The reason for the write off in 2009 was that CUU failed when it tried to sell the company whose only asset was the "mineral assets", basically the money it has spent in exploration. In other words, Lions Gate did not feel that CUU was worth the $31M on its books and did not complete the transaction; hence the write off, most likely at the external auditor’s insistence. (Thank goodness Lions Gate did not complete the transaction!)

The reason for the reversal is quite simple. The market value of CUU’s shares, even at today’s depressed price, is worth some $400M. In addition, CUU management most likely has some good indication that Tech would most likely back in and would pay multiples of the “eligible expenditures” to date, depending on the which back in option Tech would take. In other words, there are evidence both from the market cap of the company and managements information, that CUU’s market value is far greater than its book value, including the $31M that was spent in the past which was written off. Hence the reversal.