Member Info for Castaway

Sorry Dodge but I was stating the facts as the Merc deal could have happened last year before SSGI were due to be paid off so there would have to be a transfer of the remainder owed to SSGI before 31 December 2018.

Merc wanted out due to their internal problems!

I seriously doubt Mercuria are going to do business with VAST after what they caused by dropping out!.

The fact SSGI has the Rom assets as collateral is not a problem as it was to be swapped with Merc taking over and SSGI being paid the remainder.

Presumably the same will apply to any offtaker if we get a prepayment finance agreement similar to the one with Merc.

I doubt VAST is going bust!

But yes if we did they would be for sale by the liquidator as in any insolvent company and it would be AP's problem not ours!

I understand your point Daz , my point is that VAST has always negotiated from a position of financial weakness and that must be the case with most small mining companies. I hasn't proved to be a problem with offtake agreements since AP started to negotiate them - whatever you say about AP he could sell coal to Newcastle ;-)

Yes I think that is correct in the early days of Manaila RP had an offtake with another party and yes he did arrange that
but it was via a 3rd party and not directly himself - it was not great and did have a high discount attached

The fact VAST has no cash will not affect any off take - we had no cash last Jan either when we had the Merc deal, VAST has never had any cash ever!

There is competition between offtake partners and they have much to gain by working with VAST - we (via our much maligned CEO) have access to the whole of the Romanian mining industry and Remin.

RP didn't negotiate the off take AP did, RP had absolutely nothing to do with Romania ever.

AP is in a stronger position to negotiate an offtake now for the very reason we have a mining licence for BPPM and a timescale to reinstate production

I am not with you why will the offtake be discounted?

PS an offtake will not involve anybody getting a % of BPPM - just a right to purchase the mined ore!

V111 - there has always been debt, debt is being repaid to SSCG and we don't owe anything to Merc until later in the year.

I think AP has done a good job with the cards he has been dealt - yes he made mistakes but he can still get us out of the current situation - anyway, it's a matter of opinion and you don't agree so really no point in arguing about it - let's hope we get some good news in the near future.

stringer VAST has always been risky and anyone investing should know that.

I don't think the level of risk has increased so much to reduce the s/p by 75% though - we have assets valued at $80-100 mil and generate good profits in Zim and can do in Rom in 6-9 months - this is not taking the diamonds into account whatsoever!

stringer we could get an off-take deal to match Merc's, I really do not see the doom and gloom many posting here do.

The company's position has not changed since we were at .6p we are still waiting for an off-take deal and news on the diamonds. OK we have had Bergen but that is only 500 mil shs it doesn't change that much.

Even if we have another billion shs dilution in a placing it does not justify a reduction in the MC from £36 mil 3 months ago to around £7 mil now.

The upside hasn't changed either just sentiment!

Schmoops - there is that possibility - hence the current s/p

I apologize 4K I didn't probably express myself well and I meant no disrespect, Ariana are a solid company and I have been invested in the past but VAST could multimultibag in 6 months and Ariana could bag IMO

4K - you obviously haven't invested in a mining company prior to production and that is VAST's problem - neither Fish nor Foul - we are a halfway house and appeal to no one - that is a distinct advantage if you realise that

ripley - I ended up as SVS as one of my brokers for a few reasons and by default - IMO they are very good, it's a complex business AIM and there is a lot of misunderstanding regarding brokers - SVS have supported VAST and continue to do so IMO, they hold many shs from placings at .65 and above, it is in their interest to support the s/p

Just needs an offtake and we will be back on course IMO and that will be weeks not months

No none can take us over unless the buy 30% of the shareholding - the first 3% will be cheap, the rest won't be and I would welcome any potential takeover with relish 2p+ if they try IMO

I have just been reading the posts today and I think a sensible perspective needs to be put on today's Q&A and presentation.

First off the s/p has been hit since the BP licence by the fact funding for the project was not secured and that is fair enough.

