07
2012 Annual Report
The Court of Appeal also ruled that the whole matter be
dealt with in a trial by the High Court, which is due to
begin in August 2013. We remain confident of achieving
a favourable overall outcome in the trial and finally
claiming our rights over the Isabel Nickel Deposit.
Despite the ongoing legal proceedings, we remained
vigilant in our pursuit of new opportunities in the
Solomon Islands region and managed to successfully
secure two extensive and highly prospective tenement
holdings – the Arosi and Itina projects.
Acquiring these new tenements has significantly
increased our footprint in the Solomon Islands and
internally, they are generating a lot of excitement
amongst our geology team.
These tenement acquisitions were also a real coup for
us because we faced intense competition from mining
majors for these projects. It is clear to us that our
community-based strategy, our inclusive philosophy
and our attitude that respects local culture and way of
life are looked upon favourably by the local community
and have been the differentiating factors separating
us from our industry peers. We strongly believe that
this mutual respect between Axiom and the local
community has been, and remains the key to our
ongoing progress and success in the region. I also note
that we are progressively building our technical and
management team in the Solomon Islands as well as
training our enthusiastic workforce.
Axiom’s geological team during technical training session