Nothing very new, just some nuances. The delay has been due to unanticipated ways in which the deal is very complicated. They did not anticipate originally having to write into the contract all kinds of contingencies - "if ABC buys out XYZ, for example". In addition, as we have understood on the board, the original first target was much more modest - shareholder approval of the basic Acquisition and Funding Agreement, then followed by the VZLA government granting the permit and closing all other aspects of the deal. Now they are trying to submit a deal to the shareholders that will be much closer to actually fulfilling all the conditions of a final closing, hence it is taking a lot more time.

RM said that they anticipate having something to submit to the shareholders "shortly" (LOL - like after Easter?) but when I tried to pin him down, he fell back on "sometime in the 4th quarter". However, that refers to the deal actually being voted on and closing. There will be several weeks of paperwork between the deal being announced and the deal being voted on so if the vote and closing comes in the 4th quarter, the announcement of the deal will come well before the 4th quarter ends.

Now the sticky part. RM acknowledged that with a deal of this magnitude, any target is a moving target. So that says this 4th quarter closing is not set in stone. In addition, RM referred to the fact that they are encouraged by the response of the VZLA government to the deal and are optimistic that they will give the necessary approvals but acknowledged that they have felt this way before about the government and things have not come to fruition. Kind of what Cividale has been saying, IMHO. RM did point to a change in both the MIBAM minister (Sans to Khan) and the environmental minister (Ortega to ? (help me out)) and in both cases this change has been from someone hostile to a gold mining and a deal like this to someone that looks favorably on it. This could be one reason to be more optimistic than in the past.

That's about all I can remember. RM did not sound like he was willing to guarantee anything but that is of course mostly a function of his position. I didn't come away wanting to bet the house on this deal but I did not come away pessimistic either. I do think it will come together and probably (my estimate) before Nov 15 and maybe well before that. (just guessing folks - don't read too much into that date).