Member Info for EricDraven

Thanks Andy. Here it is, translated via Google:

“The CEO of Jokkmok Iron quits – after just one year

UPDATED TODAY 10:54 PUBLISHED TODAY 10:45

Ulla Sandborg leaves as CEO of Jokkmokk Iron - who worked on the mining plans in Gállok/Kallak.

- I would have liked to have stayed if there had been the conditions, she says to the industry magazine Metal Supply.

She was appointed CEO of Beowulf Mining's subsidiary Jokkmokk Iron Mines in June last year. But after just over a year in the post, she is now quitting at her own request.

According to what she tells both Metal Supply and Dagens Nyheter, she does not believe that there are conditions for her to continue working at the post office. Exactly what she is referring to, she does not want to go into more detail.

- I cannot go into the conditions. Partly it is a listed company, partly there are other reasons, but unfortunately I have to stop there, she says to Dagens Nyheter.

Pushed forward plans

Beowulf Mining received permission from the government to begin a mining concession last year. However, the work has dragged on. According to the original plan, the company was to come up with an environmental permit application at the end of the year - but this summer they announced that they are holding off on that.

The mining plans, if they become reality, are expected to be a heavy blow to the Sami villages in the area. But for the mining company there are also problems with the future transport of the ore from Jokkmokk. Ulla Sandborgh has previously criticized the government for not fulfilling its promises to equip the inland railway - which would be required for transport.

Several have stopped

The company's board chairman Johan Röstin does not want to answer questions about why she quits.

- As for why Ulla quits, we do not comment on that. We have started the recruitment process to find a suitable replacement, he tells Metal Supply.

According to him, the work continues as planned.

- We are working on it as planned and when it comes to the permit part, we are working on it and there is no change there, he tells the newspaper.

Sandborgh is not the first to leave the mining company this year. As recently as April, the CEO Kurt Budge quit and last year the chairman of the board Sven-Otto Littorin left.”

Hi Maddog. According to our RNS news and in return for our cash invested, we have a controlling interest in Vardar, so it would be difficult for those two Directors to simply fold the Company. We’d also have to agree to it. Profit is right, the website is not current, registered in 2017, but no regular updates. It isn’t fit for purpose. A concern is that yes, it had many areas of exploration, and it’s not known by our shareholders just how the increase in percentages each time we invested, were decided upon. How was this gauged, and what have we actually accomplished for our hefty investment over time?

Here’s a link to the website:

https://vardarminerals.com/

Hi Roller. I tried to reply to you a few times yesterday but LSE kept crashing and reloading this page, only to lose my post each time. It’s a strange situation we appear to suddenly be in, Kurt and now Ulla both leaving, with Ulla brought in to advance at pace our progress at Kallak. Now we know that hasn’t happened, relative to the published plans for this year. My take on Kurt is that if he’d have been found to be wholly incompetent, evidence to that effect, and it could not be argued, then surely there wouldn’t have been a ‘Compromise Agreement’, he would have simply been dismissed on certain grounds.

I don’t know for sure, but yes, he has been rewarded with even more options at the 2.06p, and his wages fully paid up until the end of his contract in December, if I’m correct, but allowed to be released at the end of this month. So it all seems to favour him. That doesn’t sound like someone who was fired with a reason that could not be argued either way. As you know, I’ve always felt Kurt a very decent guy, he is, and we don’t really know why he left suddenly, so it’s difficult to make a judgement on that. It may have been for health reasons, for example, and/or to spend more time with his family instead of globetrotting.

What we can see, is the sp demise during the last year of his job for us, with nothing to stem that fall. And some badly timed and woeful fundraising, then incurring a very large penalty for failing to pay the loan back in time. It’s unfortunate though, that his plans for this year are not now going to be achieved via work on the ground at Kal and so on, and the news situation since his leaving has been completely dire, secrecy only, hence an even further fall in sp, now some way off the 2.06p negotiated funding price.

The whole thing is tragic, especially, as you say, we haven’t been told anything by Röstin, no reasons for the review given, even why it will take six months on what is a small business really, with very few employees.

So I guess we just sit tight and continue to wait for news. As sour as the whole experience is.

