They had 'loans to associates' of $5.76m AUD on their balance...

They had 'loans to associates' of $5.76m AUD on their balance sheet at 31 December. Exchange rate at that time was c82c so that would put it a c$4.6m USD. Obviously they may have loans to other associates....

My GUESS would be that all shareholders would have some form of loan to the project (cant see why AVX would have offered up a loan on relatively favourable terms if the others partners weren't on the same footing).

If thats the case and debt at the project level is higher than $4.6m (i.e $10 - $15m) this could take a long time to repay...... Im still waiting to hear back from the company re coal quality but my GUESS is a reasonable margin in this market would be closer c$10 p.t and a great margin $20p.t. That would be $5m - 10m profit once they get to 45,000 tons p.c.m (targetted for Q2 2015) which could repay the loans.

A lot of IFS and GUESSES here but if Im right then they could expect to receive principal repayments this year of anywhere from $4.6m USD (best case) to $1.6m USD (worst case - in the event there is only 5m profit and the loan repayments are split 3 ways).

Under either scenario I think they can scrape through until the profits come through although they wouldnt necessarily have much in the kitty to fund trials.

Mots, thanks for the input - am new to the stock so just trying to peace it all together.....