davonq I think you hit the nail on the head ...twice.If I was...

davonq I think you hit the nail on the head ...twice.

If I was one of the long term shareholders I would be defensive of management too -they have performed extremely well ...but as they say -we shouldn't rest on our laurels.

The euphoria of the $175m shouldn't overshadow pursuing the same exploration activities that lead to the companies success in the first place.

Here are some further issues that I think need to be considered:

If the wording of the notice I received today is to be believed then shareholders will not be advised of "the scope and budget of an initial drilling program at Hazel Creek" until "as soon as possible FOLLOWING completion of the transaction"

Lets keep in mind that this is not the voting day of June 9th (4 weeks away) they are referring to here, this is completion of transaction: "the Transaction is expected to complete by 31 July 2011, unless a later date is agreed between Exco and Xstrata."

31st July is over ELEVEN weeks away! That assumes FIRB approval and the other conditions contingent upon this sale will complete with-in approx seven weeks ....including the payment of 175m!

When MEO applied for FIRB approval for it's transaction with Petrobras, it took from the 14th of April 2010 (ann date) to 28th of June (ann date) ...some ten weeks. It then took a further 3.5 months to receive payment (ann date 15.10/10) and this was for about 85m initially.

The agreement is also "subject to" other conditions ...including Queensland Government approval who are notorious for being very slow in some approval areas.

OK, so back to reality ...transaction is finalised at some date in the future, lets be conservative and say the end of August ...NOW we find out the scope and budget for an initial drilling program.

Drilling logistics must take six weeks at least to organise I would think ...so that becomes MID OCTOBER.

...and there we have it: TWO MONTHS DRILLING before the wet season (with lots of luck I would say).

It is logical that this transaction would be distracting to management. My answer would be to delegate responsibilities to get an initial drilling program underway with current (considerable) cash available.


Congratulations to the company faithful who have picked a winner with this stock over a long period of time. Please understand that I am not trying to upset anyone by raising issues. By the same token I won't silenced if I have questions or ideas. Isn't that what HC is for?

Cheers.

John S.






If we focus on WHAT is right rather than WHO is right ...then I'm happy to be wrong!