A few deductions For acquiring the final 30% interest in the company, and the 2% NSR, the company needed to pay $3,500,000 U.S. The MD & A says, "of which U.S. $1,500,000 was paid and of which U.S. $2,000,000 is payable by January 17, 2012 with no penalty, or by February 17, 2012 with interest calculated at 8% per annum).
Given the loan Brian and Amelia Wesson took out from the company to purchase warrants expiring in December, it makes sense that they sold 2,000,000 shares privately on January 11th. I presume the $700,000 that came from that sale will go back into the company to pay back the loan that was made, just in time for Woulfe to pay off the $2,000,000 U.S. by January 17th with no penalty. Who privately bought these shares is merely a suspicion, but logically it would make sense if it were whomever will provide either financing or a buyout. If there is a plan in the works to buy Sangdong, (even at it's pre-feasibility valuation price of between $200,000,000-400,000,000) that would put the share price based on the sangdong sale alone, between .66 and 1.33 per share. If the feasibility report is favourable, it will likely be valued even higher. Given these circumstances, it would make sense for the buyer to pick up 2,000,000 shares at .35 cents each so that Woulfe can complete the sale for the remaining 30% interest and 2% NSR. Given that Korea Zinc is a state run company, and South Korea is almost entirely dependant on mineral imports for production; my money is on a strategic Sangdong buyout by Korea Zinc in order to secure what was once the world's largest producing Tungsten mine. I don't claim to know anything about the timeline of these events, but in my opinion the stars are aligning, and each day is bringing us closer.
Mercury