A bunch of knowledgeable small cap miners, financiers, auditors, and suppliers all sitting around shooting the breeze and this one came up for various reasons for people there. That set of stories are another days fun for some of the players in here, but to the task at hand.Progress is measured by the finance/resource upgrade required line being compared to the on the ground progress. If your on the ground progress can't creep ahead of the dilution and raising line, then it is backwards as you well know. If you raise the cash required line then the pace to announceables quickens. Now come the second week of January and get the timing right compared to the usual AIM board capital adequacy failures, and the season to up-ramp based on something gets underway, culminating in Indaba in Cape Town. It would be ideal to be able to conclude the Arena settlement so that ramping at Indaba can get undivided attention.
As said, what is missing from announcements is if the 40% interest in the resource is in exchange for the disclosed cash component and future funding up until a certain stage, or just the immediate cash injection only. Now with only 40% left they only have to fund their share of the next round of upgrades, plus cover the local interests share, so less to cover than before but still not unsubstantial going in.
So, the required pace is a blockbuster set of results and progress. You can't give it away completely at your end of year quarterly activities and half results without the Arena settlement otherwise the share price will just absorb it on risk and your raising ability is dodgy at present at best with the current crew. So you have to go into it with a hail mary based on what you have left in the bank, an offtake agreement with Mr Ching's companies at a price without the usual pilot output clause, and then ramp the absolute hell out of it before you have to dilute the asset again for corporate expenses cash and get onto construction capital. Hence you have to get Arena off your back no matter what, end of January, and then a lovely handshake press conference the following week.
Back to the cricket
