Member Info for DiamondGeazer

Small_Holding, sadly you may well be right.

The BoD of Anglo are actually arranging their business as BHP wanted it, pre-empting all the difficult negotiations with African governments BHP wanted to avoid, by getting rid of the African assets BHP didn't want. The only reason that BHP may not come back (after Anglo finally get rid of De Beers), is if the huge liability sitting over BHP in the London Courts from the litigation over the Samarco dam failure, goes against BHP which could be one of the largest payouts in history. Otherwise I think Anglo are toast.

Still doesn't remove our BoD's obligation to tell shareholders what they know, which they seem to be completely oblivious to, and I don't believe they are in the dark as to why everything is delayed. We seem to be coming up to one of our qtrly meetings, so if we hear nothing from that, it means you are probably right. Whatever the reason for Anglo playing it slow, it's worse than a scandal that our BoD have told us nothing. The only part I see differently from you is that I think if Anglo still exist at the end of 2026, and that's a big "if", I think they will either spend the money on exploration at the last minute, or walk away, the former being more likely - but I don't see them paying USD20m in cash because they didn't do what they had signed up to do, and I agree with you about there Zambian Government being very unhappy with no progress.

Fair point Select126, but from my point of view there are two aspects to that. Firstly the unintentional part, where big companies are just swallowed up by their own bureaucracy, and they are terribly inefficient at actually moving forward swiftly with the actual drilling programmes part of the deal, but then there is the intentional side, which I think is a combination of what (I think it was HarChris) pointed out which was that because of BHP it wasn't that beneficial to Anglo to find a new Tier 1 deposit at this exact moment as well as being quite happy to leave things until the last few months because they have other priorities. Both may be right, both may be wrong, but that's not the point. My point is please remember what our directors were saying when the deal was signed. 24/7 drilling, the drilling has already started, frequent updates on drill plans, updates on drilling and assay results, flying up to meet with Anglo to discuss drilling plans, etc. and what did we get? 1 hole which we were told afterwards was a stratigraphic hole (and given no results), and then just six holes drilled from August 2024 onwards, and other than the results of those holes? Nothing. You could argue that in the meantime they were doing lots of important geochemical and geophysical work, but I don't think Anglo have been doing anything since the end of the last dry season, and it was drilling, not geophysics and geochemistry isn't that our BoD told us we were going to get. If you are saying Anglo have behaved perfectly okay by spending just USD3 million of the USD25 millions due in the first half of Phase 1, and they never committed to any more drilling than they have done, that's fine and of course you may be right, but then I would say we were misled by our BoD on what we should have expected. My view anyway, but thanks for replying.

Thanks for the reply Bukowski. I saw exactly the same with Rio drilling with Bluejay in Finland; USD12 million sounded like a very encouraging number but in the end, virtually none of it went on actual drilling. It seems to be the way with the many big mining companies. That's why I'm concerned here; when the JV was signed with Anglo, it looked like a fantastic deal, but over a year and a half, Anglo have completely shafted us, and while I hope I am wrong, I don't see them suddenly stepping up now!

Hi all,

As we continue to wait for news of Anglo’s drill plan.

Until the end of Phase 1, Anglo have around 655 days to spend USD22 million+ to satisfy the terms of the JV. If you assume that they don’t drill in the rainy season (and ignore the up to 30 days after the rainy season ends in mid-April 2027 to the end of Phase 1), that means that between July – December 2025, and April – December 2026, Anglo have about 410 days to spend that money - that is about USD53,000 a day, which is quite a lot of money. What might that mean?

I’ve assumed that all drilling is diamond drilling, daily drilling costs are USD200/m (they could easily be cheaper), assay cost are an additional USD75/m and have added in a generous extra USD50/m for logistics, site prep, etc, i.e. all in costs of USD325/m. You must use your own numbers of course, but I think mine are reasonably generous to Anglo.

I have also assumed an average drill depth of 20 metres a day (a daily all in cost of USD6,500 per rig), and an average drill depth per hole of 400 metres (cost per hole of USD130,000 a hole).

