Member Info for DiamondGeazer

Given your knowledge of the company, fingers crossed that you've got something positive to think about over Easter! I am very depressed about the outlook for this company.

I am a long suffering shareholder of Arc Minerals, of which NvS is so-called Executive Chairman, which is appallingly run and in effect, a gravy train for the BoD, so I thought I would share some of our experience..

John Meyer is one of the most respected mining analysts in the City, and a doyen of small cap mining companies. he did an interview recently including commenting on about NvS and the Board of Arc, on sharepickers.com. I would recommend you go to 11 mins and 39 seconds and hear what he has to say. Unfortunately, he hits the nail right on the head. https://audioboom.com/posts/8474024-john-meyer-on-copper-lithium-atlantic-lithium-savannah-res-cornish-metals-jangada-mines-ar

I wish you luck; you're going to need it.

I think the challenge we all face over the next few months is that for the people who subscribed for the 220m odd new shares, the moment the bid price rises above 1.8p, it makes sense to sell the equity and have a free ride on the warrant... I thought issuing the warrants was unnecessary and will penalise us for some time.

Thanks Jarv55... so £402,500 at the current bid price....

Hi AIMtodeath,

Thank you, you raise some perfectly good points. Where I suppose we differ is that my understanding was that the Swedes originally held 6% (?). with all the selling I would be surprised if they had even 20 million shares left, and to buy that out would now only cost £360,000, not £4 million.

I would also have expected the BoD to have acted far earlier, especially after the negative statements the Swedes made about Arc, but overall I can't see any investor complaining about raising capital to buy their share and then to cancel them.

I think Valueseeker 03 is nearer the truth - that they already knew they needed another capital raise before the Swedes even made that statement. Arc BoD has always played fast and loose with the truth; whether it be the oft repeated claims that we would own 30% of Zambian assets in the JV (as you know we only own 20%), or the much repeated claims (included in RNS's) that "Arc" would be paid USD3.5m on completion, (we were paid USD2.3 million).

If you look back last year, the "weeks not months" turned out to be completely (and it now appears knowingly) misleading; the Botswana assays which we kept expecting to hear about, had actually been put on hold, and directors didn't take their salaries... but we were never told that; we have never been told the transaction costs, but added to the cost of their surrendered shares and what I regard as un justifiably high salaries (Vassily is the only one who earns his keep), net net, it seems that the BoD was running out of money within only a few months of the JV deal, which is pretty appalling.

Where I may also disagree with you, is that I think a small raise to buy and cancel the Swedes shares could easily have been followed by another one later in the year; but now I believe our BoD couldn't wait because they have no control over their profligate expenditure.

Thanks again for the comments and atb. DYOR.

Thanks both,

My simple point about this placing is this.

I invested in Arc for exposure to Anglo's work in Zambia on our leases. I have just had my exposure to Zambia lowered (diluted) by 20%, and when the warrants are exercised, by another 15% or so. In other words raising this money at 1.8p, I now have 35% less upside on what Anglo achieve in Zambia. So if I thought that pre the placing, the upside over the next 12 months of Anglo finding something in Zambia was 10p a share, it's now 6.5p.

What do I get in return giving up 35% of the upside on Zambia? BoD splashing out money on their high salaries, a company with little understanding of financial management, some geophsyics and possible drilling on what is at the moment just a prospect in Botswana and possible pruchase of a new licence in Zambia. That is not worth giving up 5% of my exposure to Zambia for. No one, other than the BoD (or first time investors coming in via the placing) can suggest that that is a good deal for existing shareholders.

I repeat. Had the BoD raised capital to buy out the Swedes a month ago and then cancelled the shares... okay. But what they have done now is akin daylight robbery... and appalling value destruction.

DYOR and GLA

Hi Kyocera,

For me, the point of these BBs is for investors to swap ideas, share opinions and information, debate the value of companies, the competence or incompetence of management, discuss the assets and finances...etc, etc, but above all to disagree agreeably, not least because they may reflect a lot of shareholder opinion, but have little impact on the SP.

