Ann: First Gold Pour at Tropicana , page-4

Sirecho,

Good to get your comments instead of the usual silence that a post here invokes. I didn't go to the original Ashanti release so missed the bit about scratching the surface.

I did notice they were reported to have said the Tropicana cash costs were below their average, so that is reassuring, as is the fact that the pressure has come off cost escalation in the mining industry generally.

And yes there is still a lot of work to do before everything is humming at 100 % plus (and still some risk), but AAG are very experienced with gold and so far have performed exemplarily.

I think it's a pretty open secret that this is expected to be a starter project, but new discoveries are required for that, so yes I support a big reinvestment in exploration, but at nothing like the rate this project should be churning out the cash at.

I"ll settle for a ramp up in dividend to 2 x 10 cps over the next year or so, but its been a long time since our last decent drink.

EL