Based on those numbers, from Jul-Dec this year and Apr-Dec next year, Anglo need to have 8 drill rigs working 24/7 drilling 160 holes to hit the promised spend.

Of course there are many variables; Anglo could drill through the rainy season, or use a lot of much cheaper RC drilling, drill more than 20 metres a day, etc. I may also have missed something important in the costs

But be that as it may, my point is simply that we should be expecting an announcement that at a minimum says that Anglo have at the very least four, more likely six drills on site and will be drilling 24/7 through to December and the same April to December next year, just to get near their promised spend. Anything less and we are being hoodwinked. How will they do that? Knowing Anglo, they’ll just instead spend a supposed fortune on further aerial and ground geophysics (and of course HSE!).

We’ve waited 19 months into the 42 months of Phase 1 for virtually nothing. If all we now get is an announcement of say, two drill rigs, even if they are working 24/7, I think while investors will initially jump with joy (and of course its infinitely better than where we are today) I don’t think on further reflection the market will be impressed, because Anglo will actually just be doing as little as they can possibly get away with. That is why we need really big news on drilling to give the SP any momentum.

Of course, one or two drills and our BoD will be crowing about how wonderful the news is - sadly, they have no idea how to run a mining business. IMHO. DYOR.

Fulmar,

Small_Holding has an interesting take on why Anglo may be going slow, but thinking about it, I simply don't buy into Anglo being willing to pay cash for failing to do phase 1 when they could have used the money to do some kind of work on the ground, whatever the strategic implications re BHP. I think they know that if they fail to honour a deal in terms of developing an asset with a junior, it will hurt their reputation with all juniors. Given that you are close to most of what's happening around Arc, what is your reading for how and why Anglo have so badly failed to do anywhere near what we all expected them to for almost half the period of Phase 1? Even if they now accelerate their activity, this is not how major's normally behave. You know that I am no fan of NvS, and I think his Comms is appalling, but when he made his early statements about drilling 24/7, etc, I thought he actually thought that was going to happen, and Anglo then made a fool out of him, and us, by how they failed to deliver. Your insights would be appreciated.

Thanks very helpful.

Small_Holding, extremely logical and sadly very possible. Thanks for the interesting take. If you are right then what do you think was the intended subject at the (last minute cancelled) investor event a couple of weeks ago. We seem to have given up on Botswana after just a couple of drill holes, with no explanation (as usual) - so much for all the hype in various RNS's about Botswana. So if they weren't intending to present the Anglo drilling plans, which if you are right, are nothing more than a 'go-slow' , was this an event that was always intended to be cancelled, a fictitious event intended to make investors think positive things were happening when they weren't? I also make the point that if the BoD know something we don't (whether that is good or bad news, whether it is in their control or not), they have a legal obligation to tell us.

Thank again for your interesting take.

Travelcard, you are quite right to remind us of that; it was half way through the 180 day exclusivity period with Anglo, which asks certain questions, and even then, Arc's share price has only traded above 6.94p on a handful of days in the last ten years. Had they exercised their options, they would never have been able to achieve anywhere near that price. NvS's, RW's and Vass's greedy snouts poking into the trough doing what they do best; looking after themselves. And recently they've issued themselves another 5% of the company!

We may well have to wait until the next JV meeting (which I am guessing is July) to find out Anglo's drilling plan. We have yet to be told anything about plans for Zambia, no simple explanation as to why there is a delay, but the BoD think it beneath them to communicate anything but good news. What have we been told about Botswana? Nothing apparently, so what was the point of that investment? It's interesting to ponder how much we actually have spent on drilling there, against how much our directors pay themselves, but maybe those who say we bought into Botswana solely so the BoD can justify to themselves the BoD's salaries are correct. I am completely reliant on Anglo coming up trumps, despite our BoD, but concerned that we are almost half way through phase 1. There is an outside chance that Anglo don't like the deal and have other priorities, but since we have to rely on our BoD for information, anything happening is possible, especially if Anglo have met them. In the meantime I fear our BoD can't survive on the USD annual payments from Anglo, they are far too greedy doing nothing, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get diluted with another capital raise later this year, not for drilling for copper, but so NvS, RW and Vass can stick their snouts back in the trough to pay themselves monies they have never earned.

