This survey was not commissioned or requested by Bickham.

It was undertaken voluntarily by local business people in an endeavour to gain an indication of the number of businesses who are in favour of the mine.

The facts as we now understand them are that the information was collected on a confidential basis. We understand that while a small number of businesses did not support the mine, a very clear majority of those approached were in favour and were interested in their support being noted and relayed to the NSW Planning Minister.

It is our understanding that more businesses have since come forward indicating support for the mine and expressing disappointment that they were not captured by the survey. This is consistent with numerous private approaches and indications of support made by the local community to us for some time.

While there are of course differing views in the community, the fact is that there is very strong local support for our proposal and this was seemingly captured in the survey undertaken.