Member Info for Fortissimo

"A total admission Scott’s tenure has been disastrous"

Yes Orpherncopper, while a few of us have been saying this for sometime, others we're seemingly blind. But I should add, it's not really Scott's failures as I firmly believe he was just Bob's puppet and boots on the ground.

The question is... will Dan follow suit?? My guess is no and this signals a 'slipping' of control by Bob which was inevitable after his failures.

Dan's has a reputation to maintain post glencore etc. I think he's a good replacement. But I would be very surprised to see him take up residence in Ecuador. I think the reality is now that G-mining are the boots on the ground. These guys are effectively ecuador/canadian team and have been working on mining projects in Ecuador for years now. So here we are, following the Lundin /chinese model by the looks of things. Mather looks ready to roll over but only if he gets a major slice of the next Alpala.... eg the regionals.

So as predicted, the path forwards has now been set. I'll be a s bold to say that the new management team of the new company to be listed will have Mather at the top and some old faces return like Moller et al as the Mather gang regroup and 'go-again'.

What a shame it had to happen 3 years late. This could have been sorted 1 yar ago. Or 2 years ago.. or even at point of merger.

But hey ho... some of these oldies or has beens like Bob sometimes need to swing the bat a few times before they realise they don't have the power to hit it past first base anymore.

A new SOLG is emerging from the ashes left by the CGP boys. A total disaster by Bob, Scott and co.

And yes... DGR reverse takeover or merger would be the obvious answer to the ASX listing althoiugh a clean slate will be required and a name change for sure.

And still no chairman.

Someone like Norges will be calling an EGM soon along with other larger holders if we do not see a chairman sorted. It's a 'shareholder's' RIGHT to have a chairman and we are being denied that by Scott and Bob. The question is WHY??? They clearly don't want the extra layer of governance and that makes you wonder why??

There's no excuse at all.

Also, why haven't directors been buying shares??

Where are the regular monthly updates??

Why isn't the CEO of SOLG presenting at PDAC?? Is he about to be thrown to the wolves as the scapegoat for Bob's failures?

Mathersfinger, I certainly hope they hit any rich veins... that's last thing we need. We need the poor quality stuff.

I don't think it's ever straight forward with mother nature, but they did have a pretty good idea of mapping/surveys for the key targets shortlisted, so one would assume they confirm one of those with ease.

This is for the tailings as well as the bigs and tea room.

Should add, I don't think they are holding back any news. They simply have nothing to say as as they've close to farq all in the last year and some would say last 2 years.

I highly doubt G-mining drilled any holes in 2024. Most likely the first 3 holes were drilled in 2025. So likelihood is that things will pick up news wise but until assays are done and data in etc - they'll be nothing to rns.

It's a sorry woeful tale of management asleep at the wheel. Funding received in June 2024. And we're they ready to drill baby drill??? No they weren't. And that's on Scott and his merry band of directors. No one else.

The sloth like action has cost us around $25m in G&A costs.

I tend to agree, as the holdings on II's and fundmanagers have not changed very much at all during last couple of months. So where has around 150m shares come from lol! As that's the bulk volume (in large block trades) over the last 3 months.

As noted before, Tenstar apepar to have dropped % in their holdings and some have said that it could be related to Mather/DGR loan. So could Mather be forced to sell Tenstar stake to keep DGR stake afloat or within margins??

Whoever the seller is, I think it's either Chinese, Tenstar, Irwin, or anyone of the larger holders that are not professional firms eg fund managers or II's. I doubt it is Maxit.

Another question to ponder... could it be a larger holding moving stock from one entity to another pre bid? eg tax dodge. For example... say tenstar sell out 6% and then that 6% is acquired by a seemingly unrelated swiss entity lol! Or here's one for you... could Mather be selling down Tenstar 5% holding to raise funds to buy the regional licences that our board might be ready to relinquish??

Whatever happens, if Tenstar / Mather related, then it's insider dealing and very naughty imho. But can't be sure it is Mather Tenstar etc.

That's massive news...

CRC-Tongling Nonferrous Metals clearly have what it takes to get the all important EP. Chinese clearly very close to Noboa but equally keen to see this inked before election result in April. Agree with Pbow, quiet surprised to see them put this through so close to elections.

In a nut shell, if th chinese said to Noboa... we'll take Cascabel forwards for you if we can get xy & z... I doubt very much they'd meet much resistance.

That all said, it's been a tough task to get this through but clearly very very signficant that it has been granted and passed.

Super majors will see that news and be greatly encouraged imho.

"pathetic share price - which you seem to be perfectly happy with"

RICH3R.... don't know what you mean? I'm not happy with the share price and have made that clear as well as suggesting it is mostly down to management. So not sure why you've got confused on that one?

It's the asset that hasn't changd and indeed got better since the 40p+ days but I'm afraid the markets do their own thing and don't always agree with asseyt prices. They tend to go more on sentiment foremost these days. And with an asset like Alpala, you don't need 'spin'. The asset speaks for itself.