Hi HarChris, I think your comment about the warrants was kindly responding to my comment that shareholders need to remember that because of the capital raise by the Board of Directors last year everyone now faces the dilution of another 220,000,000+ shares at 3p. Thank you for replying.

However, they have had my post taken down so I’m going to repeat the important points, because I am sick and tired of how the directors behave.

I commented that the capital raise happened because even the cash windfall from the deal with Anglo American couldn’t cover the Board's salaries and bonuses - you will recall that at the time of the deal, NvS insisted that any deal had to include a cash component so that “Arc shareholders” were also rewarded. I am now beginning to realise that he may have unfortunately misspoken and really meant to say, “Arc’s directors”, not “Arc’s shareholders”. And in truth no one should worry about the Board, who made millions forcing the conversion of their own options at 6p+, partook in last year’s cash raise and have now awarded themselves up to 5% of the company.

I also questioned how NvS can be paid more than £100,000 a year? What does he actually do that merits a larger salary? Anglo run the JV in Zambia and make all the decisions. The DD on Chingola isn't done by him and nothing is happening in Botswana. Likewise, Vaz; what work does he actually do for shareholders 5 days a week? Same with Remi, what has he ever contributed for the salary he is (and was) paid?

I (only partly sarcastically) suggested that Arc Minerals should move to the financial services sector as a company whose sole remit is the remuneration of the Board and change its name to "NvS's Gravy Train".

But above all, and I wonder whether the real reason it was taken down was that I suggested that its possible that the directors already had the Anglo drilling plan in Zambia (what else were they going to talk about at the suddenly cancelled investor event). My concern (based on their past behaviour) was that they may have decided to hold it back while they got all the bad news out of the way and then intended to release the drill plan next week as though everything that happened this week is irrelevant… and aren't they so clever. Some of you would be right to say that my concern is ill-founded because holding back price sensitive information because the directors don’t find it convenient to their view of shareholder perception is surely illegal, but who knows with this bunch of muppets?!

So come on the directors of “NvS's Gravy Train”! If a drill plan exists, and it's illogical for Anglo not to know their own drill plan by mid-May, when are you cleverly planning to tell us what the drill plan is?

AC123, you hit the nail on the head. Its true that If the copper is not there on a particular hole, its not there, but the problems here just illustrate the much deeper issues with Arc. For instance, its very concerning that with all this private briefing by NvS and his band of merry men that these were actually stratigraphic holes just looking at the geology, why that wasn't mentioned in the RNS. Given that RNS's come with legal obligations I wouldn't now be surprised if it wasn't true.

To my knowledge the rainy season has already ended in Zambia, so also very concerning that there isn't a drill plan yet - surely the drills should already be turning, so I don't know what Anglo is up to, but this isn't good news. Why is there no explanation? I also note that we will only drill Botswana if we can't work on Chingola. I was never a fan of Botswana but that seems pretty ominous for our investment there that if we can, we'd rather work on a new acquisition.

I always believed that NvS should have been paid a maximum of £100,000 for his very much part time job and Vaz the same, and we could have survived on the Anglo annual payments waiting for Zambia to develop. Instead, NvS did the deal so that all the Anglo money was to pay himself a fortune for what is probably one day a month's work; after all Anglo run Zambia, the DD on Chingola won't be done by him, and nothing is happening in Botswana. And Vaz has almost as cushy a job although maybe he may works two days a month.. As for Remy, would anyone like to suggest what he contributes?

I've lost over 80% and I was so wrong not to cut and run when it became clear that our directors and the principles of honesty and competence were diametrically opposed, but I'm down too much to get out now, but I have to accept that with this bunch of muppets, it may fall further.

Thanks both for the detailed replies.

Hi Fulmar, catching up on this BB for the last few weeks, you say " Anyone expecting mega grades should consider selling now as the first 6 Anglo holes were all stratigraphic,spread over 3 areas to help plan the upcoming season of drilling". Where has the Company ever told the rest of us that these were just stratigraphic dill holes? It's certainly true that Arc director's have a history of not sharing the truth if there isn't good news, but how do you also already conclude that the grades aren't good? all the best.