I only come on here from time to time because this BB has become so poisonous, so for the sake of clarity, I have never at any time said my holding was relevant, but I also note you don't discuss, comment on or give an alternate view to a single point I made, you just choose to be offensive.

The good news is that no one has to read anyone else's other posts; may I suggest that if being rude is your sole intention, you don't in future bother reading mine!

Hi Coffeecups,

I think the SP shows that most shareholders agree with you. It seems that the company has no financial controls; we still don't know how much the J/V transaction costs were, but I can only assume that this year the BoD have already paid themselves not just their backdated salaries from last year but also the remainder of the monies from the share options surrender, and have run out. It is simply inconceivable that they had to raise capital for Botswana and other new projects at 1.8p (you may recall them congratulating themselves at not raising at 4p before the J/V announcement) before announcing the Anglo drill plan in Zambia... unless they were desperate... or completely incompetent (I suspect a combination of both) if that was not the case... they obviously have no idea of how markets work, combined with no internal financial planning... and they ran out of money.

I think Nick, who was after all, never in operations at Anglo but the investor relations manager, should have realised that he desperately needed a finance director who understood finances and capital markets, and instead what he got was Remy, an out and out promoter, but unfortunately never a financial manager let alone an FD.

As I said yesterday, to raise capital to take out the Swedes (who let's face it, now don't have many shares left) would have been fine, but they should have done that a month ago (all we got was radio silence from the BoD) yet to raise capital for other projects at these levels????? Madness.

The SP will recover at some point, but even if Anglo work their magic, this company will in future, I think, always trade at a substantial discount to its assets because the management have shown themselves to be overpaid value destroyers; out of control in their spending as they run their gravy train on other shareholders funds. Yesterday I said I would look to sell at 4p... I may have to reconsider because I don't see us getting anywhere near there in the short-term.

This placing will make those investors money, but it has plunged a knife into the company and confirmed the huge self interest and complete inadequacy of the BoD. This company is now solely about how the BoD can make as much money as possible.

Everyone has the right to disagree, but show me anyone who in Q4 last year, in their wildest nightmares, would have predicted that the ARC SP would be trading at these levels (and the Swedes are not solely responsible for this - after all Arc will soon have a quarter of their mkt cap in cash).

Had the BoD raised exactly what was required to buy the remaining shares held by the Swedes and then cancelled them, I would have been extremely impressed. They didn't.

But what now appears to have happened is that within 4 months of Anglo paying us the USD2.3 million, the BoD had run out of money... again (and I have subsequently heard there were unconfirmed rumours we were already not paying all our bills in Zambia)!!!

Outside funds to buy the Swedes out, we shouldn't have had to raise funds to invest in Botswana and other new projects at this ridiculous price; at the very least the BoD should have issued the drilling plan for Zambia and waited until drilling commenced.. they didn't, which tells you all you need to know about our cash position.

How much of this money will actually go to drilling in Botswana and other exploration sites? I would suggest well under half. For those of you who maintain this is good because the BoD buying shares aligns their interests with ours, I would say that that is disingenuous; they have made this company a gravy train for themselves, not other shareholders. They surrendered their share at 6p plus and are now investing heavily in a cap raise at 1.8p plus a free warrant. They've raped the company of money and diluted the rest of us to hell and back.

For me the balance between what Anglo might find and what our directors might spend while Anglo look for it, has changed. The SP tells you what the market thinks of our BoD; and if we get anywhere near 4p (I breakeven just above that), I'm selling out for good. GLA DYOR.

Hi Fulmar, it is the first I heard of it. I only visit the BB occasionally because of the level of negativity, and while I saw a lot of talk about the Swedish fund selling, I completely missed discussions about this article. If everyone knows about it, and it's rubbish, then that makes me very relieved. all the best. DYOR GLA

...what on earth is going on? Apologies I ran out of words space.

I've WhatsApp'd Nick von S asking what is going on and if he replies, I'll let everyone know.

Well I've stuck "Lärarförsäkringar arc minerals" into google and up came the website https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwim5Za9p-KEAxUN7LsIHY22C5wQFnoECBMQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sverigeslarare.se%2Fom-oss%2Fnyheter%2Fsveriges-larare-avyttrar-aktier-i-arc-minerals%2F&usg=AOvVaw1Gd2j2wNYsOKqPd--ep161&opi=89978449

This is the story from 30th January in Swedish.