Just don't lower your expectations because the market has lowered the share price ... that's all. The two are very different. One is 'real' and part of mother earth and the other is run by sentiment, algo's and a bunch of spivs. Getting the two to align takes time but it happens. To understand the pro's and con's of markets ... you should watch the film 'Dumb Money'. That tells you all you need to know on how easy it is to effect price both ways and how asset value has little relevance in those times.

The simple truth here is that the 'asset' hasn't changd. In fact it's got much much better as have metal prices. Price expectations should be way higher now than they were in 2019.

Montecristo2.... and just imagine what state we would be in if the water companies had invested their profits properly into their infrastructure instead of lining their city boy mates pockets. Far better to have some very rich fund managers/shareholders and have sewage paddling pools for our kids eh?? So here we are again... shareholders of BP getting fed up with the profits going into green projects that 'will take time' to pay back and instead wnat their cut and bugger the future eh??

This is the world we live in now. Short time buck makers who care for themselves and don't look forwards to the future. None of them want to pay for the future... but they want to benefit from it when it arrives.

Another case of the markets and institutional world failing to 'pay their share' and instead prefering to trouser it all.

Bozi, according to a number of market sources, the markets have never looked healthier than they do right now. metal prices have never looked better. The Dow hit an all time high 2 weeks ago. I wonder... based on your bizaar views, perhaps if the Dow was to crash back down to 20k levels which is was just over 4 years ago... SOLG would be back at 35p+.

Mmm don't think so.

The fact is a simple one. The share price has become well and truly detached from the asset value and all common sense value. What type of market acknowledges that there is a copper boom / shortage around the corner, US government now very concerned that China will rule the roost... and what does the market do... well it rates most miners like it did when there was no sign of a copper shortage. It rates miners with copper/gold assets (non producers) like they have unreachable resources. The list goes on.

So we are not in a disagreement on this one although I think there are a few ways you can look at this disfunctional market right now and one view would be that it is living in la la la land and has a rude awakening coming in the very near future.

Liquidity is much needed in small caps but SOLG are past the excitable smallcap stage and are into the stage whereby bigger investors are interested... but having no chairman is preventing those companies from investing and one has to wonder why Bob and Scott have been dragging their feet for so long. What are they afraid of... increasing the sp?

Hopefully start of some news as you say. I think the Darryl settlement RNS seemed like a 'last of the ugly' style RNS's but knowing SOLG.... you just never know!

Perhaps Franco wanted that resolved before releasing the second tranche and can't blame them as suspect the settlement sum would need to come out of 'their' money.

In theory, if you spend close to $250m+ on derisking an asset, then you should see some accretive benefits in the market cap unless of course, you do little with the cash and instead just fill directors pockets via salaries and large payouts??

I think some of you are "we're just stumbling around in the dark" but a few of us out there know how miners progress. Understand the lassonde curve. Understand industry standards and pricing for acquisitions. And of course, I doubt the likes of Franco werr "just stumbling around in the dark" when they decided on investing nearly $650m to $700m in total.

Seriously you guys... none of you (Bozi) included we're stumbling around in the dark over ENSA value when the stock was back in 2020's or 2021. It's ironic that some views have changed yet likes of Bozi and co can't quite explain clearly what exactly has happened or changed to the 'asset' since then. It's gone no where... and has got better if you factor Tandy in not to mention recent metal prices.

So give it a rest. The story that was present in 2020 is exactly the same now but actually alot better.

Those are FACTS!!! You can't avoid them.

"The official said based on current demand for electric vehicles and power-hungry artificial intelligence applications, there will be a US copper shortage in the future, and the US cannot develop adequate copper smelting and refining capacity unless there is a reasonable certainty of long-lasting trade protection for the sector." END.

They could just go and buy some mines ... erm... like china has. The irony is, this tariff game could just send mor business towards china as suppliers decide to avoid US.

I think Trump will be slowly walking back all his Tariffs overtime, having put them in place to gain some leverage. The reality is, Tariff's are not good for US or anyone. It's an uncompetitve and restrictive measure.

Anyone know any Tier1 assets for sale that have large scale copper and are not too far away from the US for easy cargo/delivery?

Yes, I think the 50p bid by BHP was known by a few as Norges and Blackrock were greedily buying stock up at 36p+. Then came the apparent switch and BHP opted for Oz Minerals. Thereafter, there seemed to be a complete panic and rethink at SOLG as we saw Darryl booted, Bob and his buddies move in aka CGP merger. The rest is history.

Had BHP made a 50p offer, I do wonder whether they would have ended up needing to up it higher as first bid rarely wins. So say 60p? Then that was based on just 85% of Alpala/ENSA. So there's a 15% asset worth to factor in. Then there's the rest of the SOLG folio which seems to have not been included. So in a nut shell, the house brokers target of (77p at the time I think) was about right. But that was a long time ago when metal prices were way way lower. And Alpala / ENSA was fragmented and not 100% owned. It did include $150m royalty with Franco although BHP could have bought haf of that back.

