RE: RE: RE: RE: RE: Permiting Reality-Thanks MuchI appreciate the further comment and I too have no problem apologizing for what may appear condescending. I was, I thought (reasonably or not), responding in kind. Sorry if anyone's comments or fervor have been misconstrued.
In any case, I was only trying to make two general points. First, that I believe EAS has been remiss in not including comment about the special risks involved in permitting in Indonesia (not detail or argument) in their formal and public disclosures of risk (ie in their MD&A and related filings.) I mentioned this months ago and was immediately villified. The NM article may have offended many investors, most noteably some on this site, but I believe that it only made the argument that ignoring an issue often makes it bigger than it deserves to be. I believe EAS management is smart and technically very strong and they know what they are doing in most if not all other areas. However, my experinece with institutions and analysts and HNW individuals is that their greatest issues are most often focussed on uncertainty -- often even more so than on "bad" news. That's why I'm a strong advocate of disclosure. (Again, I agree that you don't want to talk about negotiations or any number of other "behind the scenes" activities, but here we are talking about process and questions and uncertainties that should be front and centre.)
My second (intended) point was not that EAS should do a major deal with a major now, but rather, to note that permitting is a very big deal to the majors. The historical experiences faced in this region by the big guys have been both very good (huge mines, low costs, tax benefits etc) and very bad (Bougainville, aspects of the Batu Hijau divestment etc.) Indonesia's new (Jan 09?) mining law allows for direct equity investment by foreigners for the first time but the actual application of the law and the interpretation of its regulations are a long way from being fully sorted. This includes the permitting process.
Again, I am only looking for a reasonably balanced exchange of facts and ideas, to which I hope to make a useful contribution.