Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I'll repeat again the legal argument mainly for those new here but also since DrR asked "how can they win". The case is simple, the P1 expenditure plus $2m cash payment simply give MMA a right to enter into a new JV vehicle under which they would own 51% of the Anza project, with further rights and obligations to be contained in the T&C of a new JV company. Critically, this option to enter P2 must be exercised within 90 days of P1 ending, by way of creation of the new JV company AND START OF P2. Simply paying the $2m does NOT give MMA a lifetime option to sit on Anza and do nothing, to the contrary, the licence is 100% owned by OMI and the P2 option has now expired so OMI should absolutely be pressuring MMA to get a bloody move on or get out. They have massive leverage and have refused to use it.
As I have posted before, I bet OMI have made some kind of representation to MMA that they would waive the 90 day term, which would be extremely dumb without putting a new term in place, but we will never know the inner communications, all we can see is the result, a contract breach which our board is unwilling to do anything about and which has cratered the share price.
"How can they win against two giant multi billion $ companies, who have paid there way in regards to spenditure until the middle of next year". Firstly, a uncorrupt court of law is a humbling equaliser, it does not matter who has the deeper pockets as long as the litigation fees can be paid then it all revolves around the rights and responsibilities that are in writing, and the actions of the participants.
Secondly, you are correct in that MMA have nearly a full year of carryforward costs I believe, which does not start until P2 starts. This makes every week of delay in starting P2 a further hammerblow to a small company that relies on positive newsflow/drill results.
And I bet the ongoing "care and maintenance" costs will be added to MMA carry-forward sum, and Brad and Louis the poodles will say "of course", however, according to the contract only P1 costs can be carried forward and P1 ended in September 2022! Who wants to bet that Brad and Louis ignore this very important fact also, to the detrement of OMI shareholders and to the benefit of MMA, odd that.
I should sell out tbh, it is not worth the ongoing anger caused in thinking of the stupidity, cowardice, or corruption on display here.
I stand corrected then, was just a suspicion since he said something odd about "you cannot put legally binding timelines in a contract as they could be impacted by external changes to government etc" which is incorrect and strangely that appears to be the position of OMI, to ignore contract terms because of external factors. No, I said it before and will say it again, a force majeure event would mean that an alternative has to be put in place, and ofc we are still stuck here with no new date set.
I'll go ahead and make my suspicions public, but I suspect AGEOS was Brad. Reason is that he had shared expert level geo insights previously, claimed to be a CEO who had experience dealing with JV contracts, but also displayed a serious lack of legal understanding of said contracts. Just like our man Brad. Also, he disappeared when the share price began to crash and questions were being asked of OMI BoD dereliction of duty.
This is just my opinion, I cannot prove any of it, but I don't think AGEOS will be back.
Impec, no mate, sorry, but there would be NO need for litigation, all that was needed was for OMI to put their foot down and tell our partners that there is no allowance in the time-boxed contract for the project to be put on "care and maintenance".
MMA would have been faced with a decision that if they do not progress OMI will end the agreement and retain 100% of the licence rights, as permitted due to failure to enter P2.
Now, this may trigger litigation from MMA, but not necessarily, they could just accept that they need to progress.
This should have all been hammered out with MMA as soon as they said "care and maintenance" but Brad the poodle did nothing and is happy to just let MMA do nothing while shareholders lose. At least then, if MMA had refused to budge based on a deadline set by OMI back in February we could stop all the other project nonsense and keep remaining funds for litigation if MMA decided to go that route. We could have entered into another JV with terms that our new JV partner will assist in defending litigation from MMA for example, which we would win as the contract is clear that P1 to P2 is 90 days.
Jackbal, not only resolve, but a drill plan recommencement date. If they indeed announce a P2 with MMA without a drilling plan, is the market expected to just accept their word that drilling will commence "soon"? I don't think so. His only hope at saving face, and his career (nobody wants to be remembered as a clown) is to get Anza JV back up and running with MMA, or cancel the whole thing and we find other JV partners. I advised them of these two very clear choices as soon as the "care and maintenence" RNS come out, when was that February? And they have chosen to do nothing, now the cash is running out. So stupid of them not to set a deadline for MMA entry into P2, in fact it is so stupid that one might think they take orders from MMA regardless of shareholder impact.
What does all of this geology mean ultimately, we had the exact same excitment at Anza. Brad is obviously a geo through and through and not qualified to be a CEO. The geology does not matter when OMI does not have the willingness to stand firm when JV partners screw us. Remember, a 90 day contract term for P1 to P2 transition is being ignored without any "force majuere" RNS, now over one year with no movement and no deadline set either.
Anyone who invested here on the basis of the Anza Exploration Agreement with MMA has been defrauded imo.
Https://archive.ph/1p7PC
New hot place to do business? Not that it matters for OMI if they are going to ignore contracts and let JV partners do whatever da hell they like against shareholders interests.
