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Eloro, it's not just Scott and co. Mather's team before and Darryl were all taking about looking at deals on the regionals. It's been going on now for 2 years and they've drilled closed to zero, farmed out zero and by looks of things it's cost $10m just to hold the licences. At a time when licence blocks in Ecuador are rare as hen-teeth... our current SOLG BoD's seem to struggle to get even the simpliest or most junior of deals done. The market would go bonkers if we signed an earn-in agreement with Barrick or Rio to drill some of our high value concessions. Ecuador gov would be chuffed too.

Perhaps that's all lined up for when the new President gets his feet or her feet under the table in 11 days time?

Scott can have my vote at the AGM but ONLY once he's given me a very clear idea of what I am voting him in for another 12months for? They need to deliver the outcome of the Strategic review before the AGM. If they don't... then I'm not voting for them. I want that outcome. I want to see them deliver what they promised. Is that too much to ask?

Allied Nevada Gold Corp filed for bankruptcy after Scott left. Not sure that's a great example. I think all his CV shows is that he's been good buddies with Bob and Maxit et al.

And thus no surprise to see them stick him into the CEO role. But sorry... I haven't seen anything from Scott that makes me think he knows what he is doing at all. If he did know what he was doing, the PFS update would be out this quarter and not planned for a quarter after the AGM and even that is unlikely to happen IMHO.

Who is going to deliver that if SC is voted out, just asking the impatient ones?

Same question could be posed when Mather got the boot. Same question could be posed when Darryl got the boot.

CEO's come and go, they try their best and some deliver and some fail. The important thing is not to hold onto failing management. Always best to boot them and get new proven CV led management. Lets face it... Scott is not proven CEO material is he? He's done what exactly? Darryl was more experienced. But only reason he got the boot was because the CGP boys wanted free reign. That's crux of it.

Scott's not delivered a coherent plan and it's severly hammered the share price. Shareholders have been treated like mushrooms. The new website is terrible. Strewn with errors and weak.

Scott is the type of person that should be running a £10m small cap miner. Not a £600m miner with a tier1 asset. And that's not a dig directly at Scott as plenty of sharp CEO's running smaller caps. But he's a mine finder type of bloke. Not a Tier1 mining planner. That was Darryl.

But lets get real here... it's ultimately about Bob, Mather, Maxit running the show. There's not much room for an outsider with great ideas to turn this company around.

And to be honest... is the opportunity even there if the game plan is to sell out.

It's a shame that they did not spin out the exploration business as I reckon we'd have exploration underway now, fully funded and some exciting drills coming in. Meanwhile the remaining ENSA asset would be progressing but likely worth more than our current market cap and the exploration spin off probably worth $150m or more assuming some decent drill results. The irony is, the spun out exploration company could or might even be worth more than ENSA if successful with the dill bit as the market likes to mark up the froth on excitement rather than banked resources... well it did a while ago!

You have to factor in the extra 15% ENSA though surely as that's one of the reasons for the dilution albeit 800m shares since 2.2bln days.

35p is just a shade over the nice fat round sounding £1bln market cap. In dollars, it's about $1.3bln.

Prior to CGP deal, our most recent highs of 41p would have been worth about £900m ish.

Yes there's an extra 15% ENSA in there since CGP merged but effectively anything near 36p level would be aligned to the old 41p give or take a few pence and factoring in royalties done since.

That's very cheap considering it's probably the largest copper/gold mine discovered in last 10 years. If Copper prices increase by 50% or double by 2025/26 as predicted, then whoever bags ENSA is going to be seriously one happy bunny. Personally... I can't see BHP letting it go to chinese for 36p without at least one counter bid in the high 40's.

Thanks DM, and agree on the observation of 35p. I always thought of the options at 17p as being half priced. I think they'll go for 35p/36p level low ball (prob with Chinese) and then we'll see if BHP counter or another comes out of the wood work.

For most 35p/36p would be a poor result but sitting at 10p levels today, there's going to be many that say... I'll take that right now and thus that's the 'conditioning' job done really isn't it??

I wonder if the 100m CGP shares get placed to all the insiders like Mather et al at 17p levels next year and thus makes any offer at 35p/36p far more acceptable lol!

Lets see what happens.

Thanks DM. What happens if he gets sacked or booted? Just thinking of the most obvious immediate date being the AGM. I presume all options are lost.

