Re: It Pays to Doubt26 Sep 2025 10:49
Where my doubts come in with HE1 stem from Lorna Blaise as I've previously questioned:
Technical vs commercial gap - Lorna is a career exploration geologist, not someone with a finance or corporate strategy track record. Helium One is at a stage where capital markets credibility and deal-making are just as important as geology. She may know the rocks, but that doesn’t automatically make her a strong steward of shareholder value. Not least given her time at Delonex which was spent chasing over Africa and contributing to 600M of capital destruction with no commercial business at the end of it. Delonex had huge financial firepower ($600m) yet they never got a commercial project running. think about that for a second.!! Being part of that team exposes her to failure on a grand scale — an apprenticeship in how to burn capital rather than create value. While that’s a learning experience, I for one am hugely sceptical that the same playbook (explore big, spend big) is repeating itself at HE1.
Under her watch, Helium One has continued the pattern of dilutive raises to keep the lights on. Its a dilute to survive mentality. Markets have rightly punished this cycle and it tells me that Lorna only knows the classic AIM junior “raise, drill, disappoint, dilute” loop.
Investors want commercial discipline (farm-outs, joint ventures, staged commitments), not just optimism about geology. Look at other juniors say CMRS - 60% JV and fully funded through drilling and development. Why - well that CEO is experienced AS a CEO and has a successful track record of raising capital with the right contacts across the London Market. There are other established CEO's of juniors who have the right capital connections.
Lorna is described as technically credible, but communication with markets has been patchy at best. A CEO who can front-load candour about risks, timelines, and dilution is critical in small caps and Lorna isn't one of them. i think you are being strung along and sentiment has eroded fast.
My view is that she is another geologist-turned-CEO who inspires initial optimism but lacks the financial toolkit to steer HE1 out of this dilution spiral. GL and DYOR.