Thanks everyone for the very helpful answers, and you are right HarChris, I forgot about the 180 days, but even so, it seems that Anglo still have a lot to spend.

Final question, can anyone remind me if we have had a drill working through the rainy season (for some reason I thought there might have had one) or are we waiting to start once the rains stop - I'm just curious as to whether there will already be more core to be sent off to be assayed. Thanks again.

Please can anyone update me on where we are in Botswana; that seems to have gone very quiet?

I used to work for a producing mining company with a similar deal with a major to the one we have with Anglo. They ran the operations and we only got a detailed update on mining operations every qtly meeting, so I'm hoping we hear about the three outstanding Zambian assays at our next meeting, which I think is in the next couple of weeks?

Does anyone have an opinion on how much of the spend that Anglo committed to in Phase 1 they have spent? I'm assuming they will have to significantly ramp up their activity now we are almost half way through the period. Any thoughts welcome. Good luck all LTHs.

Hi Lantier, thanks for the reply and you quite possibly are right, but its not about whether it is technically "material"

Two points worth considering;

1. This of course is as yet the only licence we know they owned... and we only found out about it because Altona told us in their RNS.

2. More than that, NvS and RW are paid very substantial salaries by us shareholders to work as executive directors for Arc Minerals... not to work for themselves... and do so in secret. In any decent company, I would suggest that executive directors caught doing this would be fired on the spot and have to return their bonuses, but its NvS and Remy who would have to fire themselves... and that would mean the BoD would have to have a level of integrity that is completely absent... but I'm wait to see what WHI say.

Fulmar, you are one of Arc's greatest supporters. Do you really think that this is acceptable behaviour???

For info, this is the e-mail I have just sent to Arc Mineral's Nomad. If you didn't know what our BoD were like before; you do now...

Hi ...,

I was alerted to a transaction in Zambia involving 3 Arc Minerals directors, which I wanted to ask you about since you are Arc Minerals’ Nomad, and presumably WH Ireland both approved the transaction and advised them that there was no need to tell Arc Minerals shareholders.

Last week, Altona Rare Earths (an AiM Listed exploration company that you may or may not know) announced that it was buying the entire issued share capital of “Phelps Dodge Mining (Zambia) Limited”, which owns a Large-Scale Exploration Licence (21403-HQ-LEL) located in the Mufumbe District of Northwestern Province of Zambia.

For info, the Licence has “a surface area of approximately 616 km2 and is valid for copper, cobalt, nickel, lead, zinc, gold and diamonds”. It “...has seen prior grassroot exploration including 4,000 line kilometre of ground magnetometer survey and a partial leach soil geochemistry survey over a 4 kilometre square grid. This work highlighted the presence of a large copper gold silver anomaly in the Northeastern part of the Tenement, overlapping a possible demagnetised zone”.

The price Altona are paying is £40,000 in the form of 800,000 new ordinary Altona shares ("Shares") at a price of 5p… and USD150,000 to be paid 12 months after completion (also in shares).

The seller???? Sustineri Group, owned by three Arc Minerals directors, Nick von Shrinding, Remy Welschinger and Valentine Chitalu.

So 3 of our directors secretly owned, and now have sold, a separate Zambian copper licence without at any point disclosing this to Arc’s shareholders, let alone involving our company, though we are, according to Arc’s directors, ourselves about to buy a new Zambian copper licence.

This raises so many issues, and as Nomad, you will be very aware that you have certain responsibilities. I await your comments and proposed actions.

Best regards,...

(Constructive) feedback very welcome.

Great questions Olderandwiser. Seisnav explains the potential far better than the BoD has ever done. I'm sorry that he doesn't run this company; we would be in a much better place.

Many thanks.

Fulmar, you are usually well informed about Arc; given we are near the end of March, any thoughts on why we haven't yet seen the drill programme in Zambia? Thanks in advance..

Sorry... for us to think about...