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From the MD's Desk

2010

Full Steam Ahead in Choppy Waters (20 May 2010)

Hi Everyone

When I worked with BHP in the 90’s and early 00’s the company used to regularly undertake scenario planning where BHP would outline a range of possible scenarios for the global economic environment over a 5-10 year time frame. I recall that the last scenario document I received was entitled “Choppy Waters” and although that was 8 years ago, I cannot help but think that many of the issues outlined in that planning document are quite relevant to what is happening in the markets today, albeit over a short timeframe. There is no doubt that we are in a period where the markets are going to be choppy and large swings in investor sentiment are likely to occur.

 

A Period Of Consolidation (16 Mar 2010)

Hi Everyone,

Two weeks ago Meridian ran a field trip to the Lennard Shelf Project for some brokers and resource analysts. The purpose of the trip was to showcase the project to the broker community and to build recognition of the potential of the project, not only for near term production, but also of the exploration potential of the project. The Lennard Shelf has a long 30 year history of making significant discoveries and our view is that there is no reason why this history of exploration success should not continue into the future. A good example of the exploration potential of the Lennard Shelf is the discovery of the Palijippa mineral resource. Palijippa was drilled out in 2005, over 20 years after BHP discovered the original Cadjebut mineral resource. This is despite the fact that Palijippa only occurs about 1.5km away from Cadjebut, which was the first mine developed on the Lennard Shelf. This indicates that new resources can be found in close proximity to some of the original resources which have been known about for over 20 years. For this reason alone Meridian is very confident of the potential of the Lennard Shelf to deliver new discoveries and allow us to continue to grow the mineral resource base of the project.

 

Progress and confidence (23 Feb 2010)

If the number of mining type people crammed into the lounge in Perth airport are any indication of the health of the mining industry, then things are certainly getting back to pre GFC levels of activity.  There was hardly a seat in the place this afternoon when I passed through on my way up to the Lennard Shelf Project.

2009

A Tale of Contrasts (14 Dec 2009)

Hi Everyone,

Tonight as I write this Blog I am sitting in a hotel room in Xian, China, with the heating turned right up so I don’t freeze. Outside it is snowing, and despite the fact that I grew up in Tasmania (and therefore should be used to cold weather) I am feeling the cold seeping in to my bones. I am in Xian to meet with Meridian’s new largest shareholder the Chinese company North West Mining and Exploration.
 

A Major Milestone Reached (25 Nov 2009)

Hi All

It is really pleasing to be able to advise all our shareholders and external stakeholders that today we received an initial investment of $5.5M from the Chinese Company North West Mining and Exploration (“NWME”). On or before 10 December NWME will invest a further $5M into Meridian and following that investment, NWME will hold 42.7% of Meridian.
 

It's been a crazy few weeks (20 Nov 2009)

Hi everyone

Often late on a Friday afternoon, as it is now as I sit down and write this, I reflect back on the week, the challenges and achievements. This week I am reflecting back on the last three weeks, as I think these have been the busiest time for us all year. Three weeks ago Meridian had a booth at the Mining 2009 conference in Brisbane. It was a great conference and we very kept very busy at our booth with people coming to talk to us about the Lennard Shelf Zinc Project. There certainly was a lot of interest in the project from investors, service providers and a number of people who have worked on the project in the past. We made some very good contacts with companies who are interested in assisting Meridian on the project.

Due Diligence on Base Metal Processing Plant (9 Oct 2009)

The last few days have been very interesting and potentially very significant for Meridian, as we have been conducting due diligence on a base metal mineral processing plant which we identified several months ago as potentially being able to process zinc-lead mineralisation from the Lennard Shelf Project.

 

Traditional Owner meeting and FIRB review updates (2 Oct 2009)

Hi Everyone,

It’s been a very busy last couple of weeks and there has been precious little time to actually sit down and write out all that we have been doing. A lot of our focus in the last few weeks has been finalising all our preparations on the project ready for the commencement of the drilling program. We are essentially ready to go now out in the field and if the drill rigs rolled up tomorrow we would be able to handle them.
 

Lead Prices Continue Their Climb (3 Sep 2009)

It’s been an amazing week or so for the lead price with a continual climb heading towards US$1/lb. Last night lead closed on the London Metal Exchange at $0.95/lb and it seems to still have upward pressure in the short term. A lot of the upward momentum is being driven by concerns that China will be closing some of its own internal lead mines due to environmental concerns. If this takes place then China will need to important more lead than it does currently and this is underpinning the increase in the lead price. As lead has headed towards US$1/lb, zinc has been left behind somewhat but it is still at a healthy US$0.818/lb.

Sign off on the formal Tenement Acquisition Agreement for the Lennard Shelf Zinc Project (21 Aug 2009)

This week Meridian and the Teck/Xstrata joint venture company Lennard Shelf Pty Ltd signed off on the formal Tenement Acquisition Agreement for Meridian to acquire the Lennard Shelf Zinc Project. This is a major milestone not only in the process to acquire the Lennard Shelf Project but also in the development of Meridian as a company.
 

Movement on the Station! (17 Aug 2009)

The past week has been frantic. Metal prices were up and down but ended the week on a positive note with zinc up 3.3% on the day to US$0.854/lb and lead up 5% to US$0.87/lb. We are watching the metal prices closely these days as our Scoping Study for the Lennard Shelf Project showed that a combined operation at Kapok and Kapok-West should break even at zinc greater than US$0.68/lb. Therefore, with the zinc price above this level we continue to be very positive about the future prospects of the Lennard Shelf Zinc and Lead project.

Doom and Gloom! (11 Aug 2009)

How fast things change! With all the doom and gloom of the past 6 months I have forgotten that markets can move up fairly fast as well as fall and that is what we have been seeing over the past few weeks.