Back from the show. Spoke with Peter MacLean for over a half hour I figure. Keep in mind, this is ALL off the record. Quick rundown FWIW: agrees we have minimum 500 million tons from holes drilled, without counting hole 4. Solution mining likeliest in NW portion, because water flow could flood open pit ops and would require drilling wells and pumping excess water. Minimum 1 mtpa potash production to start, but may be somewhat less until up to speed. Plan in due course to exercise option(s) on outstanding NSR agreements, and are accelerating payments to settle land acquisition contracts. Confident Liberty is going to step up should additional capex financing be required. Said he has no idea what Shanghai Shibang China is doing saying they are supplying processing equipment, assembly and management. He SAYS he has no knowledge of any orders for equipment as yet. Thinks railway to Mekele may be 6 years out, and they plan to truck to Djibouti until then. He figures opex maybe $95-$100/ton, including buying their trucks, maintenance, fuel, etc.. Geothermal power holds promise, but likely generators initially, due to high initial installation costs. No problem with water supply...abundant. May use naturally superheated water for solution stock to aid dissolution. China Mineral very engaged, Farhad will speak to them maybe next week, but in London at present. Still waiting on BHP to provide aerials that were done in October, but have BHP is still hanging out, talking and covering some of the bills. EPC in the north owned mainly by some South Africans who turn up and bum bunks and showers, but discussions with them regarding the property is going nowhere really, and they have raised around 10 mill to date. NI 43-101 ready in April..Ercosplan still interpreting seismics. Delays for drilling results due to holidays, lab maintenance, and severe weather in Europe. Probably left info out. Let me know if there's anything I never covered. Workshop was cancelled...I didn't care. Would have been repetive at best. Took a snapshot of the booth, but it was nothing to look at really. Peter was really forthcoming and I came away feeling very optimistic going forward, course as we were speaking the SP was going ballistic, and when I saw the numbers on the close I felt this was a great day all around.
