Member Info for extrader

Maybe. I left a voicemail with AT just now, to ask when he now expected ZIOC to be in a position to update the market, as promised.
Others may wish to do likewise.

I think Crusader has set out clearly the position.
No point getting bent up about it. Time will tell.

."If the pilot deals were put in place in 2018, wouldn't they only just be coming to an end this year, as per the three year IM deal model?..

As peakhope has subsequently revealed, it doesn't look as though these were 'fully complete' pilots , ie they weren't funded as described (Euro 550m) , so it's unlikely that they met the other specification, of a 3 year revolving life.

Otherwise AZ would have said so, a.k.a. 'the jury's still out'.

AIUI

.." I remember losing a packet when RBS and B and B .."

OTOH, I was able to pick up US$ 25 face RBS prefs paying 6.25% for abt $ 7 ie a yield of + 22%...and a humongous capital gain if I'd held until redemption...but I bottled it.

Bradfor and Bingley 13.75% prefs did something similar, only more so.

Every now and then , the markets throw up a serious misprice...and that's the time to back up the truck.

Most of the time , we PI's just dance around the edges.

IMO

Hi earache,

Pharmas will surely want to use CHIMs wherever possible since they offer a quicker and more accurate way of sorting the wheat from the chaff; establishing optimal doses, etc.

They'll still want to do the field tests on the 'wheat' strains, to cover the permutations (age, health, pre-existing conditions, contra-indications, etc) that a 20-40 cohort of CHIM volunteers can't.

BiondVax fell at the final hurdle , having got to Ph 3, it would be interesting to know what the stumbling block was .....and why it (whatever it was) wasn't picked up earlier.

IF CHIMs might have made a difference, that alone would justify widespread adoption, quite apart from all the other benefits mentioned.

IMO

.."Extrader, the pilots were successful.."

So why did neither company repeat the exercise ? And why does AZ not mention them, except in the abstract? Or maybe the funders weren't happy for some reason - yet they appear to have stumped up the greater part of Euro 550m.

These pilots were 2017 and 2018, IIRC, time enough to iron out any wrinkles, one would have thought.

'Have the necessary lessons been learned ? it's a moot point.

IMO

'proof ' definition : evidence or argument establishing a fact or the truth of a statement.

AFAIAA, AZ has never shared any evidence of the successful outcomes of these 2 projects. We have some limited third-party evidence of a collaboration in the wine sector.

Another usual test of a successful experiment is that it is repeatable...and - if of a commercial nature - is repeated.

By that yardstick , TF has established proof of concept, SYME hasn't yet. That's why the first IM is so important.

HTH

Hi dpmuk,

You may well be right. But they've had 7 months for the re-costing and - as has been posted earlier - (a) that should be plenty of time (b) if you do need to extend delivery, you build in enough wiggle room, to make sure you don't look incompetent.
That's assuming (a) you learn from experience and/or (b) you're half-way competent.

Cue : " Say it ain't so, Joe......"

;->

.."RoC doesn't even have a signed in government, who would need to be in on the process..."

Fair point - but would YOU have shared anything with C-B in the run-up to and pending the outcome of an election ?

(a) someone would have made (political) capital out of it; and (b) if the result had been contested / bloody , a deal then wouldn't have been a 'good look' , even by the standards of a thick-skinned 'old school' miner, much less those of the 'new' man.

IMO

Have to say, I've no idea what to make of this situation !

I feel at least partially responsible for starting this particular hare running, by noting a couple of weeks back the timing of GLEN's end-of-month corporate commitments and ZIOC's overdue update release.......if so, my apologies : I should have remembered " correlation is NOT causation"....

That said, the only/major arguments for an outcome closer to (1) than (2) I can think of are that (2) could be decided/announced at any other time , as a barely noticed footnote for GLEN (not to ZIOC shareholders, obviously !), while (1) provides an ideal platform to re-brand GLEN as a new refocussed, environmentally-friendly, shareholder return-driven company.

So I'm still hoping for something closer to (1)

I'd also think that (1) would be more in keeping with the impression I have of Elphick as a 'smooth operator'.

If I've completely misjudged that, there is of course a (3) alternative : that ZIOC BoD is completely tin-eared and we'll get a 'can-kicking' RNS some time after the (convenient ) Bank Holiday weekend...

I guess we'll all be wiser - one way or the other - soon enough !

GLA

With hindsight, ZIOC/Xstrata called the previous cycle high at the IPO (2011) , drawing in one load of investors, now seems the perfect time to repeat the process...;->

Hi G_G_G,

I was lucky to find myself often in interesting places at interesting times - though much more as a 'spectator' than as a player.

The other fascinating technical bit about the LNG tanks was how they put the domed roof on : it was constructed INSIDE the 15m diameter cylinder as a snug fit; the dome, which weighed about 20 tons, was then 'floated' up to stops at the top of the tank by AIR PRESSURE; spot-welded to the stops; then - after the tank was de-pressurised - it was properly sealed /welded from inside.
The dome was then covered with a 'skim' (more like a layer ) of concrete, like icing on a cake .
In the summer months, the concrete was mixed with ice cubes so that it would take longer to cure. The trick, apparently, was to get the mix uniformly - and quickly - over the entire (sloping) surface, avoiding 'runniness' on the one hand and 'lumpiness' on the other.

I'm impressed by the skill of a good , conventional plasterer, so you can imagine this was mind-boggling.

I believe these 'plasterers' were also pretty well paid. Rather like oilfield firefighters : a super-specialism , where money is very much a secondary concern.

