My understanding is that Bruce Griffin and Mark DiSilvio were...

My understanding is that Bruce Griffin and Mark DiSilvio were recently in Brazil meeting with the South Atlantic project JV partners and doing a site visit. Word is that the project is shaping up very well and both the zircon and TiO2 are likely to be high premium-grade products.

On return from Brazil last week, management stopped in for an east coast roadshow, meeting with institutional investors introduced by Petra Capital and Bridge Street Capital. The meetings were held in both Sydney and Melbourne. It was made very clear that this roadshow was to highlight the current ramp-up and commissioning progress at Thunderbird and definitely not a pre-cursor to any need for cash. The strong cash positions of both the parent company (SFX) and the joint venture itself (KMS) were reiterated.

The realisation that no cash is going to be required is possibly what resulted in the line of stock being taken out on Friday afternoon. Insto investors realising there will be very few opportunities to pick up volume like that in the future, let alone at such low prices.

I understand all necessary approvals for bulk shipping are in place and KMS will be bulk-loading products this month (March) as scheduled.

Importantly, the ore grade at Thunderbird is reconciling well with BFS forecasts and management still think that full production rates can be achieved well ahead of the scheduled Dec quarter. I've heard some reports this could be achieved as early as June. This would be incredible and would go a long way to alleviating any concerns the market seems to have that SFX is at risk of experiencing the same commissioning issues that plague Strandline Resources (STA). I think the market is finally starting to realise that Thunderbird and Coburn are two very different projects.

I suspect once the first bulk shipment has been announced and the March quarterly is released and demonstrates throughput, grade and recoveries are all in line, the price will be well north of current levels.