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DREADNOUGHT RESOURCES LTD — AGM Information 2008
Nov 24, 2008
64785_rns_2008-11-24_aae7f8fb-ead2-4e15-a372-11e80eaf4aea.pdf
AGM Information
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EROMANGA URANIUM LIMITED
2008 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the 2[nd] Annual General Meeting of Eromanga Uranium Limited as a listed company.
Since the last Annual General Meeting the world has changed. The Global Financial Crisis emanating from the USA has caused the most volatile equities market since the Great Depression. The effects will continue to be felt for some time as governments globally attempt to address very complex economic issues and to limit the flow-on into the real economy.
However, the underlying long term demand for commodities still exists. We recognise that there is a need for short term adjustment by the industry, but we also recognise that the emerging economies of China, India and other nations increasingly will require minerals and energy to effect their modernisation. Similarly the first world economies still have underlying demand required to service their economies. In effect then there has been a change in the short term level of demand but little change to the long term demand which has simply been delayed.
When demand returns, particularly as China starts to build back up it is likely that supply will be constrained. This will occur because as capital dries up, credit becomes constrained, projects are deferred, exploration falters, which will inexorably lead to supply failures in the not too far distant future. The future is therefore bright for companies that survive and retain quality assets.
Exploration requires patient capital as its lifeblood to develop discoveries into working mines that will produce the commodities for world consumption. It is a very good time to be exploring, make discoveries and bring them to production in the low of the cycle as it helps service the demand when the cycle turns.
However, the industry will need an incentive to entice battle weary investors to provide the patient capital for the long term gains that will flow from its investment. Countries like Canada have provided such an incentive in the form of flow through shares where the investor obtains a deduction for the proportion of subscribed capital which is spent on exploration. The company forgoes the deduction in favour of the shareholder. This process simply changes the timing of tax revenues until such time as production is achieved.
Flow through shares formed part of the Federal Government's platform in the lead up to the last election and it is pleasing that the Federal Minister for Resources & Energy, Mr Ferguson continues to give strong support for the concept. We can only urge Government as a whole to address the matter with the utmost urgency. Not in generations has the supply of capital dried up so dramatically: not in generations has the need for capital been so great for the nation's future.
What does this mean for Eromanga Uranium.
The Board of Eromanga believe that whilst this current period of uncertainty is presenting the Company with new challenges, it will also present new opportunities, in the year ahead. It is pleasing therefore that Eromanga is positioned, at this point in time, with a strong balance sheet enabling our Company to benefit from the opportunities that will undoubtedly arise.
The Company remains strongly committed to the uranium sector. During the year the underlying fundamentals of the Nuclear Energy Sector have continued to strengthen on the back of growing global concerns over energy security and the impacts of carbon based energy systems on climate change. Increasingly countries throughout both the developed and emerging economies have reinforced their commitment to nuclear energy as a critical component in meeting their rapidly growing energy demands. Eromanga believes that these fundamental drivers will remain largely unchanged over the medium term and will underpin uranium prices at levels that will support ongoing discovery and development of new uranium deposits.
Over the course of 2008 our Company has continued to actively explore our portfolio of exploration properties whilst strengthening our prospects for discovery success through the addition of exciting new exploration initiatives. The Company now has a dual exploration focus with simultaneous drill-based exploration programs targeting both iron oxide, copper, gold, uranium mineralisation (IOCGU) in the Northern Gawler Craton and sandstone-hosted uranium systems around the margins of the Eromanga Basin.
At the Welbourn Hill IOCGU Project the Company achieved highly encouraging results with only its second drill-hole into this previously untested gravity/magnetic anomaly. The intersection of over 350 metres of highly altered and brecciated basement gniesses with associated copper mineralisation highlights the prospectivity of this area of the Gawler Craton. The recognition by Company geologists that the project area also has the potential to host unconformity-related uranium mineralisation has been an exciting development for Eromanga.
In our search for sandstone-hosted uranium deposits the Company has built off the investment we made in 2007 in acquiring full airborne EM coverage of all our major projects. Whilst maximising the information contained within these massive data sets has at times been very challenging for our staff the Company is now at the forefront of this important exploration technique. Our primary exploration focus has been directed at the Abminga Project, in the far north of South Australia, where our initial drilling campaigns have been completed and have confirmed that all the critical elements for the formation of significant uranium deposits are present in our project area. The Company is very confident that this project area will rapidly evolve in 2008 with the potential for important discovery success.
We have also been successful, against strong completion, in securing our application for an exploration licence over the Suplejack Project in the Tanami region of the Northern Territory. This exciting project offers the opportunity for the discovery of not only uranium but gold/uranium and gold only deposits.
As previously mentioned your Board believe that 2009 will present the Company with a number of opportunities to strengthen our exploration portfolio. In order to maximize the benefits to the Company at this time we believe that it is important to leverage off our current
financial position through carefully selected corporate initiatives. Similarly we consider that some diversification of our exploration efforts towards gold, and to a lesser extent base metals, is strategically appropriate. The Board are confident that this combined approach of corporate and project based initiatives will position Eromanga for growth during what we anticipate will be a challenging 2009.
Before I hand over to Kevin Lines for his presentation on the Company’s recent activities, I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kevin and all the Eromanga Uranium staff for their hard work, professionalism and commitment during the year.
I also thank my fellow directors, Ewan Vickery and Dr Kevin Wills for their support and ongoing efforts throughout the year.
Most importantly I would like to recognize our loyal shareholders who have supported the Company during a difficult year.
Thankyou ladies and gentlemen for your attention and I now call on our Managing Director to give his presentation on the activities of the Company.
Mr Kevin Lines.
Robert Kennedy Chairman November 2008