I met with both Mike and Elmer at the show last week. The new presentation was available at the show, which means it had to be prepared prior to September 24Th or earlier and it stated that Matt Bender was already in to his review. It shouldn't take him long in that he was the QP on our June 2008 Pre-Feasibility, It also shouldn't take Merit long, because that's what they do. The real crunching will be "pressure testing" the numbers, as Elmer put it. They have engaged a second industry-savvy consultant to "pressure test" Jim Grey's numbers (CUU internal numbers) so I figure the numbers will have the heck rung out of them by the time they are agreed upon by all. But ... as of last Friday, neither Mike nor Elmer have seen the important preliminary numbers (and of course Teck hasn't seen our numbers) because, as Elmer said, when he sees the numbers, he wants them to be plus or minus 2% of the final. He didn't want to see any preliminary numbers because it's only the final ones that count and no point in doing any calculations in advance and having to alter your whole mindset when a new set comes along. So ... the economic analysis and "pressure testing" of numbers and getting everyone to agree to the final product is not necessarily a quick fix. It might be, but not necessarily. So any delay might not be Merit wanting to make changes or having found a "mistake".

But I was very surprised when Elmer told me he had not seen numbers, and doesn't have a "reasonable" price in mind yet. I figured he would have tried to anticipate where we would end up. So once the numbers are out, I expect he will do his own analysis, meet with the Board and outline what we have. He said he only wants to put one set of numbers in front of the Board. That process will add some time to the whole release timeframe - maybe not much. The point is, we are very close, it is being done right, there are a lot of professionals involved and a huge quantity of information to assimilate, digest and bless. We are so close to the finish, we don't want to rush the end result until everyone has signed off. Mind you, this is the longest ninth inning last batter game anywhere. I figure the pitch count must be at 2 strikes and 80,765 balls over a 2 week period, counting rain delays.