Reprint of article printed in Mercury newspaper September 7, 2010:
ALLY GLAETZER | September 07, 2010 08.13am
TASMANIAN oil exploration company Great South Land Minerals has blamed the global financial crisis for stalling its drilling plans.
The company has spent an estimated $50 million searching the Central Highlands for oil after its founder had a "vision" from God alerting him to the potential.
GSLM has once again told shareholders it is close to recommencing drilling operations, promising that funding is almost secure and a new drill rig is en route from the US.
The company is in the midst of a legal dispute with the operator of the previous drill rig it hired, Adelaide contracting company Hunt Energy.
Hunt's drill rig was first sent to Bellevue, near Bronte Park, in late 2008, but sat idle for months before being removed.
The contractor has accused GSLM of failing to pay all of its debts, which GSLM disputes.
GSLM's previous exploration licence expired last September but in May the Tasmanian Government issued it with a new permit covering a much smaller area.
GSLM's Hobart-based chief geologist Clive Burrett said company founder Malcolm Bendall was in New York securing finance for the drilling program.
Dr Burrett said a drill rig from Oklahoma would arrive in the "next month or so" and drilling would begin some time after that.
The Hobart office was running with a skeleton staff of about six people until finance came through.
It may sound like deja vu for investors who were told drilling was imminent in 2008. But Dr Burrett defended the delay.
"We were going to start drilling the day Lehman Brothers went down in New York. Now things are different, there's plenty of money around," he said.
The annual report of GSLM's parent company Empire Energy states Mr Bendall's CEO salary is $216,000.
But Dr Burrett said Mr Bendall was not actually taking money from the company.
"Many of the staff are not taking salaries or being paid. We're taking shares because we've got great faith this is going to happen," he said.
Manning the Great South Land Minerals Hobart office yesterday are, from left, Mohammad Adabi, Gerry Murrell, Graeme Devlin, Paul Heath and Clive Burrett.
