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In April with the release of the PFS, Darryl had been in post for 4 months...
There was a chance to raise funds in the mid 30s at least, then and again in mid June...
Instead they are making themselves a hostage to fortune with the failed raise; the market expectation that this predicates a raise sooner or later; a continuing weak copper price BELOW that assumed in the PFS; a global stock market that still looks vulnerable; etc.
From the March MD&A...
"Finance costs for the nine months ended 31 March 2022 were US$9,895,561 compared to US$6,965,853 for the nine months ended 31 March 2021. The increase in finance costs predominantly relates to the effective interest charge calculated on the NSR Financing Agreement, which for the previous period was only for the period 11 September to 31 March."
That is a contingent liability running at almost $13m a year, although admittedly only becomes live if SOLG want to redeem the deal...
Anyhow....if the company is complacent about a fund raise and a cash balance of $26m, consider the following facts:
The cash balance at 31 December was $58.4m, so if it was $26m at June 30 they have burned through $32.4m in six months. That equates to $65m a year.
Of course there will have been special factors and $30m was spent on Cascabel alone, but the continuing costs include PFS2 and proving up additional resources, etc....The cash burn in the 6 months to 31 December was $51m...
Admin costs for the 6 months were $8.7m.
Meanwhile, here are the comparative exploration costs for the three quarters to 31 March 2022:
30 Sept - $3.3m
£1 Dec - $30k yes $30k
£1 March - $399k
These figures show clearly how much Darryl has curtailed exploration since his arrival...which means apart from the Porvenir PEA by 31 December, no sexy RNS's for any of the other regional projects to support the price. That is certainly putting a lot of eggs in one basket (because there are no known unknowns on Cascabel resources...)
They lost out after trying to outbid a competitor, no two ways about it.
This wasn't an exercise to raise the price.
1 trade hmmmm let's see need news imho
Depends how you want to view it Smickster.
You could argue they forced a competitor to pay 3.5x the going rate for complete ownership of an asset they held a stake in.
I'm sure if you spoke to BHP they won't be crying over any spilt milk where Noront is concerned. You win some you lose some.
Fortissimo - I refer you to my post at 18:12 last night.
As for saying I haven't highlighted any risks, that is truly laughable. I have signposted the following:
1. Financing risk-the position we are now in after SOLG failed to secure finance in Q2 and in light of their recent failure.
2. The risk that competitive tension is not produced sufficiently by our management come the time that the first proposal arrives.
3. Exploration risk - the prospects of losing ground in our regional efforts given what will feasibly end up being a 12 month reduction of activities.
And all that with the constant humdrum of geopolitical risk given ongoing instability in the country. Lasso is fighting against the same tides that many global governments are following a global pandemic and subsequent inflationary boom.
Oh dear smickster...really...?
Really Bozi, didn't Bhp just get their arse whooped?
Just looked in detail at Barrick's Reports...
This year they will mine 470m lb of copper for which they have KPIs. Last year copper produced almost $1bn revenue...
They state up front "We are a sector-leading gold and copper producer" and "We are building the world’s most valued gold and copper company by owning the best assets"
"We have put a particularly strong focus on exploration in Latin America"
"Barrick’s strong balance sheet and the abundant free cash flowi generated by our operations will enable us to continue building our future by investing in the development of the many growth prospects within the group as well as the acquisition of the rare external opportunities that may meet our criteria."
"the outlook for copper demand in the coming years remains very strong"
Cheers Red… exactly what we expected I guess…and you don’t need audio to know he will have simply reiterated the same pre prepared quotes and statements we heard at the last 2-3 years events.
I've watched Darryl's presentation to Diggers and Dealers. Unfortunately I couldn't get the sound but there's nothing new in the presentation other than an animated feature film on how they will block cave Cascabel...
SharketMare
Bozi hasn't highlighted any risks?
He's just basically offered a counter argument to anything positive that could be said of SOLG.
There won't be a royalty deal...
Solgold has rebuilt relationships with BHP and NCM. Why would it trash those again?
The current FN deal is costing us 12%pa if we want to redeem it.
So what other avenues do they have other than an equity raise?
Why not do another cashbox. Ingo pulled off a winner with that one...?
Oh CD, give over, just because someone highlights the (very real) risks here, doesn't mean they aren't invested. Bozi is invested here and has been for some time.
We are a junior with limited funds looking to raise cash in a tough market. It's an interesting an pivotal time for the company, and comes with a healthy dose of risk. Discussion of that risk is perfectly normal and should be encouraged!
