Empire Energy Corporation Intl. (fka EEGC)

[oilsleuth]

BobSinCA

It is not at all clear in the Mineral Resources Development Act 1995 that an exploration licence can be extended during its term.

Section 31 allows the Minister to vary a licence in specified terms of adding or reducing the area of land, or by adding or removing a mineral or category of minerals. There is no provision that would allow the extension of the term of a licence.

It would therefore seem that the licence can only wait to be renewed at the end of its two year term, and that would be dependant on the work program having been satisfactorily completed viz. the drilling of both Bellevue and Thunderbolt.

If it is already too late for Thunderbolt to be drilled by mid-May (and it is difficult to see now how it could be) the potential funder is faced with drilling Bellevue and taking pot luck that a renewal would be granted after May. That isn't likely to happen.

IMO drilling permits are not being held up by MRT, they have been through it all before and obtaining permits was first spoken of by Empire last November. I don't know that an actual rig must be approved in advance as it would still need to pass inspection on site and it would be in Empire's interest to make sure that it would. I think MB might be preparing the groundwork for blaming MRT when the whole thing falls apart and the big move into coal is the backup plan.

Perhaps a way around that could be real investor money in an escrow account with tight conditions about its removal by the supplier -- with release to EEGC dependent upon MRT granting whatever licensure is required.