Member Info for Phulbari

No surprises at the cold shower. This project is still predicated on Asia Energy getting permission to start its open cut mine - something it has not proved very successful at in more than 15 years.

"GCM shall be responsible for obtaining the necessary approvals from the Government of Bangladesh."

Having the Chinese on board gives them much more clout and greater credibility, but they still have to convince Hasina. That is the cold reality.

GCM does not own that coal. It is a resource of the country of Bangladesh, and many people there would find statements such as 'we have 572mil tonnes in the ground minimum' highly offensive. GCM has a licence to mine it and then only subject to government permission and conditions, such as royalties, compensation, etc. If that licence is never triggered or indeed if it is never honoured that coal could well remain buried where it lies.

People are in danger of getting carried away here. Even with Hasina re-elected and with the Chinese on board, the conjunction - If - still holds sway over the adverb - When. That is certainly what the share price is reflecting.

ToeDipper - The result was a foregone conclusion; it's the aftermath, and formation of a new government, that weighs here. The big question is: will the disenfranchised opposition take to the streets? Once the dust has settled there then remains the biggest question of all: will Hasina embrace the project? NO one can be sure of the answer.

Key messages: expect nothing until after the elections and then place your bets on the Chinese achieving traction government-to-government.

A few dozen protesters forced building into lockdown and kept six shareholders from attending. No way to run an AGM. But we will get a briefing later.

Police here and doing nothing.

Shareholders kept out by protest outside.

The protesters were shot in 2005. Hasina said it then and has said it since. It's of course always possible that she could turn and change her mind, but truth be told she has never liked the proposal to dig a big hole in her backyard to create an open cast mine on fertile rice fields. That's the challenge, and that is why the share price languishes where it does.

Hasina has said this several times and her negative stand continues to be a major road-block. Re your reference to 'his speech', she is, incidentally, a woman!

The caveat remains in the wording of the MOU - 'obtaining approval from the Government of Bangladesh'.

Chinese involvement or not, it still seems improbable that Hasina will give this.

NO surprise here. GCM/Asia Energy has never been on Hasina's A-list.

Yes, lots of activity but not so many foreigners there these days. Anyway, I look forward to seeing the positive developments you so confidently expect. You make it all sound so simple.

Wouldn't it be nice if you were right. The financial benefits of the mine and dependent power station(s) proposed by Asia Energy have been self-evident for almost 15 years, and still nothing has happened. Hasina seems as usual more interested in cracking down on her opponents - most recently students and schoolchildren - than on investing for the future. Take a look around the district of Gulshan in Dhaka to see how this former haven of foreign investors has lost is buzz.

Or are you suggesting that this AIM-listed company can achieve its goals with Chinese 'finesse' and stuffed brown envelopes?

NasiRul - you underestimate the national resonance of Phulbari. Opposition to the project runs far deeper than just Aunu's mob. They are simply the most vocal. The political left has been against the project from the outset, and their intransigence is one of the reasons why the Coal Policy is still not finalised. Like it or not, GCM/Asia Energy is viewed by the left, who still recall the bad deeds of Clive of India, as a foreign plunderer. In this climate, the nationalist press has largely bought into the propaganda about the big hole destroying the water bed and ruining rich rice country. The voice of reason, the explanation of the benefits of the project, are still largely drowned out.

Redeyemines - you are spot on. Anu and his un-elected mob have fouled the pitch for a long time. The problem is that he has followers and Hasina hasn't got the cojones to stand up to him. Touching Phulbari before the elections is now pretty much unthinkable, and I am not sure that it will be any more feasible after the vote. She has always thought of it as being politically toxic - a foreign company digging up her backyard. Bangladesh has stumbled forward with growing GDP for 13 years since the Scheme of Development for the mine was first presented to the GoB, and her view is that it can probably continue that way - sans Phulbari..

The usual Bungladesh panacea - when it doubt form or resort to a committee. But this time, not just one, but three or four - depending on how you want to count them!

"The high-powered probe committee, formed with Director General of the Prime Minister’s Office (Admin) Khalilur Rahman as its head to look into the disappearance of coal from the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company Limited (BCMCL), visited the coal mine on Thursday ...

"A case was filed with Parbatipur Police Station on July 24 against 19 officials which was shifted to the Anti-Corruption Commission for investigation.

"Besides, two more committees – one by Petrobangla and other by ACC -- were formed to look into the incident."

Of course Hasina knows about GCM, but her government of goons has acted for years as if it didn't exist. They have worked on the basis that it they ignore it for long enough it might just go away. In truth they have never wanted to, nay have never dared, grasp the nettle; and in all probability they won't ever do so.

Yes, even lose coal from their own backyard!

This encapsulates all the negatives about Bungladesh. Incompetence and corruption are institutionalised. It is of course quite comic but it is also an unwelcome reminder that the current set-up could never begin to manage the mass infrastructure required for a huge open pit mine