Cheers Roller.

Roller, I suppose we at least have had a shake-up. Kurt and now Ulla departing. No other news though is terribly frustrating, and of course will affect the sp, while we still also have the Sami appeal current against the Government. On the bright side, there should be around four months maximum left of the six month review. At least the oral hearings on the Sami appeal are now less than a month away, so it will be great to get that behind us, barring any further nonsense in supposed due process.

Sit tight if we can I guess.

Problems with LSE. Not sure why I have a duplicated post. Apologies.

Thanks Prof. No, I’ve not broken it down, but we’ve seen massive amounts at a time pass before our very eyes and into Vardar. Hardly anything into Grafintec, albeit they have grant funding. Only a slow tick along with that though. The increase in asset value on the Vardar accounts sheet roughly coincides with the cash injection we gave it for that period.

I see more shareholders have had enough today and unfortunately sold at terrible prices. This situation with the sp needs to be addressed sharpish by Ed.

Thanks Prof. No, I’ve not broken it down, but we’ve seen massive amounts at a time pass before our very eyes and into Vardar. Hardly anything into Grafintec, albeit they have grant funding. Only a slow tick along with that though. The increase in asset value on the Vardar accounts sheet roughly coincides with the cash injection we gave it for that period.

I see more shareholders have had enough today and unfortunately sold at terrible prices. This situation with the sp needs to be addressed sharpish by Ed.

What is noticeable, the average number of employees is stated with a dash (-) symbol. Lol.

Prof. Seems to work in PDF. Latest accounts from Companies House. Is this the one you mean?

Https://s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/document-api-images-live.ch.gov.uk/docs/9h6eq15pb1nCHVSS4UGcvaBLfn8tiU1eb3hppRcH1hs/application-pdf?X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Credential=ASIAWRGBDBV3IOL3JCOA%2F20230822%2Feu-west-2%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Date=20230822T220637Z&X-Amz-Expires=60&X-Amz-Security-Token=IQoJb3JpZ2luX2VjED0aCWV1LXdlc3QtMiJHMEUCIG%2FEAFQMmkJAtDcypB%2BEB4QjoPAH2VZUOzyPomQNtz%2FzAiEA6LfIwnuJaCN0BOBU187U4t9WupaggCu6c3qdBa39afoqxAUI9v%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2F%2FARAEGgw0NDkyMjkwMzI4MjIiDL3SYTUdrVMxRA5m9CqYBSGpQfuD6oXq%2FA%2FcHGzqYDrf6aEUTbqWaXPCITRpirzUNbkT7DVRe7p8V0pC0oqOC9Tr4BVFK4t8rsEsr8EWqu9NVGyCiO6kQ1u7c7DSxlYTEr6tG2PE2TILBHMD7dAnaTXEEWgG6hv2IqUVpRv%2FkixCss6LUgRBc4kMr2UTb38ZdbfWTrKu8QEvN6X5zom9yfcTcVPA73wiARFPucQa%2Bum4wRP5hGFx8TeBOCK1s11LKLlSM%2F%2B9PzFvCY1WmZ6JFcq6dS7f9OA%2Fc9ZhDE91fd5UW1pEWE8%2BS9YgHzl5QraYcuypWPkYsO1NVG3LAGc1TwxdwERR058ksS8XK5MQHy9x%2Fb0hQbcdaXUbJeyr8xKaonZKzHhcZzmWnSRUokjCbO40DlskuLHx6gQWSoT9MFHY7%2Be%2FZzqmXCKeuaQk52E5l1vUb7Kn1%2Fg%2FEw0FHUusL3VjohccG31B0kOTCoimt0hTppmCOOHiqPtblfkZI8LgvbVHpPK0zhgJE7kx07b0gfRH0%2B3q2cEoa%2FvMq686gREKJ5LgVyEyyBASNUsrzcSkWU4o1Bjk%2FkuIz%2F%2BFEnEQtpRpHffEiMHgc6IpBFphbcgpKmHS9%2FeRDwXbfu5jDeMrP2N5ABV%2FoIYWP2lEJGqmoLRJMLLoK8XJyIvL92nzq7QCKA57kip9CWSCpNoP4uONsOzQKDSJIAd5Q4hIS4ytJs4mdffIk3WMcmcdvGEHfw6hWAv0cFxkdPCtbGn4ptXCeygPwIU7mO2DWuV808dbghxpv9aam%2F%2FK0NCy1opQjqktUk%2Fk2bpY1uVEPovAU1kznUH8AEqaUyXFmr%2F68TmdONZaj8dC5vQ1EjwvBtOcf%2B%2B95ZSNeDdB3Vp41DM1M6Ih0t22nKHJGqswl8CUpwY6sQFhsc3W%2FhyPmYrhR9t9aUgen%2BVqFXLwQz84CDQncVId5DohEGXlu%2FsZAikXCWH0i%2FzGv%2BxbZQ%2BUi1zZZvAE9lRFDeOIAnjDFyP3Ukjku5tx2eR%2Fi13MxOWoF1sfrR2xhbafFtkl4V83Z7A5TCKrT7e9pHO3gjxQ9HCHrpmEwDReKe8KdMV8YQJxBRhWWvAECgOy2R5cDP18%2FMrwoGUYMjjRoySIOV5NSg9Fmte7YaSnkAA%3D&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&response-content-disposition=inline%3Bfilename%3D%2210474687_aa_2023-08-08.pdf%22&X-Amz-Signature=cd052da797f3f4794136018081ff09ecfc8372eaf206632c16b5fc018b6aa89b