As it should be.

;->

.."there is not much if anything as yet on the ground for the Islamists to disrupt..."

And even when complete, a coal-powered complex is nowhere near as 'exciting' as LNG.

https://www.oilandgasmiddleeast.com/article-14593-top-ten-oil-and-gas-disasters/

I was involved in financing some of the storage tanks in Qatar in the 80's. The novelty for me was that the major technical concern lay in avoiding the permafrost reaching down to the aquifers...... and causing 'heave', which might crack the storage units.

At -160 deg C, the liquid form is 1/600th the volume of the gas....and highly flammable....so you get, literally 'a lot of bang for your buck'.

There was an escape/explosion back in the 60's, I was told, at Umm Said - and the town basically disappeared off the map.

" Boring is good "

Meanwhile, Total declares force majeure on its up-country LNG project (alongside Esso) because of Islamic insurgency, saying a one - year stop on project seems likely.

This won't help Moz's economic ....or people.

:_<

Hi Caterham7,

Could be, but it would surely be a better 'look' for China to scale back on its currently aggressive expansion of domestic coal power (where there are 'cleaner' alternatives) than in benighted Africa, where there are fewer alternatives....and greater need.

Assuming 'Black lives matter' is used in the true meaning of the words !

But logic and objective reality doesn't always trump perception and politics ;-<

Sometimes a policy change or news snippet is released at the time of the AGM - I've known even beforehand via RNS , where ' the Chairman will say later today...' or in the Q and A after. Not sure how that would work in a behemoth like GLEN and in a likely webcast-dominated environment.

I listened to the preAGM webcast. Only accredited GLEN shareholders have been allowed to put questions in advance for consideration at the AGM....and I don't know whether there's provision for 'impromptu' questions on the day.

From smaller co AGMs' I've been to there are occasionally 'planted ' (I assume) questions that allow management to 'float a balloon' and comment generically on something they have in mind...and / or send a signal to the market.

And if you can actually meet the Board after the AGM, you can occasionally get clarification in a couple of minutes on things that have been discussed inconclusively for months on the bulletin boards.

In GLEN's case , something like - 'our company says it is keen to manage its overall debt levels....and at the same time has a number of currently unproductive investments on its books : what plans does the Board have to enable shareholders to derive benefit from these idle assets ?'
could be answered in a way that let people know , for instance, that Zanaga and other assets were 'up for sale' without having to formally declare it as policy (which might suggest a 'motivated' seller and affect realisable value).

IMO
PS If there ARE and GLEN shareholders out there, now's your chance !

Wierd, more like.

If you actually read it , the third snap is of an article calling Draghi a tool, not so much of the Rothschilds as of the conspiracy theorists favourite Bilderberg Group ....and as such a betrayer of the Italian state and people.

Draghi will have his work cut out 'managing' Italy, where the most organised administration seems to be that of the Mafia

https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-mafia-coronavirus-vaccination-mob-infiltrated/

.."a loose interpretation of Health Ministry guidelines permitted Italy’s 20 regions, which are in charge of health care, to allocate jabs to well-connected individuals and groups such as politicians, lawyers, judges and journalists. Three southern regions — Sicily, Calabria and Campania — have given out as many or more of these priority doses as they have to people aged over 80...

At the end of January, seven out of 10 vaccines had gone to under-60-year-olds. And by March 31, Italy was well behind the EU objective of 80 percent of over 80-year-olds having received at least a single dose.

Even now, more under-60 year-olds have been vaccinated than over-80s, according to official figures..."

and the just negotiated EU recovery plan, with Italy as the largest beneficiary, continues the trend :

.."Forty percent of funds will be allocated to the poorer south..."

SuperMario will have his work cut out.
IMO

Hi earache,

All above my paygrade I'm afraid. I'll just wait and see what turns up.

Didn't understand this bit in particular, though :

.." If we and CF / ORPH are allotted our in specie one-for-one prior to any reverse split then a 1:12 split of the >1bn IPO headroom would take us over 50% and retain control. .."

I thought we were spinning this out and would lose control. That was kinda the point, surely (at least from the pov of the people buying in and funding the spin-off to a hopefully successful outcome) ?

Of course, some 'alternative currencies' are worth more than others.

From the people who should know, at The Economist , also today :

.."Football fans are used to moments of magic from Lionel Messi. Earlier this month the Argentine forward produced yet another clinical finish—this time off the pitch. On April 13th Mr Messi helped to score 50,000 vaccines for Conmebol, the South American football confederation, after sending three signed shirts to Sinovac, a Chinese pharmaceutical company.

Conmebol says its goal is to jab all professional players ahead of the Copa América tournament this summer. "

Result !

PS GLEN shares are also acceptable currency in certain quarters.

The latest 'depeches de brazzaville' shares this :

.."CHANGE
New coin shortage in Brazzaville
Amusement arcades, run by Chinese groups, are regularly accused of being behind the shortage. The public authorities are struggling to take measures to protect Congolese households against the risks of scarcity of coins.
Asian promoters are exporting coins of 50 and 100 CFA francs in large quantity, according to the investigators, for the manufacture of jewelry abroad. "

Sounds a bit trivial, but I could imagine a lot of locals being ticked off /inconvenienced by this : not very 'hearts and minds' by the Chinese....

I remember travelling around Italy pre-Euro and getting change in sweets and stamps, all a bit of a joke, but didn't /doesn't inspire much confidence in Govt, either.