The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma has just been released. Listen here.
Personally the purchases you talk about were IMO both a positive and negative.
You're right about Martin Hughes Cromwell, that was for me the positive from the fund raise and indicator that hopefully positive news is just around the corner.
The director purchases were miniscule in comparison and I certainly gained no confidence from them that this project is on track Currently.
The same applies to Riverfort. We have had a long term positive relationship with Riverfort for many years. The current lending with them has been in place for nearly a year and there has been no conversion. The board keeps on explaining that there will be no conversion. The facility is being used precisely to minimise the risk of dilution. Again, we will clarify the Riverfort relationship in the coming weeks.
We’ve had a week of negativity here. Let’s just pause and realise that bringing a mine into production without simply printing hundreds of millions of shares is not easy. That’s why so many companies don’t even try to do it. The board are sticking to their words and trying to do something different: get the mine into production without diluting the early stage holders to next to nothing. That has always been and remains the goal. I repeat: it is not easy. At any point we could throw the towel in, issue a few hundred million shares or make the bonds convertible. But we are taking the more difficult path that offers much greater rewards to early stage investors. That is the strategy. And that is why the larger, long term investors who understand this sector inside and out were happy to add shares in the placing last week.
The focus of the company is on getting the mine into production with minimal dilution. A huge amount of work has gone into getting the bonds issued and the board are confident that will happen. But remember, the easiest way to get the bonds issued would be to make them convertible into shares. Then they could be issued at the drop of the hat, but it would massively dilute existing holders. In other words, it is precisely because of that desire to protect existing holders that financing has not yet been finalised.
The same applies to Riverfort. We have had a long term positive relationship with Riverfort for many years. The current lending with them has been in place for nearly a year and t
Everything I say is twisted and often interpretations are taken that are obtuse and deliberately unhelpful. So I’m going to step back a little. First, though…
It is worth focusing on what the company is trying to do and the steps that it has taken. Bringing a mine into production is very difficult and capital intensive, and usually the early stage investors are left with very little of the end result. If you look at SOLG, or VAST, or any of the dozens like them, you see billions of shares in issue and the original holders diluted down to perhaps 5% of the final number of shares in issue.
At PXC, we have just had a small placing that is the first in 3 years. The number of shares in issue is under 150m. The level of director fees is modest compared to peers, and the overall level of corporate expense is very low. No flash offices in Mayfair, no first class flights. The focus is 100% on taking the company forward and minimising dilution.
Last week’s placing was for a specific reason – to buy a piece of kit at a price that the company felt was too good to miss - which we will communicate when it is complete. We now have a project that we are taking forward and starting to acquire key pieces of processing kit for at an excellent price, that also derisks the project by removing a timescale risk (the items we are going to buy have a very long lead in time if ordered from new).
The project itself is looking better than ever. The last couple of years has seen a huge focus on scoping and planning, to make the production of metals as economically attractive as possible. We have a project we are finalising now that is robust, profitable, and producing copper, gold and silver from day 1. When the PFS is complete we will publish the figures so everyone can see. All of the work that has been done has led to incremental improvements that all add up.
Yes, there were some shares issued last week. A chunk of the offering was reserved for retail investors, and that chunk was not taken up in full. I understand why: not everyone has the monies available to buy more shares. At the same time, anyone who wished to avoid dilution was given the opportunity to do so. This was not a “mate’s placing” of the type common on AIM: everyone was given an equal opportunity to participate.
Finance, permits, licensing and the fact the timetable to production changed from ?was it late 2022 to now early 2024 all contributing to the price decline. IMO nothing to do with copper price. I hope, when the Finance news is released in a few weeks, its positive otherwise the decline will accelerate.
The buying opportunity now is positive because we know, eventually, a decent rerate will come.
Absolutely spot on StanleyUK, this is all about the permit and plan of operation now. Whilst what's in the ground is obviously important for the future success of the company's potential, once you start talking dates on such a major scale ie start mining in 1/4 4 of 2022 that's what gets the focus from the markets. The company has to now deliver on its timetable to ensure the necessary steps ensure that happens.
DT
Could this not be an update?
From the RNS of the 23rd September.
Navarre Creek
The EM Survey on the Navarre Creek gold property has also been completed and the report interpreting the results is also expected very soon. The report will be used to define a 2,300-metre drilling programme, expected to commence as soon as the drill site permitting is approved.
DT
From the RNS of the 23rd September.
Could this not be a further update?
Navarre Creek
The EM Survey on the Navarre Creek gold property has also been completed and the report interpreting the results is also expected very soon. The report will be used to define a 2,300-metre drilling programme, expected to commence as soon as the drill site permitting is approved.
News will come when its ready as you allude to.
Timescales in RNS's though, should be taken as a guide only not as a promise as you infer.
I suspect the long awaited news is not to far away, maybe as RO mentioned, once the visit this week is concluded. I believe this visit is the first time for nearly 2 years a number of the board have visited the site.
Like you say, long term this investment should be a great one to be in and hold.