Addicknt, CEO's tend to be aware of the share price when major shareholders or fund managers get in touch and say 'wot the xxck is going on'. Remember, we have some heavy weight investors but imagine BHP are preoccupied with OZ Minerals alignment after multi billion purchase and Newmont... well they are a tad busy with Newcrest deal. I doubt either will be too bothered until of course Scott announces a deal they don't like or are not involved with or another royalty deal.

Despite all Bob's postering, he's not actually delivered anything that would make BHP react or force them into a bid.

Also worth noting that smaller pi's that invest in miners tend to invest in other miners too. So you might have had a few forced sellers due to liquidity issues after HZM's sp collapse and a few other miners out there. GGP also fading and we know there's quite a few that have SOLG and GGP in folio. So that's going to hurt and force more to sell.

Race to the bottom as they say until the market decides it's time for it's xmas bonus run lol!

There doesn't appear to be much float either as main holders (large holders) have around 45% ish or higher between them and are not selling at all (based on lack of TR1 updates). So assumption would be that out of the remaining 55%, you'd thinbk half of those would be tucked away as well. But that's a guess. If true it would leave around 25% to 30% shares to buy or sell. On that basis, that's still close to 900m ish which is more than enough for liquidity but lets get real here... the big boys are not selling, volume is fairly low considering the sp level and order book looks light so if a big buyer wanted a few million, then they couldn't get them at this price.. they would likely have to pay 13p to 14p to acquire 4m or 5m of the shares out there. Unless the MM finds a matched seller for them.

I'm still surprised that the Chinese have not stepped in and bought up a few shares but guess this level suits them right now especially if Scott had them ear-marked for the 100m share placing in q1 next year. Or ... big buyers are lacking as they want elections out of the way... and like rest of us... want to know whether the Tailings/Dam site investigations are complete and all good.

There's lots going on and loads that needs factoring in but like you say... the sp is no real point of refernece when value story comes into it as proven by a 10p share price today followed by a 45p share price months later.

Scott and Bob have to deliver a solid reason or bunch of reasons why the market should value SOLG higher. Simple as that.

The Chinese build mines. The Chinese build roads, dams, bridges, pipelines etc etc etc. They've been doing it in Ecuador for the last 20 years+

It's just semantics... SOLG will not be 'building' a mine. Nor will they be risky the equity (shareholders) in funding or building a mine. Scot has said... we are not mine builders, we are mine finders. That's all you need to know.

Somewhere in the middle is an opportunity to do a JV which uses either BHP's mine building skills or the Chinese etc etc and somewhere in a JV like that emerges 'risk' and 'capital'. These ultimately decide whether SOLG ends up with a minority interest which is given a free ride to production or some kind of deal.

Or... like most think... we just flog it to someone that 'wants' to build it and is happy with the risk at a price that pleases all involved.

Peace of cake isn't it?

Mining industry has always been built on the game of the big boys squeezing the little guys. Little guys do all the work... end up with a huge resource which big guys like. Little guys can't fund it without the big boys pockets... and there lies the eternal problem... the big guys usually get what they want simply because they are the only ones that can fund it. Of course... recently the chinese have been challenging that shoe-in scenario for teh super majors by offering alternatives. And more recently we hear about the Saudi's or UAE being interested in copper mines ahead of the huge copper shortage looming ... and why wouldn't they.

So whether just market woes or manipulation (so we hear) it's ultimately a squeeze on equity raises going forward when share prices are trashed. The idea of raising another $50m+ for 12 months ops and throw in the required $25m down payment for Ecuador gov is hard to envisage with sp at 10p.

Like I said a while ago, it's actually in the interests of BHP and other interested parties to agree any equity finance at a much higher price? Why? Well.. it means they get a slice at 18p+ rather than getting zero and the likes of Osisko getting another royalty bite.

I don't think we'll see any funding rounds kick off until after the AGM imho. I also think there's a chance that the chinese or BHP might well be in discussions with Newmont over their intentions for the 10% stake. Ironically, with the price at 10p, that's another reason why it's highly likely now that Newmont will retain the interest. They won't sell out at 10p when they know a corporate event could see them gain 3 or 4 times that. And that's assuming they want to exit.

At end of the day... Ecuador elections due in under 11 days. Newmont/Newcrest merger expected to complete this Q4 too. Further key Ecuador red tape expected to be signed before year end.

So loads of potentially linked events to unfold over next 11 weeks not to mention the AGM. And Scott is going to need the sp much higher than 10p levels if he expects to survive that.

