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Amen to that!
Looking forward to this getting up and running!
Unless the new CEO is Moses I can't see Tschudi re-starting.
It has surely got to trade again if new management has been brought in !!
This is a very interesting development and I wonder what the bigger picture is here? I am not sure if this is the same person, but John Sisay used to be CEO of Sierra Rutile a miner in Sierra Leone, which he turned around before selling it at a premium price. He unsuccessfully was involved in last elections in Sierra Leone. He has now resurfaced at WTI. Difficult to know what this exactly means for company and shareholders, but surely more of a positive than negative development given his track record at Sierra Rutile and strong Africa links.
...wow
What is the latest?
Maybe being stuck in this investment will pay off after all! All ifs and buts I suppose....
The agreement to buy an extra 65% of CARN was a legally binding agreement, subject only to regulatory approval. Therefore WTI had to proceed. I am assuming that the purchase has been made by the Namibian operating subsidiary of WTI, as the UK parent (WTI PLC) is in administration and does not have $600,000 cash! Whether Orion would have approved this purchase if it was not legally binding is an interesting question! I agree that this 'looks' like it could be good news, but I think this depends on a lot of things such as: can WTI PLC retain ownership of its operating subsidiaries? (I hope these are not sold off by the Administrator.) Will Berg Aukas be developed? How will this be financed? etc etc.
Ok I may be playing a bit thick here, but if we have the administrators in how are we able to further our interest in CARN if we are supposed to be broke...is there now a little light at the end of this very dark tunnel? It is once very confusing picture. From the RNS: All conditions precedent to the Acquisition have therefore now been satisfied and the Acquisition has therefore completed in accordance with the terms of the binding agreement between the Company and Hong Kong East China Non-Ferrous Mineral Resources Co Ltd. Accordingly, the Company now has a 90% interest in CARN, which owns 100% of the high-grade Berg Aukas underground zinc-lead-vanadium project near Grootfontein.
Would Orion not have had the final word on whether WTI is allowed to buy Berg Aukas stake? Does the fact that they were allowed to buy it not imply that company still has chance to reemerge from all of this? The Berg Aukas project actually looks the best of the three that WTI has (Central Operations, Tschudi and Berg Aukas). A WTI with the other two projects developed (and Tschudi returning) could actually pay back debt and generate decent returns.
Good development for WtI, though doubt Orion are not happy as it’s 600k less they’ll receive from administration. BA has NPV of $75m but is pretty much worthless in a fire sale so Orion might as well let WTI develop it along with Central Ops.
Woohoooo WTI own Berg Aukas!! Party time.
With the improvements in Cu and exchange rates Tschudi would turnover £100m a year wouldn’t it? Drains should be cost effective but is there enough Cu in the ground? #hoodwinked
The other entities are the operating subsidiaries, owned by WTI. I have looked at the 30/6/17 Statement of Financial position. On that date, WTI PLC had current liabilities of only �122,000. It had long-term liabilities of �5,000,000 owing to other companies within the group (i.e. the subsidiaries). It is not worth going into administration to settle debts of �122,000. The administration will cost more than that. The �5,000,000 is owed entirely within the group, to entities owned and controlled by WTI PLC (they have very small minority shareholdings). Therefore I am not clear about the purposes of the administration. The fact that the operating subsidiaries are not in administration might (possibly) be seen as encouraging, if it is possible to eventually resolve the issues at Tschudi and/or re-start Central Ops on a profitable basis. However, this is highly wishful thinking. Firstly it may not be possible, and secondly it is not at all clear that WTI PLC will still own the subsidiaries. I think that (as always) everything depends on Orion. Does Orion wish to give up and write off over $100m, or does it want to finance the draining of Tschudi? If copper keeps going higher this option obviously looks more attractive. We shall see. Hey, Boffin, are you still there? Any thoughts on this?
What are the other entities within the group?
This is now on the homepage: "On 1 June 2018, Simon Kirkhope and Andrew Johnson of FTI Consulting LLP were appointed as Joint Administrators of Weatherly International Plc (“WTI”). The Administration appointment relates solely to WTI with all other entities within the Group remaining outside of an insolvency process and continuing to trade under control of their directors. The Joint Administrators will work closely with the management of the subsidiary entities to establish the optimal strategy for the Group with a view of maximising recoveries to creditors of WTI. Should you wish to contact the Joint Administrators please do so on WTIShareholders@fticonsulting.com or 020 3727 1616."
In the last month copper is up about 10% and the ZAR is down more than 5%. If there had been no problem with ground-water, Tschudi and WTI would be doing very nicely - as expected in February when the price was 3p. So the ground-water ingress is very bad luck and bad timing, which I doubt that anyone could have predicted - except maybe by doing some extra testing for groundwater at the BFS stage. With copper rising strongly and the ZAR weak, I strongly suspect that Tschudi will be drained and will eventually generate some cash for Orion. If Orion do not finance this they will have to write off over $100m. The same applies to Central Ops, I think it will be re-opened within the next couple of years. Copper is already high enough to make this nicely profitable. The big question is, will WTI have lost the ownership and control before the mines are re-opened happens? I have no idea, but I am not very optimistic.
The role of the Administrator is to maximise the return to the creditors hence they sell or keep the mine running so long as its cash generative. As per motives: 1) Directors duty of care and legal obligation once it became clear Orion had withdrawn support. 2) Orion controlled the cashflow but now the Administrator legally controls it. They cant splash the cash but will make decisions. The issue is whether WTI has enough working capital because Orion won't allow further drawdowns. 3) Designed to force Orion to negotiate. 4) It gives some breathing space to fix the problems and that's also Orion's priority. Don't forget the other issue is metal recovery i.e. 80% v85% (business case) and they had a consultant in place aerating the leach pads, results were expect end of June at the earliest. Before Administration I asked why Tschudi wasn't offered to Orion for a dollar to avoid un-necessary Administration fees? It was offered but unclear whether Orion rejected the idea or just didn't respond because there were too many unknowns.
Mikebard, I do not know. It looks like a 'miracle' would be needed. Unlikely it seems, but not impossible. As usual, shareholders are kept in the dark. This is unfair. The Administrators act on behalf of 'the company', this should mean on behalf of us,as we are the owners.
Copper well up now - immaculate timing by WTI to totally stuff this up!!!
So do you believe this can come back on and be saved ?
Optimistic - but I agree with you in the sense that if copper keeps rising like this there there will be a point at which Tschudi becomes viable even allowing for the costs of pumping water out. One point worth mentioning is that an Administrator is not a receiver or liquidator, - although these officials often follow on the heels of the administrator, if the company is insolvent and cannot be re-structured. The information we have is that the Administrator has been appointed, voluntarily it seems, by the BoD. This is not the same as a receiver acting on behalf of creditors. The real purpose remains unclear - at least to me! I assume that there may be several reasons why WTI cannot yet disclose further information.
Well, USD/ZAR is up ~2% today on back of dreadful SA Manufacturing Production data for April and copper price up almost 1.5%. Based on the strength of the moves in both variables the respective strengthening of copper and weakening of the ZAR could continue in the coming days and weeks. Question is whether there really is the remote possibility that Tschudi can be brought back into production using existing cash resources without needing help of Orion cash following a general debt restructuring?
Whilst parties do their own due diligence, the Directors would get sued if that were the case.