ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS
Fellow shareholders - Last year was an eventful and positive year for our company.
During 2010 and earlier this calendar year we raised sufficient funds to see us fully funded through 2011 and beyond. This funding enables us to accelerate fieldwork and continue with our 15,000 metre exploration program at Trenggalek and Bima. Drilling is already underway at Trenggalek as I speak.
We will soon have two rigs in the field and are looking to increase this to three or four.
First results should be available in a few weeks and then should flow at regular intervals. While we cannot predict what they will be, our earlier drilling at Trenggalek yielded very encouraging intercepts in veins including 2 metres at over 17 grams per tonne. The whole area is highly prospective and is large with many prospects and targets identified. While to some extent a `luxury of riches' we have to be judicious in how we spend each exploration dollar with careful thought going into the precise drilling location.
It is public knowledge that there has been a degree of civil disturbance in East Sumbawa, the region in Indonesia where our Bima project is located. This has slowed our progress. However, the advantage of having a number of projects is that we can be flexible in the order in which we drill. Accordingly, at the moment we are concentrating on Trenggalek and will move back to Bima at the appropriate time.
During the year we also extended our alliance in Papua with Anglo American to 2014. This alliance sees ARX 20% carried up to a decision to mine. Anglo has advised us that it shortly plans to undertake an extensive airborne geophysical survey and then hopes to commence drilling in the latter part of this calendar year; we look forward with interest to the results this program generates.
Our objective in all three projects is to prove them up to resource stage following which we will take whatever course maximises the return to ARX shareholders. We have no intention of ourselves taking on capital intensive mine development and will always be sticking to our recognised strength of exploration.
I wish to make some comment on our share price. We consider the current price to be way below the potential that ARX displays. Some share price falls have been on paper thin volumes. But we do not control the market or seek to influence it. Other explorers also have seen their share prices static or falling. What we can do is continue to run our own race and press ahead with our exploration program and make the drilling results available as soon
as they are evaluated. If they produce the sorts of results we are looking for, the market should look after the rest. All your Board members have material personal investments in ARX and are absolutely aligned with other shareholders in seeing our company prosper.
Finally, we have a strong record of corporate probity. We always tell it how it is. And we hope that this year will see us with a significant story to tell.
The Company has three projects. Trenggalek, in East Java, the subject of this announcement, Bima in East Sumbawa, and a Strategic Alliance with the Anglo American group in Papua.
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