Just noticed that IG are not accepting new SB positions in OMI. Not sure when they placed this restriction but I know they used to allow it.
Surely Brad is not so arrogant to think that he can come to the market with cap out for a new JV without a resolution to the very damaging limbo that he permitted to occur on the flagship project? Surely?
I don't follow, "closer to the end than the beginning" means that a resolution is expected "soon". Whatever that may be.
I don't think Brad would have been signing us up to Nigera, knowing that a raise will be needed in 2024, if he was not confident of an Anza resolution. But, his actions have surprised me in the past so I am not going to guess. I am holding for Anza or bust at this point.
Interesting wording here "negotiations continued with Monte Aguila on the shareholders agreement which will govern the new mining company to be owned 51% by Monte Agulia and 49% by Orosur" , the language here "which WILL" indicates a certainty. I would need to watch the recent interview again (I would rather have my nails pulled out tbh), but did Brad not say that the new company had already been registered, so it seems that all that remains is minor detail before formally annoucing the new JV and plan for Phase 2?
Who knows at this point, we are either going to 10x from here or lose it all.
Jackbal, all very valid questions which is why I raised the matter to the FCA. Contract clearly states 90 days and yet no official RNS to give formal explanation why they have ignored this. Their official explanation was "MMA C&M" which is a default of the agreement. Poor mistake by MMA to think they they are in control this this extend, a competant BoD woudl say "thanks for your default, we are walking away with our 100% owned asset".
He also keeps harping on about "MMA are big companies it takes a long time for them to make decisions". Does he think none of us know how big corps work? When a critical deadline is on the table the decisions are made much more quickly, Brad's lack of deadlines is the main reason that they are taking so long.
The fact that the shareprice has been hammered gives him all the ammo he needs to say to MMA "sorry chaps, the market does not like this limbo, I need your response to X, Y, Z in two weeks time, and ultimately we need to set a target for next phase to begin". How is this diffcult to do? Furious thinking about how badly this has been managed.
drr, no, there would be no need to actually go to court. the fact is that omi own the licences and mma breached both the spirit and the letter of the exploration agreement. in addition, omi did not notify the market of a force majeure event, this "change in the law that means the new jv could not be formed within 90 days", i do not fully believe this, as they would have had to rns. instead we got "mma care and maintenance" which is clearly the truth of the matter.
i have said many times that all brad had to do was say c&m is not acceptable, put a new timeline in place to begin phase 2, somthing that still is not in place, and threaten to walk if they do not adhere. omi does not need to go to court to do this. i can nearly guarantee this would have been addressed months ago if mma were told they would lose it all if they do agree a new plan to begin p2. our ceo thinks it is "suicidal" to stick up for shareholders, because he is afraid of jv partners who have breached the agreement? he would rather we lose 95% of our investment than take simple action like placing deadlines. ******* joke.
I do not agree with management approach regarding Anza JV, yet, mcap is now so low it is priced as if we have given Anza away. This could go bananas to the upside if new JV for Anza is announced alongwith a drill plan. I would like to see a timely arbitration clause so a third party can determine if any future messing around from MMA is acceptable, anything would be better than Brads "let them do what they like" attitude.
i do not share brad's views about conflict resolution. as i said many many times, all he has to do is give mma deadlines for making decisions, this does not mean you need to go to court, it means you stick up for your and your shareholders rights under the terms of a time-boxed contract. fine, the law changed, force majeure on part of the contract, but you need to put a new timeframe in place, why is he is afraid to put simple timeframe demands on mma? he is a ceo and he will be dealing with lower level managers from mma, he should be telling them to have decisions made and back to him as per a timeframe he sets, not this ***** cat waiting.
Interesting comments, Brad expects to have management control of the project and it sounds like the new JV for Phase 2 and 3 has progressed substantially, which means MMA is still interested in progressing this rather than an exit or indeed OMI walking away due to lack of progress. I'll not hold my breath as I decided at 6p that my holding was going in the bottom drawer, painful to lose another 2/3rd from there but if a plan for Anza with MMA financial backing and OMI in control is annouced what price per share then?
I don't expect any news on Anza tomorrow, they are just going to say "we are confident it will be resolved" but they have been saying this for a long time without any plan being presented. Phase 1 finished over one year ago and Phase 2 was due to start in January. This is the single most significant activity driving the share price so why is nothing being done, and if something is being done why are we not being told the plan?
I mean do I need to google myself how to form a LTD company in Columbia? In the UK a company can be formed for £15 with paperwork done in an hour so what stage is the new JV company formation at? Are Agnico still refusing to progress unless terms are changed in their favor and if so where do OMI draw the line and tell them, in Brads own words to "bugger off"?
Shareholders are being treated with contempt and this Nigera project is fuel on the fire.