Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
My take is that D.C came in thinking that BHP would take the lot and that he would then been given the job of running the whole show with a main board appointment. It then became clear that the deal stitched up with GGP was the start of selling out to anyone, leaving him exposed.
In my view an auction is coming, my guess in February but who knows when?
I am feeling positive - but then I have to be, I'm underwater!
Our present pair of CEO's ,(put two boys together and you get half a boy' work) supply no information as to what they do so why should we trust them except on results? No explanation as to why the modest pay back on Victory, or the problem with Parta or, or... well, what else have they done?
Sorry, but I don't think we owe them anything. That said, anyone wanting to replace them had better have a good story.
As I see it, if it hadn't been for Putin and the fortuitous lift in gas prices, we would have been wiped out by now. Our current BOD has not lived up to expectations. Look at the SP over the past eight years, 8p to .26. It says it all.
That said, what would a replacement BOD offer? I might be persuaded if they injected a few millions to accelerate our ponderous activity.
The drop in the SP yesterday makes me shake my head in amazement. One shoe has dropped and all we have to do is to wait for the other. Yes, it was costly, but the way ahead is now clear. BHP is no longer the only way forward.
In my opinion, the only question is whether our BOD (and advisors) can seize the opportunity.
The descent of the SP is only partly self-inflicted: all miners are down. ATYM, which is perfectly sound, is almost at half the price of six months ago. It is the end of the holiday season and, come September, the heavy brigade get back to their desks - and deals. Meanwhile drilling continues. A rights issue at 10p would settle nerves. All funerals end in a p-ss up!
Seems to me that it is not in the interest of any of the big shareholders for Solgold to develop Cascabel, though for varying reasons. Sooner or later our BOD will have to recognise the only way forward is to auction off Cascabel and then use the proceeds to finance Porvair et al.
Thanks for your thoughts - makes sense to me. We are all thrashing around trying to guess the unguessable, and all are frustrated at the wait for news. As we are now in the European equivalent of Ramadhan, we may have to sit on our hands until September - or maybe not, that's the maddening thing!
I am sanguine about the results of the forthcoming meeting. The big investors have already sorted it out and for once their interests are much the same as mine. After all, what's a million here or there if we are talking in billions? Relax. If you want to worry, worry about China and the price of copper.
With all the heavyweight advisors involved, this has been in the planning for some time, which makes me feel that our BOD have been less than honest about all the talk about our Egyptian future. Furthermore, our BOD have not shown
themselves to be very adroit in anything, so I am glad to see the back of them.
That said, there is a medium-term advantage in spreading our political risks in a place like Africa. With the POI at 120, there must be lots of profit to be made. Overall, I suppose I am for it.
Having had a good run a shakeout was always likely when there is no immediate news coming. I'm a long term holder and regret the drop in SP but I think an unqualified rumour sparked it off. This is AIM and things get manipulated.