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By all accounts the magnetite she took was never fully used, if at all, plus a lot of it was stockpiled somewhere in New Mexico. I would imagine the receivers are going to struggle to sell it, we actually struggle to sell it and it’s our business product, but the obvious thing would be to tell SMG to go take it all back, that way the receivers get to liquidate some assets and we appear to be somewhat recompensed. Although the last thing we need right now is more piles of black rocks, I would much rather have piles of green backs.
I never realised that JP is the only director for at least 3 years to actually get a bonus, over those 3 years he has had 453,000 in bonuses. I'm sure it was stated at some point that they would all take a pay cut in 2019, yet JP managed to come out with 25,000 more than he did in 2018.
One thing I've never got my head around is the directors salary figures, JP's salary for 2019 was only 13,000, but the consultancy fees he got for 2019 were 173,000, so does he invoice SML as an individual for his consultancy fees ??
Sammy, Alan Broome has only ever made three share purchases, but if you take away what I call his freeby options, then he has actually only once bought shares (147,319) on the open market, that was just over three years ago.
Sorry to see you go JD or anyone else for that matter, as the bearer of the bad news, I feel I've shattered a lot of peoples hopes and dreams, although it was probably only a matter of time before that happened, but for that I'm truly sorry.
I notice today some people still think that Redmoor was to be bought using the 4.4 mil from the major client, I’m afraid that was never ever the case, as the RNS stats below show.
RNS dated 18th March. We have sufficient cash to fund the acquisition of Redmoor.
RNS dated 13th May. Contracts signed with an agreed settlement date of 30 May 2019.
RNS dated 24th May. Potential receipt of US $4,065,000 within two weeks.
RNS dated 29th May. Defer payment to NAE until 27 June to allow funds from Cobre client.
It clearly states March 18th we had the cash to buy out NAE’s 50%, group cash balance was US$1.240m as at 31 March 2019, obviously still no cash problem on the 13th May when we signed the purchase contract, so what happened to all the cash in the two weeks between May 13th and 29th that made them defer payment to NAE.
We now know what happened to the cash for the Redmoor purchase, it was all spent on LCCM, someone was gullible enough to think the major client would pay up, hence decided to spend all the Redmoor purchase money, now to me the idiot that came up with that idea, ought to be asking for forgiveness.
Although John’s email reads better than the RNS did, I still take the view that the “Letter of intent” RNS was factually incorrect and hence not accurate as stated. I know it might seem a bit nit picking, but I don’t like been told something is right when I know it’s wrong.
JP Email:
With regard to the letter of intent, this was initially over text but, this was subsequently confirmed in an email. Either way a documented agreement had been made and any reporting to the market was “accurate”.
Court Papers:
SMG’s Peters “ASKED” CVI’s Smith to formally agree to undertake certain actions to avoid legal proceedings, as follows: I was able to get my UK Directors and Alan this morning and I have got them to agree that, provided, on behalf of CV Investments, you undertake to pay SMG, within two weeks, the $375,000 December payment and top up the existing deposit with SMG by $3,690,000 they will hold all actions for those two weeks
RNS 24th May:
" The major client has “ASKED” SMG to refrain from progressing legal action for two weeks"
In Basic terms Peters asked Smith to, pay up or we take you to court in two weeks, why would she ask SMG to refrain from taking her to court for two weeks, when she had just been given two weeks leeway. Either the court papers are wrong or the RNS, they can’t both be right.
DJ, It was week commencing 15th October 2018, in the proactive interview on Friday 19th October, Alan said he went to Philadelphia earlier that week.
When I started looking for the major client yesterday morning, I never had any idea what a can of worms it would turn out to be if I found them.
The court papers scrutinise all the communications between SMG and CV I, they appear to outline almost every conversation, yet there is no mention I can see of the visit W/C 15th Oct 2018, it doesn't mention at all that Alan Broome actually flew to Philadelphia and spoke to Brenda Smith, hence we don't know what was said or agreed.
Everyone should read the complete 41 pages of court papers, It puts a whole new perspective on the proactive video from Oct 19th 2018.
We were taken hook, line and sinker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6jOdZQ-G4
The impression given in the RNS 24/5/19 was that we had been given a letter of intent, whereby the client had asked us not to start court proceedings for two weeks. That was my impression anyway.
Quote" The major client has informed SMG that it anticipates having significant funds very shortly and has asked SMG to refrain from progressing legal action for two weeks"
That is not how it appears in the court papers, there is no mention of a letter of intent, it sounds like it was all done via text messages? basically we dictated what we wanted from her, including we would put off court proceedings for two weeks, also that she would pay us 4.4 mil, she just basically said she agreed.
May 23, 2019, SMG’s Peters again asked CVI’s Smith via text message if the bonds had settled. CVI’s Smith claimed she “should have funds tomorrow.” On that same day SMG’s Peters asked CVI’s Smith to formally agree to undertake certain actions to avoid legal proceedings, as follows: I was able to get my UK Directors and Alan this morning and I have got them to agree that, provided, on behalf of CV Investments, you undertake to pay SMG, within two weeks, the $375,000 December payment and top up the existing deposit with SMG by $3,690,000 they will hold all actions for those two weeks. . . . . Please provide, on behalf of CV Investments, agreement to these arrangements.” CVI’s Smith responded “Agreed. Thank you very much. Brenda.”.
