Member Info for CRB14

Perhaps untested in court but the Tesco investigation was fairly ground breaking...

I'm inclined to agree. There doesn't appear on the face of it to have been sufficient effort (or desire) to get this mine back up and running. As people have said, in the grand scheme of things the money require to kickstart isn't actually that significant when compared to the amount that has been ploughed in during the earlier stages. We had the makings of a potentially very lucrative asset here and to me it stinks of something going on behind the scenes (as in another buyer / investor has pressured somebody into not restarting so they pick up the mine for cheap). Pure speculation on my part in what is a very very disappointing end. I mentally wrote this investment off some time back and so wasn't entirely surprised by the recent RNS. I'd already decided that I shall never go anywhere near AIM again and this reaffirms my thoughts. But, you live and you learn. My investments now (right or wrong) consist of 95% funds and that's the way it's going to stay for the foreseeable. As an aside I can highly recommend the Monevator blog if anybody is interested in the slowly slowly approach to investing. I'll be keeping an eye out on this until the final curtain is drawn but I wish you all well and hope that this hasn't affected people to severely. It's been a great board with some excellent posters and on the whole has been good reading with some very mature conversations (unlike the vast majority of the rest of the boards on LSE).

Unanimous too. I picked up on the statement that interest would not be due until 'conclusion of the business rescue proceedings'. I'm not really sure what to make of that as I haven't read the ins and outs of SA business rescue. Does it mean they expect the business to be 'rescued' or that there may be a payout due to them in the event the business isn't 'rescued'.

Yep also Dubai. Valency, drop me a PM when you have a moment.

If it helps at all I'm based in the UAE so happy to help if required.

Possibly

You're absolutely right that it should be in the interest of all parties to get this mine back up and running however we are dealing with a labour union here. They can be unpredictable and don't always see the bigger picture. I may be discrediting this bunch but I do hope for everyone's sake a sensible conclusion can be reached. It really is do or die on this one. Mister P - it's been a rollercoaster couple of months for many of us. Some of us have been here for years and we've always been positive yet realistic. We know what we're sat on in terms of in ground resource and potential future but due to a series of unfortunate events (some avoidable, some not) some of us are at a loss really. There isn't much to say at present as we have no idea whether we'll ever get back into production. The first hurdle in agreeing the labour deal is clearly the most critical at present but moving on from that we are still far from being out of the woods in my view. When dealing with anything below ground you just never know what could happen. One thing I've taken from this however is that it's my last foray into the junior markets. I've had a few successes but on the whole it's not worth it so I sold every single stock before Christmas and have completely changed my investment strategy into a less risky low and slow approach. I do however still believe that IF we get back up and running we will have a world class diamond mine on our hands.

So - here's what i've taken from the RNS so far; 1. There are payments due for labour and if an agreement can't be made the Group will become insolvent 2. The placing only gets us through Phase 1 which would help enter the care and maintenance phase. Following this additional funds will be needed to enable remediation and repair works on the underground roadways 3. The rig is STILL underground and the repair hasn't even started yet 4. Following repair of the roadways etc. they think full production would take another 4 months. 5. IF we get back to full production the mine could sustain 24 months at 30k cts per month mining (i lost what happens following this 24 months). My assessment in a nutshell - the placing is critical to paying back the outstanding salaries / payments for labour and negotiating with them. There will be significant civils works to be done which could take months. There rig repair works could take months. Basically, i don't see this as positive at present. In my mind the suspension lift is minimum 6 months away IF the group can get over some fairly big hurdles in the meantime. We still have a massive asset underground but without any immediate funds and or cash flow it doesn't look great to me.