Then Mercuria pull out and - I think many shareholders have misunderstood the reason for this and it is nothing to do with BPPM's potential as can be seen by the presentation, more likely internal with Merc.

IMO we have a very strong possibility of mining diamonds at Marange (and again outlined in the presentation) this will be highly profitable if it proceeds.

PP/Eureka/Giant are controlled by SSGI and I have never believed we will get revenues from that group until we have got Eureka working and probably Giant, maybe 5 years?

Short term we can get BPPM running and Marange and even if we get diluted to 10bn shs, IF we get those assets working as per the presentation the MC will be £250 mil plus.

I will not say I am happy with the current situation (or s/p) but I do think sentiment has gone way too far to the -ve.

I do not think VAST will go bust (though anything is possible) and there are too many big investors to let that happen IMO - we need $10 mil for Marange and we will generate profits of $50mil+ per annum $3 mil for BPPM and profits of over a $1mil per month!

OK sentiment is very low but the prospects are no different from when we were at .7p.

And in effect nothing has changed - it is highly probable we will get an off-take partner and we will get finance to do the diamonds.

BTW off-take partners don't give a toss about the s/p it's the assets they care about and ours are excellent!.

I have always stated VAST is a risky share but there is little difference now than there was 6 months ago yet we are down 80%.

I would say we are a strong buy - not without risk but the MC is currently £7.8 mil and BPPM has been independently valued (just our share) at $52,000,000

Add Zagra/PP/Manaila and even at this low point our MC should be at least £75 mil or 1.25p.

If you look at the events, you can see how this happened, but really we are way oversold.

Teacup, as I understand what you have been saying, in effect BPPM is not going to be profitable and shareholders have been conned?

First off again (in my understanding) the Russian method of evaluating ore in place is superior to JORC they drill more holes and actually build a small mine to test the drill results - look at Manaila there is an underground mine shaft shown going across the whole mine area.

The other thing is that BPPM has been mined for decades successfully and was only closed in 2013 due to needing modernisation and a bit of investment the RomGov were unable to provide due to EU competition rules.

We know there are only a couple of the pipes containing ore that have been mined and they have richer reserves the lower we go and there are several mor pipes that have not been touched yet - there are reports regarding this that were put up on this BB a couple of years ago. DYOR the info is there

Then you have to question why AP group bought the mine? one member of that group is a geologist, why would they buy a mine that was not going to be worth mining?

Why would VAST's BoD (and NOMAD signoff) an agreement to buy the mine off AP group without good evidence it would be a profitable mine?

Why would AP kill himself for 4 years to get a licence to mine BPPM?

And don't you think Mercuria would have bailed last Autumn when they did DD on the mine and not last week? If it was a bad mine and they would surely have looked at it when they gave us the $4mil loan based on the Rom assets early last year.

Mercuria didn't bail due to BPPM it was an internal problem with them IMO.

Also why are your raising this now and why did you buy VAST shs if you thought this?

VAST has been mainly about BPPM since Dec 2014

Sorry but IMO your argument is false

No Castaway does not disappear before bad news, I am still invested and as concerned as everybody else.

I did not see Mercuria pulling out and that is obviously a big setback in the short term.

The next few weeks are probably going to be volatile but ironically it was exactly 2 years ago when the s/p was this low and that was a far worse situation than we have now. (suspended with no nomad or cash or BP licence)

Losing Merc is a setback but there are apparently other off takers available who will fill Mercuria's shoes.

Highly stressful right now but we still have some great assets and the potential has not changed, but obviously the risk has increased.

I expect Bergen to support us now, I doubt they will convert anymore shs in the near future as the s/p is too low for them (with the current share headroom) to get their investment back.

I have always supported AP's strategy and have always stated it was high risk, he has made a few mistakes but he was in a difficult position (finance wise) from day one due to legacy issues. The worst market since 2008 has been a major factor as well.

I believe we still have a very good chance of mining BPPM and the diamonds starting in H2 2019 and I am still backing AP 100%.