Sveriges Lärare avyttrar aktier i Arc Minerals

Sveriges Lärare säljer av hela sitt aktieinnehav i Arc Minerals. Detta efter att det framkommit uppgifter om att bolagets verksamhet skulle kunna strida mot Sveriges Lärares kapitalplaceringspolicy.

Som en del i förvaltningen av Sveriges Lärares totala värdepapperskapital äger förbundet aktier i bolaget Arc Minerals. Investeringen har bedömts ligga i linje med Sveriges Lärares kapitalplaceringspolicy som anger att tillgångar ska placeras hållbart, etiskt och ansvarsfullt.

Uppgifter har nu framkommit som tyder på att det finns tveksamheter kring bolagets verksamhet och skattetekniska hemvist.

­– Sveriges Lärares aktieinnehav ska spegla förbundets värderingar som bygger på mänskliga rättigheter och demokrati. Bara misstanken om motsatsen får oss som fackförbund att agera, säger Sveriges Lärares ekonomichef Jonas Larsson.

Sveriges Lärare har med anledning av detta påbörjat processen att sälja av hela sitt aktieinnehav i Arc Minerals.

– Vi tar detta på största allvar och ser även över våra riktlinjer och vårt totala innehav för att säkerställa att det inte finns några tveksamheter kring våra placeringar, säger Jonas Larsson.

This is the translation on google translate:-

Sveriges Lärare divests shares in Arc Minerals

Sveriges Lärare sells off its entire shareholding in Arc Minerals. This was after information emerged that the company's operations could conflict with Sweden's Teachers' capital investment policy. part of the management of Sveriges Lärare's total securities capital, the association owns shares in the company Arc Minerals. The investment has been judged to be in line with Sweden's Teachers' capital investment policy, which states that assets must be invested sustainably, ethically and responsibly.

Information has now emerged which indicates that there are doubts about the company's operations and tax residency.

- Sweden's Teachers' shareholding must reflect the union's values, which are based on human rights and democracy. Only the suspicion of the opposite causes us as a trade union to act, says Sveriges Lärares' chief financial officer Jonas Larsson.

Because of this, Sweden's Teachers has begun the process of selling off its entire shareholding in Arc Minerals.

- We take this very seriously and also review our guidelines and our total holdings to ensure that there are no doubts about our investments, says Jonas Larsson.

Can anyone enlighten me as to where this is real or a fake, and what on earth is g

Donkey, Why don't you copy the link so we can all see this text for ourselves?

Jeremiah99 and Revoy,

I think that realistically, the upside for the company is as you say, 10-20x (but only once the asset has been fully proved up), but the upside for us shareholders is probably more like 60-70% of that, still a good return I grant you. Why the difference? Because with our cost base, and the self interest of the BoD (markedly different to the shareholders), I see two things happening; firstly serious dilution over the next two years from... in this order; 1. to pay the BoD's salaries, 2. dilution from issuing options (I anticipate them handing themselves lots more), 3. buying the 10% in Unicore held by Kapore and 4. the costs of drilling in Botswana. Secondly, if Anglo do indeed find a tier one deposit, we are unlikely to be bought out at company level if we have other assets; more likely they would buy the Zambian assets alone, but there is little guarantee that the bulk of those monies will actually be paid to us shareholders by our BoD, as opposed to reinvested in other projects. They seem primarily interested in their own future!

I'm still here because I believe in Anglo finding what's in the ground, but I'd be much happier just having exposure to the full upside of Zambia and not being diluted.

Thanks Caddy1; that's really helpful... and I totally agree with your sentiments. GLA.

The talk of a possible placing is extremely negative for everyone.

I'm very clear on how I would prefer this company to be run; whatever the merits of Botswana, I (like most people I think) am in this for Zambia. Without the excuse of Botswana, Arc would be a quasi holding company and the BoD would have no justification for taking such high salaries; the numbers on the BoD would be cut down in size, and the remaining directors should take salary cuts that allow our costs to sit inside the USD670,000 a year we get from Anglo. Then we just let Anglo work their magic without any further capital raisings. That's the company I'd like to see, one where we don't get diluted; a company that works primarily for the shareholders, not the BoD.

