot who we are told put his hand up immediately and said how much do you want?.. he obviously sees the long term potential and wants to hold onto as much of the farm as they can also. The cards are well and truly in our hands.

I will also note a comment in retort to a shareholder asking why are you pressing ahead when vale and rio are scaling back?
GJ reply was two fold. first he said they (vale & co) are scaling back the higher (production) cost stuff, reading between the lines he was eluding to the fact SDL costs of extraction will be less and profitable at lower prices. The big one here though is his second comment that the Chinese aren't looking for a 5 or 10 year mine/supply line, they are looking 30 - 50 years and SDL is one of the few that can deliver in this regard.



and Klob also as i stated they will be using some of the raised funds to drill at nabeba in the immediate future.


cheers
Davo