Here is our major client.
https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/34553247/SOUTHERN_MINERALS_GROUP,_LLC_v_CV_INVESTMENTS_LLC
Reverting back to the proactive video of 19th Oct 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6jOdZQ-G4
Alan Broome talks about putting into place airborne drone surveys at Cobre, which can then give them 3D images of the stock piles, so they can see how much magnetite they have and where they have been taking it from.
Talk about wasting our money, there are only 3 people working at Cobre, so they shouldn’t have much trouble remembering where you took some from, during the video John Peters makes it very very clear that Alan is double selling the idea, why!! because Alan Broome also runs the company he has hired to do the drone surveys.
As Non Exec chairman I see Alan more as a liability than an asset.
Probably Alan Broome wanted NAE to only have cash so they could pay his wage, there has always been far too much conflict of interest in the Redmoor deal.
Alan Broome only holds 4,647,319 shares in SML, he has actually bought less shares on the open market than anyone on this BB, for someone who tends to make a lot of the decisions, he doesn't seem to have much faith in the company.
I know a lot of people tend to vent their anger at John Peters, but I think the real villain here is Alan Broome.
He was the one that went to meet the major client about payment, but it seems he was taken in by their smooth talk, he was of the impression that they were a good group people to deal with, even though he’s never actually seen their mysterious new plant, or knows what exactly the magnetite is used for. In the proactive interview with JP and AB on Oct 19th 2018, Alan said that he came away from the meeting with the client with a different view to the others, which JP acknowledged straight away, I get the feeling JP is the fall guy for Alan Broome.
In the RNS it states.
"Client's assets seized as part of a US Securities and Exchange Commission's investigation"
It doesn't say whether that happened before or after the arbitration ruling, basically it's a straight forward breach of contract case, so I don't see why the Securities and Exchange Commission would open an investigation, unless that is the investigation was already ongoing, which would mean there are already other people wanting a slice of any assets.
FreakyZebra, the research I posted a couple of months ago into who the major client might be, I came up with a company who was taken to court for breach of contract and lost, that was also for purchase of raw materials, but although I had a company name and registered office, I couldn't find any actual working business or any assets.
In a typical DC plasma metals recovery plant where the target metals are present in low concentrations in the input material, a source of a collector metal such as iron (usually added as a mixture of magnetite and coke) or copper is also blended with the other feed materials.
My Guess is that because his first deal with SMG obviously failed, he came back with a better deal they couldn’t refuse by doubling up on his monthly take. I believe Richard Galvin’s investment company was not as I thought a go between, but actually getting the product for another of his own companies, he also owns and is president of “Gilman Metal Co LLC” which has the same business address as his investment company, this is how Bloomberg describes Gilman Metals.
Gilman Metals Company, LLC manages, acquires, and refines concentrated metals. The Company extracts precious metals via a process using a plasma arc technology, including gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium, osmium, iridium, and ruthenium. Gilman Metals captures and separates precious metals from hazardous trash while cleaning it up.
Both Richard Galvin and his metals company have been taken to court in the past, yes you guessed it, for breach of contract, he got away with most of the claims against him and his company, he said it wasn’t his fault he didn’t pay the money and he blamed third parties for nonperformance, a bit like Donald Trump, here is the case notes and final judgment, I don’t know if SKS ever got their money back.
HTTPS://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914eeb7add7b0493496214c
HTTPS://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5914d7b0add7b0493487293c
Bored to death being locked down for 6 weeks, so I thought I would try find out who the major client was, my money is on Richard Galvin and his Gilman Metal Co, I may be way off the mark but at least it passed a lot of time.
Strategic Minerals has announced that its subsidiary, Southern Minerals Group, signed a contract on Friday 10 March with “Galvin Investment Company” for the sale of up to 350,000 tons of magnetite at a market based price over several years, subject to availability.
However, the Company added that before the contract becomes effective, GIC must provide a $100,000 Letter of Credit from an acceptable bank.
The contract calls for a minimum purchase of 2,000 tons per month and logistics at the mine site would result in a maximum supply.
Strategic Minerals said subsidiary Southern Minerals Group (SMG), operator of the Cobre magnetite stockpile, has entered a new contract on with a private company for the supply of up to 400,000 tons of magnetite at a market based price over several years, subject to availability.
This Contract was entered into after an agreement referred to in a statement in mid March was terminated for not having met prerequisites in nominated timeframes. ( In other words the money part of the deal didn’t turn up, ring any bells!! )
A $10,000 deposit on the contract had been transferred to SMG's bank account and a substantial security deposit of US $250,000 was to be lodged into solicitor's trust accounts by US close of business 14 April 2017.
The contract calls for a minimum purchase of 4000 tons per month, which is to commence from 1 June 2017.
Going by what Alan Broome said in this interview HTTPS://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc6jOdZQ-G4 between 2.30 mins and 5 mins, it is a company dealing with a new metal recovery technique.
The guy who owns ( Galvin investment company ) is called “Richard Galvin” this is what Bloomberg had to say about him.
Richard Galvin, a 4th generation oil, gas and mining entrepreneur and President of Gilman, has held a lifelong vision - promoting and driving a technology here in the US which will have an enormous impact on environmental waste mining. With the benefit of only private funds, Gilman Metals will recognise the inherent value of new technology driving a cleaner environment and the reclaiming of our precious natural resources thought lost forever.