But I remain concerned that with no visibility on the monies still owed to the directors for surrendering their shares +6p, the still unknown costs of the JV transaction and our very high BoD salaries (for what they now do - all they run is a small drilling programme in Botswana), means the money from Anglo has already almost been spent, and we may face just such a raising - it certainly seems the market thinks this (it would have been very easy in the last investor call to say that we were financed through to H2...). And as to the thought of issuing shares at this level to buy out our JV partner in Unico makes one shudder with concern. Fulmar I know you say there will be no placing now, and you are very close to the company; but to fund our BoD and drilling in Botswana, at some point there will have to be one; it's just a question of when.

While I'd like to put the current SP primarily down to bad market sentiment for small caps, with six weeks to go until drilling starts, and waiting for news on the drill plan, the SP should be better than this. But I think there is a huge elephant in the room which really hurts sentiment about Arc, and that is that many investors do not trust the BoD's motivations. I certainly don't.

My nightmare scenario is that over the next six weeks the rumours that we are going to have a placing turn out to be true, the BoD do a discounted placing and only once the dilution has taken place, they then award themselves shed loads of shares post the dilution. If that's an unfair thought, I'd love to be wrong, I just wouldn't be surprised if I'm not.

One question I have; if this so-called Swedish fund which owns such a large block of Arc (I'm assuming it was over 3%) is selling down, why haven't we had any RNS's reporting this?

As you can see - I'm not a happy shareholder! GLA and DYOR.

Simonlee,

Far be it for men to defend Seisnav, who seems to enjoy criticising anyone who hasn't drunk the coolade, but his contribution and understanding about geophysics is way ahead of any of us, and something we would miss, but looking at his posts, the only point he made, for which you launched into, was that we have the ability to drill through the winter in Botswana when because of the rainy season we don't in Zambia. I don't think anyone would disagree with that... are you saying that is incorrect? No.

So I looked at your posts; you've done six very recent ones and before that nothing since April 2022. Wow, all you are is trying to be as offensive as possible.

Everyone has the right to be thrilled with the deal we have in Zambia, not least because Anglo are now running it.By the same token, everyone has the right to be completely distrustful of our BoD. But you aren't talking about either; you are simply being insulting without offering or question a single piece of evidence about the business or the management. You seem to be rather too like those people who send threatening messages on social media and feel empowered because they know no one will know who they are.

I don't have a problem with people who can't see anything but perfection in our company, but do so because they have different opinions about the business or how its run, to mine; I don't have a problem with people who are consistently negative, but do so because they have different opinions about the business or how its run, to mine. But I (and I suspect many others) object to people whose sole contribution is to be offensive whilst hiding behind their BB name. Whatever the cause for your underlying feeling of inadequacy, please stop shouting here and go and see a professional about it.

Re the suggestion that Arc directors should personally buy the stake being sold. I would be surprised if anyone on the BB thinks that the BoD doesn't already know Anglo's plans for drilling this year, which also means that the BoD are insiders and are not allowed to do that. They will almost certainly also have been shown the drilling results for Nov/Dec which are also not public.

I would make an additional point, that am one of many who have been clear on my negative views on the actions of this BoD. But having expressed my angst at how they found a mechanism to cash in ("surrendered") a significant chunk of their shares without having to go through the market, at somewhere north of 6p, I think I (and many others) would be even more annoyed if they found another off-market mechanism to buy a significant line of stock at a 60% discount to that price, so its better they don't - and anyway, I don't think (based on how they monetised their last share sale) that many shareholders trust our BoD enough to have an impact with such a purchase.

My money is still on AA talking Zambia up next week.

Yes they can if its in the JV agreement.

That many be Travelcard, but AA havent got much good news to talk about, so I can't see Wamblat wanting anyone else to talk about their exploration in Zambia before he gets a chance to talk about it first. Not least because he knows the square route of sweet f*ck all about diamonds, but he does know copper.