Pocko, Grafintec is the only project where work seems to be currently continuing, so it looks a better prospect than the other two projects on the face of it.

I don’t care what occurs now, as long as some real value can be restored.

Possibly one of the most testing investments we’ve ever had.

Morning Rick. Yes, looking at the increase in the value of Vardar assets on CH, it coincides with our cash injection into that Company. Presuming the assets include any monies.

Hopefully we shall know before too long the fate of Vardar and whether we will come out of it relatively unscathed, depending on the plan.

Pocko, yes you have been vocal about Vardar and we’ve talked about the dangers for shareholders of investing in a private company re the accountability issues. If you remember we wanted to see it listed, but of course this may still happen if we have the controlling interest, which we do.

So I guess and would trust really that Ed is looking into this, with a proper investigation of all matters, and the likely value as the project stands.

I’m not pleased with it, or should I say, the Vardar investment has always made me feel uneasy.

Lb, as was highlighted in that 12 January RNS re the £250k further investment in Vardar, the cash wasn’t even to cover the costs of the Spring drill, it was only to prepare them for the drill. Something which is quite dubious, in my opinion. So it sounded to me as if we’d then need to stump up further for the drilling rig/team/work as well. Which of course we haven’t done. So no Spring drill undertaken.

Kurt’s comments relative to that point, taken from said RNS:

"The next phase of work will build on last year's results and this investment is funding preparations for drilling, with holes designed to test the best portions of each of the exploration targets, and cost-effective mapping and sampling programmes which will continue across our new licences, which have already identified several base metal anomalies.“

It will be interesting, if he discloses anything.

Here it is. Nobody has commented yet though. Well spotted Hasty.

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:7099313066181283840

Good that Hasty, cheers. Be better if they could have said specifically when they actually visited, but pleasing that Ed has gone, because it’s something we should expect of a new CEO anyway.

I agree, pity you had to search for the info.

…..its main cash cow….

Sounds about right. At least Grafintec seems to have a solution, insofar as importing product for processing in the meantime, although still strange perhaps that we have yet to apply for a licence to exploit and develop the asset further. Early stages still then, obviously no plant commissioned yet, but the next news from Rasmus could give us more of an indication of exactly where we are up to and what he expects to accomplish in the near to mid-term.

I feel he’s provided the most useful information of late via RNS, and appears to be at least working on that project to advance it, after many years of slow progress.

Vardar has given me nightmares. We’ve been it’s main cash cow with money that could have been allocated to develop our proven assets.

Oh well.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens re Vardar. Difficult to justify that amount of cash allocated for use of ‘state-of-the-art’ technology and yet still nothing commercially viable has yet been found. For all of the money invested, it doesn’t seem to me as if that much work on the ground has actually been undertaken.

Only my view though.