Bozi, as an investor of SOLG, hearing things like Lasso talking with Barrick fills me with confidence and demonstrates that Barrick are interested in Ecuador. You implied that there was little interest from these companies. They were according to you preoccupied elsewhere. Barrick might not bid for SOLG - so what? The fact that they are interested in Ecuador is a good endorsement.
At present, all you seem to be spouting is negative views. It's the trait of someone that is NOT invested. I don't mind contrarian views, that's healthy but I think you've made your stance clear. You see very little positives which is why I asked you why you are apparently still invested here and I'm still waiting for an answer. So Bozi... why are you invested in SOLG right now. What upside do you expect. Should be easy enough for you to confirm?
Any raise at 20p-25p now, after a 'successful' PFS and progress at Porvenir, would be embarassing.
‘I appreciate external factors influence the market and hence ease of raising funds. But I suspect there was an opportunity to raise earlier in year, including after PFS, on better terms.‘
I totally agree with this sentiment….. even Alastair Campbell would blush at trying to claim the boards success in any equity raise in the mid/low 20s at this stage.
DBW, Im also of the view Mathers holding, and what he chooses to do with it before December is key… I would like to see him execute the DGR corporate event and sell their share to anyone but BHP, however I believe it will be far below many peoples long touted £1 plus valuations.
Lunch.....I think this December's AGM certainly draws a line in the sand.
With cash burn last quarter at circa 12m we still have some headroom though very little by way of wiggle room. All the time the shadow of a raise looms over us the price will struggle so we need it sorted ASAP.
As for the deadlines for the Cascabel Addendum & Porvenir PEA , I'm confident they'ii be delivered on time ..... what they my contain is up for debate. Ayton has been hired to fund the company and then potentially the project itself..... though I don't see it getting that far. Like Red I can't see any other outcome than an offer preceding the AGM or one immediately thereafter.
Once someone finally makes a play the share price will be rendered totally irrelevant ....NM still has a big role to play here and he could easily sell shares in DGR/Samuels to a third party at any point if he felt so inclined and that's what I believe he was referring to in his recent presentation whilst talking on behalf of DGR
Red, good and interesting post. Think that ties in with the point I was making about market soundings the other day.
Lunch I think it was addicknt who said that raises do fail all the time.
My view can suggest what you like Fortissimo. I clarified my position last night.
It's really conjecture and an irrelevance to anyone but me.
Barrick meeting with Lasso doesn't necessarily mean they're in the frame for taking over SolGold. They could be looking for their own exploration portfolio for example. They could have their eye on a Filo or Solaris or Lundin even.
You seem to want to provide speculation that every event has a bullish outcome for SolGold.
Red - Barrick are restarting Reko Diq in addition to their myriad of other interests. They're also spending £2bn on capital expenditure across their portfolio.
LSE won't let me copy the links but it's all available in their factsheet and the relevant press releases.
Not a company I think will go toe to toe with BHP unfortunately.
Redknight, many are aware of the transparency requirements and that's hardly 'getting to the bottom' of the reason it failed. I'm surprised the city insiders don't know what amount was going to be raised? And at what price. More over, why it failed? As I said, pre agreements are always sought before finally taking the little piggy to market. So something happened with one of the main players for it to fail. Was that deliberate? It's very rare for a professional book runner or advisor to collectively get everyones agreement and then proceed toward the market only then to have something go wrong. That's why it's likely something changed and it may have been a deliberate ploy by an entity keen on causing disruption and leaving SOLG in a weaker position.
As for 20p? The argument could also follow that now the SP has fallen almost 20% from the 27p/28p pre equity raise level, it no longer suits SOLG to go ahead with that option thus BHP and co shooting themselves in foot. Now the royalty option looks better for SOLG investors (majority of them). Franco has $50m ready for when we needed it. So perhaps SOLG are now being forced to avoid equity issue and seek alternative funding which may well deliver treater shareholder value to majority??
It's not all about raising cash via equity share issues. And the lower the sp the less likely that scenario imho.
Thank you smickster, we can look at another offtake agreement if we are required. However I believe interested parties may offer a higher price, to stop the offtake taking place.
We can raise the cash for DFS and BFS and the money to construct Alpala.
Quady, spot on.
Each and every year that we require a raise solg has delivered, often surprising us with deals like the Franco streaming deal.
Why should it be any different now.
It's always the same names trying to spout negativity.
Onwards we march solgers
Bhp f@ck you pay me
stitch up...
Thanks Lunch...
Meanwhile surely SOLG wouldn't have tried to hawk the whole deal to BHP because that could have increased their percentage holding to almost 29%...inviting a bid...
Please don't say you're also part of the 'this is all a stitch pop by Darryl the BHP stooge' conspiracy group...