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I asked him a few things, very available and personable as usual. I will just post the answers go my questions.
1) With the new government incoming, expects continuity of business when it comes to the permits and the agreements since we deal mostly with non-elected personnel, even though it's impossible to speculate if government priorities and time will result in quicker or slower delivery.
2) We are reading too much into the "special" part of the AGM, it's a regular AGM and all directors are up for re-election.
3) There is no risk that Cascabel is a technically undeliverable project, it can and will be caved. The recalibration of the PFS with the phased approach will mitigate all the risks (technical and financial) from such a big project and that's the envisioned way to achieve shareholder value.
4) Thinks that SOLG management has never really been too greedy when it came to a price tag, there is some hard data backing up the idea that a fair value could be the around the NAV that was advertised, but then of course it still depends on whether any interested party decides to take a bite of not. There have been multiple engagements, site visits and a couple of follow-up visits as well.
5) I shared Barrick's feedback with him, I think he played chilled but it must have annoyed him from the way he came back to that 2-3 times during the call.
6) Thinks that the price has dropped as far as it can, believes we have seen the worst and upcoming news should lift the price. He could buy his shares in the open market easily and plans to buy more after the AGM, has been wandering who has been selling but thinks it's not the big guys.
7) With the cadastre closed, thinks we have a valuable asset and there has been a lot of interest. We have the largest concession area but we are not the only ones. Is very selective, even at this point in time when we think that things are desperate, and expects some JV-type news in the not too distant future, let's see if that comes through.
8) The Comms strategy could definitely be better, expects to be able to come out in a clearer fashion about the strategy soon, putting the "review" to bed.
I think I captured the spirit of the call. Having put some pressure on him, my impression is that he is a believer and is trying to get SOLG to the finish line, the company has a great in-country reputation and progress is being made. There is definitely activities in the background that cannot be disclosed at this time, but he seemed closer than usual to being able to provide some positive news, let's see how the next weeks pan out.
GLA
TI, thanks very much for taking the time to call him. Some interesting responses.
Many thanks for sharing your work. The JV news, was that concerning any of our projects or just in the sector in general?
Thank you TheItalian. Great to learn that Scott is still on the case. Disappointing that we might be here for the long haul judging from his response.
Eloro, how do you reach that conclusion?
Eloro, he was always on the case, what are you on about? Perhaps you should spend less time in your head or in this BB and engage the company directly yourself.
Hi Add, end of Q1/24 has been mentioned as a likely time line for a bid. However, here we have Scott talking about buying more shares after the AGM. That imply to me the his purchase would be in Q1 which he would not be allowed to do if a bid was incoming. I might be wrong, but that is the impression I derived from reading TI'S post.
What's up with you TI? You are not my parents, so stop telling me what to do heh! I am entitled to my opinion like the next poster. You are being high and mighty. First you waving your solg position about like that makes you more worthy than the rest of us. Cool it dude.
Thanks Italian that was more informative than most Solgold presentations and a lot of the RNS's!
I've got to agree with Eloro.
From reading The Italian's summary, I'm not too sure what this "finish line" is that is being spoken of.
Corporate action has long been something that SOLG shareholders have let consume them and the longer that goes on the worse it gets as focus is shifted away from what the company should be doing.
Scott speaks of putting the SR to bed in one sense but then talks of looking for a price reflecting Alpala's previously published NAV. No interested party is going to stump up anything like that figure. We're simply miles too far away in development terms.
There's an unevenness about the comments to me. We're talking about a finite agreement based upon figures that are well out of date even now let alone in 6-12 months.
Pretty muddling all said and done.
At least Scott is engaging. I've heard this JV talk before .... and am hoping it's substantial and not some pony side hussle on some of the old CGP prospects. That would really annoy me. Sunstone et al is of no interest to me. Bramados... not interested. It's the big SOLG prospects that I'm interested in. Get a JV away with someone like FMG or Rio or Codelco etc and that will get tongues wagging and the sp moving back up nicely ahead of the q1 24 PFS update. Pull that off pre AGM and he's got my vote.
Thanks for that 'the italian'... it's pi's like you who are achieving more for 'everyone' than the likes of Peel Hunt or other brokers have done for a while. Where is the house broker these days?? What are they doing? Scak the and get some fresh impetus in!!
Don't rule out BHP for a JV
;-)
That’s very easy to rule out. It’s not in their interests and everybody hates them
Totally agree with you Bozi. Scott is coming across like a Gemini. He puts a downer on every previous positive. After almost a year, not to mention the excitement when the SR was announced, we are no further along. Instead of addressing why he has so far failed to find buyers, he is focused on buying more shares and forgetting about us who have been patiently waiting for the past year. I'm now forced to think that Warren's 6 months time line for a sale is unduly optimistic.
Scott is the fat lass in NHS specs at the school disco left without a dance partner. There is literally nothing about him or what he’s doing that appeals to us investors.
Flashing a bit of leg by buying a handful of shares changes nothing in my view
I shall be voting no
He seems to me to have the character of a shifty used car salesman… his management patter is always generic fluff with no substance.. the kind of talking for minutes without saying anything that answers questions..
And he will be out of a job in a matter of weeks without any large development before the AGM
Orthern, I highly doubt that. As has been discussed multiple times on here PIs would be foolish to vote against him at the AGM. He stands to benefit to a much greater extent than any of us through a sale of the business and it's plain that's the outcome he's pushing for.
Whilst I generally don't see merit in comparing the two companies, Caldwell has put his hand in his pocket in a big way compared to Shaun Day at GGP. Let him get on and see what he can deliver. If we are left guessing at the end of Q1 '24 I will at that point struggle to keep faith.
Thanks to TI and DG for sharing their insights.
It doesn’t matter if we see him as the best option in the current situation, or just as someone who has overseen a huge drop in share price as he mismanages the company.
I think there is now zero chance he gets more votes than Mather did when he had to walk..
Small investors on here will make no difference to the vote.. he has spoken multiple times of knowing the large investors don’t want him… and I can’t imagine many medium sized ones are impressed with him either.
If he doesn’t reveal a large development before the AGM he is done…
Othern, I'm not familiar enough with the register at the moment to do the maths. Appreciate BHP and Newmont are likely to vote against, though we can't know for sure with the latter.
And even if he does end up with a similar % to Mather, I highly doubt he'll walk. We already have a shoddy reputation regards governance issues...
If he doesn't get 50% of the votes cast without counting his own shareholding then I'm confident he'll walk. He'll be asked to by the chairman.
Another proxy holder will be found by CGP and SOLG directors. Might take 3 or 6 months and no doubt that time will be full of more emptyness where nothing happens.
So we have to try to accept the least worst man for the job… the best of really bad bunch of options.. let’s continue with the guy who has mothballed the company..
What an illustration of how badly mismanaged this supposed tier 1 has been.. we have no real positive alternative..
If he doesn't get 50% of the votes cast without counting his own shareholding then I'm confident he'll walk. He'll be asked to by the chairman.
Another proxy holder will be found by CGP and SOLG directors. Might take 3 or 6 months and no doubt that time will be full of more emptyness where nothing happens.
Ortherncopper,
Is there anything positive you see in SOLG or is it all doom and gloom. The reason I ask is that if things are so dire why are you invested here? What are you invested for? I'm not suggesting you have to be positive to be invested (as we've been up and down that old one for yonks now). It's just that .... there comes a time when you have to listen to your own posts and act on them. And based on your posts... you should be selling up and moving onto another stock. What's stopping you?