FWIIW... I think we might hear from Scott on potential partner or sale deal on ENSA before the AGM pending more due diligence which to be honest is probably nothing more than the status quo now but the market will like that sound bite for sure.

When this moves back to 15p some will scratch their heads why it was at 10p in first place. But that's markets for you. It's casino time these days... 20% daily swings almost the norm. Market caps dropping by £200m a current event... for no reason at all.

Developing a mine of this size is for deep pockets and not minnows like SOLG. The BoD's have firmly communicated this. They are mine finders not mine builders.

The cash pile of $32m left.... why don't they take $2m of that and buy some shares back lol! That would have the mm's running.

Might be more worthy than spending it on tea and biscuits or Banana trees for the locals.

Should add that didn't anyone else notice that the sp moved down on some smaller AT trades yet when a sizable 100k went through clearly on the offer, the sp didn't move. It's like buys were just being dismissed and this was on a mission to test 10p no matter what the book was doing.

'we need to flush out a bidder' indeed DBW and sitting at 10p will certainly have a few licking their lips but doubt they'll chance it until post elections.

Even a cheeky PE firm could lob a low ball in at these levels and see what that brings out of the cupboard.

Darren,

It's not just SOLG... wider market has been getting spanked of late as inflation remains sticky. In the old days, the flight to safety would be gold but now the spivs prefer to take safety in crypto which basically has no source what-so-ever and is a market invention.

Traders should be all over SOLG today and tomorrow as the RSI is lowest it's been for 10 years. Very rarely does the RSI head down to these lows without a bounce. Whether that offers any restbite is entirely down to the market as a whole bit also Scott and co. But it will bounce. I'm lucky that I can add stock at these levels... not everyone can and that's the rough justice here. But I reckon when Scott tucked away those 17p options he was laughing... so he and others clearly thought they were great value ... easily 'half price' at the very least ... so 10p looks a blip and over leveraged players can drive the sp to these levels when forced sellers.

I buyer will not value SOLG on the PFS. The buyer values the asset on resources. The buyer has the opportunity to mine it all if they have the capex etc. Whether you spend $3bln on capex over a 5 year period from word go or whether you fund $1bln over 2 years and then rinse and repeat process on phase 2 and then phase 3 to reach that $3bln capex all depends on who's doing it. If you look at Mirador... that's the chinese model. They mine in smaller stages. It derisks and they make their cash as they go rather than plough it all in and take 4 years+ before they see a return. There's many ways to skin a cat as they say but it's still the same cat. The cat costs what someone wants to pay for it. As for market valuations... the market can't even value things very well at all these days so lets not expect it to value SOLG properly. Leave that to a buyer or auction process.

It's dire times in the markets... not many bright lights in mining sector. So probably worst time ever to try and sell a tier1 asset but then surely that's the best time to buy if you are someone like BHP or chinese?

We've been at 10p a few times and the bounce back to 40's has happenend many times over. If it happened again, it's not going t be a surprise to many. But dreams of £1+ likely only possible in a copper / gold bull market and that's 2 years away... and that's too long for SOLG for sure and Ecuadorians.

Scott is toast. No way back from this... or is there Scott? If zero happens prior to AGM he's gone. If he delivers something that might excite investors and make many hold for another 3 to 6 months... then he stays. That's fair. He has to deserve the vote and along with that deserve those options. Simple as that.

The short is neglible as only accounts for 15mln shares or even 11m shares as it was taken out before the share dilution post CGP merger.

It's nothing really but timing of it seemed to fit with last placing which saw Chinese and Maxit taking a wedge. Chinese have taken over 6% now so a 0.5% hedge by them is minor and to be expected ahead of the CGP merger deal as latter may have broken down at some point. The fact that the short remained in place could be 2 things... 1. It hasn't been updated. 2. The arbitrage trade still valid for whatever reason. And yes... some international entities can be very slow to announce short positional changes tut tut... remember Premier oil had a 20% short opened on them and it wasn't notified! That was a shocker. For all we know - that 15m of shares short may well have been closed yonks ago.

Makes you wonder why Bob et al are not mopping up loads of stock at 10p today doesn't it?? So based on volume we have mostly pi action going on and the larger ii's are doing nothing. Chinese are doing nothing. Bo and co are doing nothing. You'd think they would all be piling into the stock at 10p... but like I said.. perhaps some of them know they are getting a chunk of those 100m CGP shares in the very near future cough cough.