RE: STANS better than ever i have not posted for quite a while as frankly I find it quite exaspirating at times. However I feel the need to put my 2 cents worth in at this point.
Most of the current posters are actually quite sincere currently in searching for answers (or comfort in some cases) The good thing is that the a..holes seem to have gone (like IBAW and Bago). Most are quite knowledgeable in the fundamentals of HRE and some are just plain pessimists (even though they are long) due to fear in their emotions (like Eryl and Jamiro though Jamiro seems to be getting a hang of it).
As for Hotdog...well he is just our court jester for this board.
On Schmid's outburst, I totally understand where he is coming from as frankly, we would already have been at $5.00 by now if not for the shennanigans from the previous govt the whole of last year.
However, let's put things in perspective (i'll try to be brief) :
1. A poster posted a news article (about 3 weeks back) quoting the State Geology chief as saying "as for Kuttesay a decision has been made". This was after the Jan 30 dateline for the inter dept. commission report to be completed.
2. Then about less than 2 weeks ago, another poster posted an interview with Boris by a Metals columnist which quoted Boris as saying that after all that had occured (including his earlier interview and the open letter to the President) that they now 'see the light at the end of the tunnel" and that they will be in production in Feb 2014. For credibility, this was the same paper that reported more than a week before the expiry of the stop work order in Sep last year, than Stans would be recommencing work to which many questioned their genuinity and credibility. In this case they even named Boris as the source of the information.
3. As for the current situation with Centerra, in their (the commission) earlier demand they were mainly demanding that they change their tax terms (in their agreement) which they felt was ridicously low at a flat rate of 10% and all they were asking was for Centerra to pay the same tax rate as what is currently being paid by all the other mining companies in their country. Thier strong arm tactics may just be 'power play' in the negotiation process.
We could be judging their actions prejudicially because of the behaviour of the previous govt.
What if they give Stans the clearance (as Boris interview seem to indicate) and they take action against Centerra (which in their view should pay reasonable tax rates) ? IMO this would indicate that the govt is actually moving in the right direction.
I am still confident with Stans only that , IMO, our reward has been pushed further back due to all these unfortunate nonsense.
Cheers to all,
Simon Bond