banks look mainly at potential profitabilty of a project,...

banks look mainly at potential profitabilty of a project, potential ROI etc. - who runs it is of secondary concern. They sure don't rely solely on management which can change at any time. So yeah, they would be interested in the calibre of people running the show and would want them to be up to the job no matter who they were. Change of management is normal stuff for most companies. Richards has been there a long time now, he's already made his money out of AUQ (good luck to him for that) but IMO time for him and his mate to piss off and let someone who knows how to run a mining operation to take over.