What I don't understand is why PL has not considered some form of JV with an experienced and money rich partner to bring the mine through production. Even if this meant selling 30% of the business to a JV partner it would at the very least bring in additional experience and financial backing. It's not to say that DCP can't deliver on the ground themselves but as recently history has shown alone they have all of the risk. A JV partner may have had alternative rigs that could be on site right at this very minute preventing the 12 week stand down. The option of a complete sale shouldn't have even been considered when our backs were against the wall. Likewise with Rasmala, all they have done is provide a bit of cash which didn't really help in the long run. Perhaps the likes of Lucara and Petra, with mines fairly close, could have helped out in this instance. Just some thoughts really. I just think it was fairly obvious that the sale process wouldn't have been successful as people know we would have been desperate.

The asset value is worth considerably more though. Why would they accept 5 or 6p when it has previously been stated the NAV is closer to 29p? With $1.5bn in the ground it doesn't take a scientist to realise that 5 or 6p is literally giving the mine away. Having said that however, if given the choice of closing down and losing all value perhaps sure the board will accept a low ball offer just to get their own money out.

It must be something to do with the loan surely? We're in a very difficult stage at the moment having only just started to produce and sell so cash must be extremely tight - if indeed there is any. Either way they need to get more cash in to get through the next few months until the final sales values clear in the bank.

I found this a very interesting read. http://www.mineweb.com/news/diamonds-and-gems/company-in-focus-diamondcorps-lace-diamond-mine/

So the last RNS said.

Quite pleased to see the update this morning and great news we're now at full production rates. So, we should be pulling in $1.5m a month based on the lower end estimates of recovery in terms of stones and value. That first sale obviously won't hit the accounts immediately so I just hope we have enough in the coffers to see us through until the money comes in. Good cash flow management is now the key and I'm slightly concerned by the lack of FD presence. Just hope there is somebody within the business suitably experienced to manage the books in the interim.

Ouch! Lucky I don't have too many left but surely at this level its got to be worth buying a few more. This so called deception could be anything and is sounding like it was alleged against former employees.

I've managed to ride the spikes on this very well. I think I caught 6p right before the hike to 12p around 12 months ago. Since then I've sold and re-bought a few times and its done me well so far. For me this one is difficult to predict. I firmly believe it's a great little business which could well go places but competition out there is tough in the housing market. I know as it's where I started my trade. They've done well so far increasing the profits that they have however there are a few concerns going forwards which I'll summarize below; 1: House price increases are moving fast and steady but can it be sustained? 2: Land prices will be rocketing and private land owners will be doing exactly what they did before the crash demanding insane amounts of money. Land deals are often worked out based on how much the housebuilder thinks they can make. With larger plots it will come down to who has the bigger balls and lower site costs. 3: Staffing - good staff have always been hard to find in the building industry. There are a lot of cowboys still out there - particularly on site (I'm talking site management). I've noticed in recent times that the housebuilder salaries on offer are going up indicating to me that they are struggling to attract talent. As MAR is so small they will need to be even more attractive than the likes of Bellway, Barratt and Taylor Wimpey. 4: Build costs - material prices are rocketing and there is a shortage of key materials such as bricks and blocks because of the housing boom. Many production plants suspended after the crash and the industry hasn't yet picked up on demand. Lead times for materials are way longer than they used to be and prices aren't being held for as long as they would be. 5: Labour costs - in London the historic problem of poaching labour is back. Foremen are standing at site gates offering a few £ more per shift to joiners and bricklayers to work on their sites. I've always found trades to be fairly mercenary so again, if builders don't pay good rates (by good meaning above market) then developments won't complete as quickly. 6: Buyout - purely speculative here but smaller housebuilders have always been an attractive option for the larger boys just for their landbanks alone. If MAR build up a large landbank could they be ripe for a buyout? It wouldn't surprise me. Still, in spite of the above if they can address these issues they will keep doing well. I'm not putting a downer on this but thought I'd share some of my knowledge of the industry.

Seems to be holding strong at present which is marginally annoying as I was hoping to buy further but not at this price.

Excellent results today. I do wonder what legs this has though having now reached its peak.

Heavy unexpected drop today with no news. Has there been a leak?

Most of the house builder SPs are up today.