"Any unexpected news that you can share with us?"
There was nothing out of the ordinary. The meeting was short and to the point. The items in the proxy were approved, without a hitch. Some shareholders present held substantial shares in the company: one held about 150,000, one held about 60,000, plus one or two others who held much smaller amounts (a few thousand). I didn't write the numbers down, so I could be off by a few thousand on my numbers.
The board says that the VSE should approve the deal within a week.
The excerpt from the Fluor Daniel Wright report, which was included in the hand-out package at the meeting makes some interesting points, and someone more in touch with the KRT management may want to elaborate further on the following points (by the way, for those that attended the meeting and read the report, you may want to resort the pages of the report as they were stapled together in the wrong order):
- for the Changma Mine: "...transfer from open pit to underground mining (which is necessary to further exploit this mine) can be achieved in 18 months". Does this mean that KRT will not see this mine in production until then?
- for the Changma Mine: "...the total estimated capital cost to develop the underground mine and upgrade the plant and site installations is US $6.63 Million....Sustaining Capital is in the order of US $2480,000 p.a." Is the last part about the sustaining capital a typo? Should this be US $248,000 or is it really US $2480,000 p.a.?
- note on Diamond Values and Recovery Process: "...improvements to the treatment process technology to avoid destruction of the larger and presumably more valuable stones, may result in an increase in the overall value of the product." Can we be sure that there are in fact larger diamonds? If so, this is definitely a good thing.
- for the Changma Mine: "...the existing pit has about 6-9 months of ore remaining." Does this mean that this mine will be out of operation until the underground mine is in place after the 6-9 months?
- for Area 702 (Proposed Xiyu Mine): "...the open pits will impinge on the village of Xiyu and parts or perhaps all of the village will require relocating prior to mining." Boy, how easy is it to move a village? Is this a SMALL village, and will there be any problems relocating this village?
- as a recommendation, the report suggests: "Use a vertical shaft located near the Changma pit rim for hoisting and access vs the proposed 25 deg. decline from the plant. This would cut the length of development required to about 320m from 760m." Does this also cut the lenght of time required to develope the mine?
Steve |
