Hi BottomupFrom what Cedric told me yesterday there were a...

Hi Bottomup

From what Cedric told me yesterday there were a number of issues as to why they didn't meet their targets.

The main one being the contractor that they signed up and their inability to live up the their end of the contract.

Another was the lack of water on site and dust suppression. He told me that the amount of dust would have breached their mining license so hence need to have access to water. Told me that they did a deal with local land owners but the land owners backed out as they were in drought conditions and the land owners were concerned about longevity.

Also the modified mining plan has taken longer than anticipated and there has been very little mining at Kuja.

Another problem is the level of impurities in the ore that has been mined to date. He told me that they were trialing some new gravity separator that will speed things up.

These are the main issues that have delayed the first shipment and from what he has told me they have all been addressed, ie. bores being drilled, own staff being signed up etc (all in the last announcement).

I asked him if he still thought they would be producing 3 million tonnes per annum in 3 years and they are confident once these issues are taken care of they will be.

Joe