So all in all, their offer years ago supports the valuation of 75p+ today.

Do you not agree?

Bozi, you're entitled to an opinion so I'm not going to rip it to shreds. But you're wrong in every instance.

The share price is not completely irrelevant but any offers will be based on the asset and not the share price. That's a fact and based on industry standards.

As an example, the market rated SOLG at double today's share price (13p) when the Franco / Osisko $750m finance package was announced in June 2024. Gold price was around 30% cheaper at $2300 and Copper 10% lower than today.

Today, we're at 6.5p simply because the market can do what it likes until it sees a reason to do otherwise.

Thus using today's sp as a suggestion that buyout prices for Alpala should be reduced is ridiculous and naive at best.

Share prices can fluctuate dramatically and they do. SOLG was 10p in covid times and tested 42p a year later and the asset has improved derisking wise as have metal prices.

So bit of a casino. Whereas if you look at recent mining acquisitions, the pricing has been very stable and consistent as per Oz minerals deal and the recent FILO deal. All based on resources and the share prices all align with the asset value in the end.

Look at that lassonde curve and understand how miners progress. Or find me another Tier 1 asset that has sold for less than $2bln. If you can't... then please stop with the deramping dribble.

RICH3R,

Just out of interest, what exactly has changed since investors had aspirations of £1+ a few years ago?

Here's what's changed since then...

1. The asset has got more valuable

2. The asset has been further derisked

3. Metal prices have almost doubled

4. Ecuador looks on track to be mining friendly no matter who gets in next

5. We have Franco will to stick a further $500m in subject to derisking events

6. Copper shortage is nearer now than it was years ago.

So why would accept 50p when all of the above makes £1+ much more likely???

I think you using the current sentiment, fatigue and sp at 6p levels to dictate your expectations... which is of course completely wrong. A buyer... when they emerge will not be buying on sentiment, fatigue or 6p levels. A buyer will be buying based on industry standard numbers for a world class asset like Alpala.

Ignore the the low sp... it's not a bencmark or basis for any starting bids. It's just a market indicator of where liquidity and interest currently resides. Things can change fast in that respect especially when the asset supports an SP well north of 90p+.

Don't fall for the old market sentiment trick. Focus on the world class asset. That hasn't diminished and is getting derisked.

See the lassonde curve theory and you'll get an idea of where we are and where we should be heading.

They are very quiet about everything simply because they've done close to farq all on everything.

3 holes drilled in the last 9 months.

Market cap is now significantly lower than the total funds Franco and Osisko has invested thus far.

The idea is that they are supposed to be derisking the asset with the funds. So since they bagged $150m from Franco and $50m from Osisko... plus the recent $33m+, they burned through the lot and the market cap has dropped by ober 75%.

Now to any investor out there wondering what the markets logic is on how to see $230m spent on an asset and then see all that cash worth simply burned by directors via their own salaries and stupidity (eg Darryl etc) makes you wonder if this lifestyle company is ever going to return some growth to shareholders???

Hard to fault the market when it see's $230m pi55ed down the toilet and net result a cut down PFS, cut down staff, zero exploration, zero funds left for regionals ... and that includes the licence renewals... oh and 3 holes drilled Scott.

It's been a shambles by the CGP boys and I don't think the market will change its mind on SOLG until the lot of them are fired and some guys come in that know how to get the job done in a timely manner.

Where's the new chairman for farq sake??

Thanks PBOW.

Shorters got this one by the short and curlies.

Crazy to think that there's an entire sector or two out there that can't operate without the likes of Wood or PFC yet those in that sector seem to be unaffected by the possibility of these firms going to the wall.

Of course, they won't go to the wall as that can't happen for the reasons mentioned above... but they can go for a song. Funny old markets these days.

Blimey, Scotty boy learning the ropes as a CEO at last. Rule number 1... don't upset either candidate or side with either one as you might need to be buddies with both.

He's hardly going to say anything different but for the record... I have it on good authority that Noboa is better for mining than Gonzalez. But should the lady win... she's still keen to see mining developed just not quite as keen as Noboa if you follow. Remember... Noboa is knee deep in personal investments with a mine that has been put on hold for quite a few years now.

I bet he wouldn't mind a cheap stake in Alpala though lol! Nod nod wink wink.

Won't be long before a few start selling blocks (if they haven't already) ahead of the ISA season on April 6th.

Especially now majority of capital gains allowance has been removed.

Not that us wee SOLG shareholders need to worry much about capital gains lol! Only kidding... our time is coming so some tax planning will make sense for a few.

30 day rule means you can sell 30 days ahead of April 6th (or more) book the losses and then re buy from April 6th.

Going to be a very interest April IMHO... it could be the month that sees SOLG move back up into the double digits assuming elections go well and ISA season sees buyers flood back in.

Oh... and then there's the Franco second tranche of course!